11 Staggering Facts About Bullying In America
nist6ss/FlickrWith the rise of the Internet comes new ways for students to torment each other, and student suicides have called new attention to bullying in schools.
As part of National Bullying Prevention Month and World Bullying Prevention Day on Oct. 7, we have compiled some staggering facts about how big a problem bullying is in America's schools. Our sources include the National Education Association, PACER Center, and Make Beats Not Beatdowns.
Bullying today:
- Bullying affects nearly one in three American schoolchildren in grades six through 10.
- 83% of girls and 79 percent of boys report experiencing harassment.
- Six out of 10 teenagers say they witness bullying in school once a day.
- It is estimated that 160,000 children miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students.
- 35% of kids have been threatened online.
- Nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT youth reported being verbally harassed at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation
- Bullies often go on to perpetrate violence later in life: 40% of boys identified as bullies in grades 6 through 9 had three or more arrests by age 30.
- One of every 10 students who drop out of school do so because of repeated bullying.
- 75% of school shooting incidents have been linked to bullying and harassment.
- 64% of children who were bullied did not report it.
- Nearly 70% of students report think schools respond poorly to bullying.
Bullying has serious side effects - students who are targets experience extreme stress that can lead to symptoms of physical illness and a diminished ability to learn, according to the National Education Association.
Schools have come under fire recently for not doing enough to prevent student suicides related to bullying in schools, and because bullying is becoming even harder to track, some school districts are now paying services to track students on social media.
For information about how to stop bullying, head over to the National Education Association.