Feds draw bead on school bullying

Kids who feel threatened at school struggle to learn. They drop out,

tune out, and get depressed.

So said US Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who called bullying

"gateway behavior to violence" Wednesday during the first-ever federal

anti-bullying summit.

Held in Washington, D.C., the conference was a call for federal and

nonprofit governmental agencies to step up, together to reduce

bullying.

"As educators, as state and local officials--and yes, absolutely at

the federal level--we simply have not taken the problem of bullying

seriously enough. Too often, bullying gets shrugged off," Duncan said

in his prepared remarks.

He made it clear he believes that addressing and reducing bullying is

an education priority directly linked to student performance and

school culture.

"Bullying is part of that continuum of school safety. It is troubling

in and of itself. But bullying is doubly dangerous because if left

unattended it can rapidly escalate into even more serious violence and

abuse," Duncan said. "Just as you have gateway drugs, bullying is

gateway behavior. Too often it is the first step down the road to one

of the tragic incidents of school violence we all have watched in

horror on the evening news."

Some statistics pulled from Duncan's speech:

In 2007, nearly one out of three students in middle school and high

school reported that they had been bullied at school during the school

year. That means that 8.2 million students a year are suffering at the

hands of bullies in school.

The most common form of bullying is being made fun of or being the

subject of mean-spirited rumors. But more violent forms of bullying

are common, too.

One out of nine secondary school students, or 2.8 million students,

said they have been pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on during the

last school year.

Another one-and-a-half million students said they were threatened with

harm, and one million students reported they had their property

destroyed during the school year.

In 2007, more than 900,000 secondary students reported being cyber-bullied.

Duncan's definition of bullying in his speech:

"Children are never born as bullies—it is a learned behavior. And if

they are learning to bully from their peers, or parents, they can

learn to behave differently, too.

Bullying is not the occasional bad joke or the child who gets a bit

too aggressive.

Bullying is deliberate. The bully wants to hurt someone. Bullying is

usually repeated, with the bully targeting the same victim again and

again--and the bully takes advantage of an imbalance of power by

picking victims that he or she perceives are vulnerable.

Bullying can occur through physical, verbal, or relational means where

bullies try to destroy their victims' relationships through vicious

rumors and social exclusion.

Bullying, in other words, is not just a "boy" behavior or a "mean

girl" behavior. It is a problem that often has an impact on children

who are neither bully nor victims.

It often occurs in groups. It shapes the way that everyone—bullies,

victims, and bystanders alike—view a school's environment.

Ultimately, bullying is really a form of physical and mental abuse. If

you don't stop it when it starts, it usually spreads."

Duncan called for change to the existing culture of shame and silence

often surrounding bullying. He said teachers and parents should be

encouraged to expose and confront bullying behavior, and schools need

to cultivate a culture of trust and accountability.

"We want children to learn to be assertive and stand up for

themselves. But we do not want to encourage them to respond to

bullying with violence and force themselves," Duncan said.

Duncan promised a renewed commitment by his agency to collect better

data to help document and find solutions addressing bullying. He said

they will spend more money in places with the biggest problems.

The education department's Office for Civil Rights will work with

schools to ensure that all educators understand there is a

relationship between bullying and discriminatory harassment, Duncan

said.

The complete text of Duncan's speech can be found by visiting the US

Department of Education's web site, www.ed.gov. - Maureen Dolan