Tuesday March 5, 2013, a video of senior students bullying their juniors at the Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Sabah campus has gone viral. The five-minute video recording shows several students standing in line in a jungle while being shouted at and occasionally slapped by older students.
The follow-up action by campus YDP
What is bully?
Bullying may be defined as the activity of repeated, aggressive behavior intended to hurt another person, physically or mentally. Bullying is characterized by an individual behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person.
Norwegian researcher Dan Olweus says bullying occurs when a person is:
"Exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons'. He says negative actions occur 'when a person intentionally inflicts injury or discomfort upon another person, through physical contact, through words or in other ways."
School bullying
School bullying is a type of bullying in which occurs during the time period a child is in school. Bullying can be physical, verbal, or emotional.
There is some research suggesting that a significant portion of "normal" school children may not evaluate school-based violence (student-on-studentvictimization) as negatively or as being unacceptable as much as adults generally do, and may even derive enjoyment from it, and they may thus not see a reason to prevent it, if it brings them joy on some level.Both males and females have differently toll on how they bully their victims. Men/boys usually bully other boys in physical ways like pushing, punching, and aggression, whereas females are more likely to spread rumors, talk bad about the person, etc. Although they are different ways in which boys and girls do bullying a lot of the ways may be similar as well, and they both can be bullied or be the bullies.
Bullying can also be perpetrated by teachers and the school system itself. There is an inherent power differential in the system that can easily predispose to subtle or covert abuse (relational aggression or passive aggression), humiliation, or exclusion — even while maintaining overt commitments to anti-bullying policies.
Types of school bullying :-
Verbal Bullying
Can leave children feeling angry, frightened and powerless, if children are unable to share their feelings with someone else it can leave them emotionally bruised and exhausted. Their powers of concentration can suffer, adversely affecting their capacity for learning. Verbal attacks can be of a highly personal and sexual nature. They can be directed at the child's family, culture, race or religion. Malicious rumours are particularly insidious forms of verbal bullying.
Physical Bullying
Often written off as "horseplay", "pretend" or "just a game" when challenged. While children can and do play roughly, in the case of bullying be aware that these 'games' can be a precursor to vicious physical assaults. Both boys and girls indulge in physical bullying, boys perhaps more so as they have a greater tendency towards physical aggression.
Gesture Bullying
There are many different forms of non-verbal threatening gestures which can convey intimidatory and frightening messages, i.e. The state or look which accompanies bullying behaviour.
Exclusion Bullying
Particularly hurtful because it isolates the child from his/her peer group and is very hard for the child to combat as it directly attacks their self confidence/self image.
Extortion Bullying
Young children are particularly vulnerable to extortion bullying. Demands for money, possessions or equipment, lunch vouchers or food may be made, often accompanied by threats. Children may also be dared or forced to steal from the school leaving them (at the mercy of the bully) open to further intimidation.
E-bullying
An ever more technologically advanced world, a new strain of bullying has emerged amongst children, which utilises web pages, emails and text messaging to abuse, intimidate and attack others, either directly or indirectly i.e. rumour mongering.
Short-term and long-term effects
Short-term:
- depression
- suicide (bullycide) Many feel unwanted in life and that they should not live
- anxiety
- anger
- significant drop in school performance
- Feeling as if their life has fallen apart
- Excessive stress
Long-term:
- abiding feelings of insecurity
- lack of trust
- extreme sensitivity (hypervigilance)
- mental illness such as psychopathy
- Vengeance
In short, pulling your bully aside one on one and asking them if there was anything you did to upset them can be very helpful. Often times, bullies are dealing with things outside of class that they may be reflecting on other people. If you seem like a suitable target for them, they’ll pick on you to make themselves feel better. More than likely, your bully will only be acting out in front of other people but not when it’s just you and them. This may just be because they want to show everyone else that they are strong or un-breakable. Clearing any miscommuncations with your bully may allow you to understand them a bit better and not take the things they say or do so personally. You may even see that they could use someone to talk to and make a friend out of them! Keep in mind that everyone in college has to leave home and start fresh in a new place. Your bully may just be feeling alone or uncomfortable and need a friend to cheer them up. Stop looking at your bully as “the bully” and start trying to see them as a friend. You could find out that they’re really a great person after all.
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