How Bullying Can Impact Academic Achievement
By Tyler Teasley
The Problem
When most teachers notice a decline in their students academic achievement, they assume there is something wrong with their instruction that is causing the student to struggle with the material. What teachers don’t often ask is; does it have anything to do with my student’s comfort level in the classroom? Is there something happening in my classroom that I am not aware of that is causing the decline in my students grades? Bullying is something that can contribute to poor academic achievement and should be taken into consideration when noticing a decline in a students grades. Unfortunately teachers do not always recognize every time a student is bullied or harassed in their classroom.
Bullying is defined by apa.org as “the use of one’s strength or popularity to injure, threaten or embarrass another person on purpose. Bullying can be physical, verbal or social”(2011).
When students are bullied or harassed at school, it can cause them to become afraid of going to school.
“A reported 15 percent of all students who don’t show up for school report it to being out of fear of being bullied while at school”(bullyingstatistics.org).
When students are not comfortable at school, they don’t like going to school. If students don’t go to school or even become uninterested in school, their grades can easily decline.
“There is evidence bully targets exhibit a range of psychosocial risk factors, including lower self-esteem, greater levels of aggression, a higher level of normative beliefs legitimizing antisocial behavior, increased rates of depression, and greater suicide ideation”(Cindy M. Casebeer).
Types of Bullying
There are different types of bullying, and boys and girls are guilty of committing all types. However, each gender seems to favor specific types of bullying. Boys are victims of name calling and physical violence more often than girls, and girls are victims of rumor spreading and sexual comments more often than boys.
“Bullying has overall decreased over the past few years, but there was more of a decrease for boys than there was for girls”(Jessamyn G. Perius).
It might be because teachers can recognize physical fights and name calling much easier than when students are whispering rumors about each other in class, or saying sexual comments in the hallways. Students who are victims of physical violence and name calling may become afraid of coming to school.
“A reported 15 percent of all students who don’t show up for school report it to being out of fear fear of being bullied”(bullyingstatistics.org).
If student start missing school they could fall behind and their grades can be negatively effected. On the other hand, victims of bullying in the form of sexual comments or rumor spreading may become concerned about their reputation. These students may become so focused on trying to save their reputation at school and it could cause them to have a hard time focusing in class, which would also negatively impact their grades.
Casebeer says that “bullying is associated with negative classroom and/or school climate, lower school commitment, and poor academic outcomes”(2012).
Today schools have a new form of bullying known as cyber bullying. Cyber bullying happens both in and out of school and is much more difficult for teachers to notice. Students use social media to spread rumors, harass, or even threaten other students.
Bullyingstatistics.org says “social networking has provided an entirely new environment for bullying to take place” (2010).
As you can see there are many different types of bullying and they can all effect a students academic achievement. Teachers should address these types of issues if they witness them taking place in their classroom.
The other side
Of course the students who are bullied are not always the only victims of bullying.
Casebeer says bullying “is associated with negative effects for bullies, targets, and bystanders”(2012).
Bullying effects everyone involved, not just the victim. Even someone who just witnessed a student being bullied can feel ashamed about doing nothing to stop the bullying. Most bullies have, at one time or another, been victims of bullying themselves.
“Many teens and children act out on their peers through acts of bullying because they are abused at home” (Bullyingstatistics.org).
Teachers should try to understand why students are acting out at school, and what they can do to help. If they can get the bully to stop bullying, there will not be anymore victims of that bully. So by addressing what is wrong with the bully, teachers help a number of other students that the bully no longer feels the need to pick on.
My Experience With Bully's
I can remember being harassed at school when I was younger, specifically by this one kid in my 5th grade class. He would always pick on me and to this day I’m still not sure why. I was always the shortest kid in my classes when I was growing up, so I guess I was an easy target. But even if I was able to avoid him all day in class, he rode my bus, so he would sill harass me going to and from school as well. It annoyed me so much that it got to the point that I didn’t want to ride the bus or even go to school. I was always worrying what he was going to say or how he was going to act towards me that day. I would try to get my mom to call me in almost every day. I don’t remember how bad my grades were impacted, but I do remember my mom telling me I would be held back if I missed any more school.
What Teachers Can Do
Teachers need to not only develop a relationship with each student in their classroom, but they also need to understand their students relationships with each other.
Kathleen P. Allen says “Before teachers can prevent or intervene in bullying situations, they have to recognize it” and, “ it is critical for teachers to be able to identify social and relational bullying as well as the more overt and obvious forms of verbal and physical bullying”(2010).
Teachers need to know which students don’t get along well, and which students work well together. When bullying takes place most teachers will split students up and get them to stop fighting, but few try to figure out why students are not getting along or try solving the problem. Teachers can’t overlook bullying and harassment in the classroom, they must address the issue and try getting students to get along.
As Cindy M. Casebeer says “ this issue cannot be solved by way of simple, one-size-fits-all solutions. Instead, school bullying is a complex, systematic issue that requires deep understanding of the multiple variables with which it is associated”(2012).
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Resources:
Bullying May Contribute to Lower Test Scores. (2011, August 7). Retrieved November 1, 2014, from http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2011/08/bullying-test.aspx
Allen, K. (2010). Classroom Management, Bullying, and Teacher Practices. Retrieved November 1, 2014, from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=d5e1941f-373e-483a-bd17-c12c89dcbeaa@sessionmgr111&vid=70&hid=111
Casebeer, C. (2012). School Bullying: Why Quick Fixes Do Not Prevent School Failure. Retrieved November 1, 2014, from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=d5e1941f-373e-483a-bd17-c12c89dcbeaa@sessionmgr111&vid=68&hid=111
Perius, J., Brooks-Russeii, A., & Wang, J. (2014). Trends in Bullying, Physical Fighting, and Weapon Carrying Among 6th- Through 1Oth-Grade Students From 1998 to 2010: Findings From a National Study. Retrieved November 1, 2014, from Jessamyn G. Perius, BA, Ashley Brooks-Russeii, PhD, MPH, Jing Wang, PhD, and Ronaid J. iannotti, PhD
Bullying Statistics 2010. (2010, January 1). Retrieved November 1, 2014, from http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/bullying-statistics-2010.html
