Bullying in schools can have serious consequences for students. How does bullying affect students, and what measures can be implemented to prevent and address bullying in educational settings?
Model answer by Lifestyle Training Centre
Bullying is a pervasive and insidious issue, often yielding tragic outcomes, particularly within academic settings. Its impact transcends mere insults, inflicting lasting harm with lifelong repercussions. This essay will illuminate some of the profound ramifications of bullying while proposing pragmatic actions to combat this grave injustice.
First and foremost, bullying severely damages a child’s mental health. The cruel and cowardly nature of bullying implants feelings of worthlessness and helplessness in its victims. Often, those in positions of power, such as stronger individuals or older students, exploit their status to mistreat the weaker or younger ones, starting with verbal abuse that can escalate to physical violence, and tragically, even to accidental or deliberate homicide. Moreover, the consequences of bullying can drive a student to abandon their studies entirely out of fear of returning to school. Additionally, as a reactionary response, victims of bullying may eventually adopt bullying behaviours themselves. This insidious cycle perpetuates negative characteristics among students, subtly fostering a path towards criminal behaviour.
Careful measures must be taken to counteract bullying effectively. Fostering a friendly atmosphere and deep bonds among students can significantly reduce the likelihood of bullying. Continuous monitoring by teachers enhances students’ awareness, alongside the installation of surveillance cameras for added safety. Finally, establishing and implementing strict anti-bullying rules without bias would eliminate every chance of bullying.
To conclude, bullying, especially within school settings, remains a significant concern, with the potential to inflict psychological harm, instil fear, and cultivate negative behaviours among students. Implementing stringent measures against bullies, increased supervision through surveillance cameras, and vigilant monitoring by teachers could significantly deter bullying behaviours. Ultimately, schools should aspire to be sanctuaries of safety and support, where every child feels valued, nurtured, empowered, and educated.
List of vocabulary used
- Pervasive: Spread widely throughout an area or a group of people.
- Insidious: Proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with harmful effects.
- Yielding: Producing or providing.
- Tragic: Causing or characterized by extreme distress or sorrow.
- Academic settings: Environments related to education, such as schools or universities.
- Transcends: Goes beyond the limits of.
- Inflicting: Causing something unpleasant or painful to be suffered by someone or something.
- Repercussions: Unintended consequences of an event or action, especially when unwelcome or unpleasant.
- Illuminate: To clarify or explain.
- Profound: Very great or intense.
- Ramifications: Consequences of an action or event, especially when complex or unwelcome.
- Pragmatic: Dealing with things sensibly and realistically.
- Combat: To take action to reduce or prevent something bad or undesirable.
- Grave: Serious or important.
- Injustice: Lack of fairness or justice.
- Mental health: A person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being.
- Cruel: Willfully causing pain or suffering to others.
- Cowardly: Lacking courage.
- Implants: Establishes or fixes (an idea) firmly in someone’s mind.
- Worthlessness: The feeling of having no value.
- Helplessness: The feeling of being unable to do anything to help oneself.
- Exploit: To take advantage of someone or something in a way considered unfair or underhanded.
- Verbal abuse: The use of words to cause harm to the person being spoken to.
- Escalate: To increase rapidly.
- Physical violence: The use of physical force to harm someone.
- Homicide: The killing of one person by another.
- Consequences: The results or effects of actions or conditions.
- Abandon: To give up completely.
- Reactionary: Opposing political or social progress or reform.
- Adopt: To take up or start to use or follow.
- Cycle: A series of events that are regularly repeated in the same order.
- Perpetuates: Makes something continue indefinitely.
- Subtly: In a manner that is not obvious or easily noticeable.
- Fostering: Encouraging or promoting the development of.
- Surveillance: Close observation, especially of a suspected person or area.
- Eliminate: To completely remove or get rid of.
- Sanctuaries: Places of refuge or safety.
- Valued: Considered to be important or beneficial.
- Nurtured: Cared for and encouraged the growth or development of.
- Empowered: Given the power or authority to do something.
- Educated: Given intellectual, moral, and social instruction.