Bystander Role In Bullying

Register to read the introduction… According to Natalie Smith “a recent survey found that when kids witness bullying, they help the victim less than 40 percent of the time”(5). If the bystander or bystanders do nothing when they see or hear someone being bullied they give the victim the idea that nobody cares about them. Bystanders can have a positive impact in these situations; they can help the victim not feel so alone like an outcast, or they can go in the opposite direction and back up the bully and worsen the situation (Walker). When bystanders don’t respond in a positive way bullies will think what they;re doing is okay. For example when a bystander laughs when someone is being bullied it gives the bully the attention they crave and adds fuel to the fire. Talking to the bystanders helps prevent them form responding in the wrong way; preventing bullying situations from escalating. “Dr. Stuart Twemlow, co-author of Why School Anti bullying Programs Don’t Work and a former Baylor College of Medicine professor, recommends targeting anti bullying efforts at neither bullies nor victims but a third party: bystanders ... Twemlow and a colleague found that schools that focus on punishing bullies and counseling victims report more violence that schools that engage bystanders in understanding that saying something about what you see isn’t always …show more content…
Students need to understand how to treat others with respect; they can not let each other be disrespected (Cloud 43). If students don’t stand up for other students they can not expect that someone would stand up for them. The more confident kids have the job of setting an example for other kids by standing up to the bullies (Walker 11). If they can say something and defend someone, other students will follow their lead. When standing up to a bully students need to be assertive. Jill Weber, a clinical psychologist in McLean, Virginia says “Direct confrontation is the bully’s kryptonite, because deep down they’re scared and vulnerable too” (Walker 10). By this she means to tell the bully to “knock it off” or change the topic of the conversation with the bully. When students hear others gossiping they should bring up that they wouldn’t want those kinds of things said about them, so they shouldn’t be saying them. The less confident kids have the opportunity to talk to the bullied kids and let them know that they’re not alone and that it isn’t right what’s happening; this makes a big difference in a bullied students eyes (Walker 11). When doing this students show the bullied individual that they respect him or her, which means that he or she won’t go on to disrespect others because they know and realize the way they have been treated is wrong. Bystanders’ actions have a huge impact on …show more content…
"The Myths Of Bullying." Time 179.10 12 March 2012: 40-43. Print.
Smith, Natalie. "Don't Just Stand By." Scholastic News Edition 5.6 7 January 2013: 4-5. Ebscohost.com. Web. 28 October 2013.
Walker, Melissa. "Is It Bullying or Drama?" Scholastic Choices September 2013: 8-11. Ebscohost.com. Web. 28 October