Reaction Paper

An All Out Bullying Focus

Nearly 1 in 3 students are bullied on a daily basis in their school environment, which equates to almost 28 percent of a particular schools population. All over the country schools are trying to implement programs that create an environment that does not condone bullying. Many of these programs focus on a zero tolerance approach, but studies have shown this is not necessarily effective.

Amy Novotney, the author of the article, also highlights the fact that zero tolerance is an ineffective way to eliminate bullying from the school environment. Her conclusions focus on comprehensive program that targets the community, parents and students, with an intensive, long lasting program that is regularly assessed and monitored.

She draws her conclusions from a program implemented in 2011, by Dr. Amanda Nickerson, a professor of counseling. She founded the only center of its kind nationwide, that focuses primarily on bullying and abuse prevention. The primary goal of the Alberti Center for Bullying and Abuse prevention is to reduce bullying by developing effective tools to change the language, attitudes and behaviors of educators, parents, students and society.

Dr. Nickerson’s views on the topic at hand and how it should be handled is in direct agreement with our text. In chapter 13, the text highlights what does not work in respects to eliminating the culture that is bullying. Some of the things that are highlighted as not working include: instituting zero tolerance for fighting, increasing only the student’s awareness of bullying and grouping all alleged bullies together in a therapy group or classroom. These are some of the same points that are concluded in the article and that proved to be ineffective.

Our text also tells us what does seem to work as far as bullying is concerned. These points include: everyone must change (not just the identified bullies), intervention is more effective in the earlier grades and constant evaluation...