Balboa

Bullying is a big issue in middle school. It causes pain that lasts more than one might think. Bullying happens whether we know it or not, whether we want to admit it or not, and whether we, ourselves, bully or not. Can bullying be put to an end? Can adults change bullying? Is it just the way kids are to bully those who are different? I never really got bullied except for one experience in 7th grade. My friends and I got bullied all because of an accident. Something accidentally got flung at another group of girls, who were a grade ahead of us. They then stared at us and threatened to beat us up, this happened over a week or two. We told a counselor what happened, and he seemed to just brush it off as no big deal. Our problems got worse. The girls started following us around the school wherever we would go. We couldn’t handle it anymore so we told Mr. Duenas, who we knew would do something to help us. He finally talked to them and the girls stopped bothering us, although they still “dogged us out.” Our problems got better. I haven’t seen a whole lot of people get bullied, but once, on my friend’s birthday, my other friends and I decorated her locker. Later on in the day, we noticed that this girl was ripping the stuff off the locker. We asked her why she did it and she replied, “Someone ripped my decorations off and I asked a teacher if they were going to get punished, and they didn’t, so I’m allowed to take yours off.” I told her: Why would you do that? Just because yours got ripped off, you have to go around being mean to people on their birthday? Why don’t you treat people the way you want to be treated? Maybe if you weren’t mean to people, then they would be nicer to others. So you should treat people the way you want to be treated!” That girl gave me a dirty look and walked away. I think that the school administration did a good job of trying to stop the bullying at Balboa. A couple of years ago there was an assembly about bullying that everyone saw. The guy talked about how easy people got bullied, and talked about some people who he knew who got bullied. The guy made it a fun assembly, but still getting his point across. The teachers, at least the ones that I had, really tried to stop bullying. They wouldn’t allow it in their class, and if they saw it, they would put an end to it. The principal, Mrs. Gern, would have an assembly, during PE, and talked to everybody about bullying, and that it needs to stop. I don’t think that helped the students stop bullying. I don’t think that anybody listened to Mrs. Gern. During my time at Balboa, she gave that assembly, (to every PE period) once a year. I think that it is partially just the way kids are is to bully other people. It shouldn’t be that way, but kids think that it is funny to see the bully-ee’s reaction. They bully people for entertainment. I think that it is also partially the parent’s fault for not teaching their children to be respectful of others and to not be mean to someone just because they are chubby, wear glasses, and have asthma. I think that the parents should re-initiate in their kids to play nice with others. Adults can change it to a certain amount. They can only do so much. Beyond what they can do, is how the kids were raised, it is like training a puppy – they learn the best when they are little, once they develop habits, it is almost impossible to break them. Once the kids reach middle school, it is like a full grown dog, they most likely won’t change. If the school had better supervision, either the school be smaller, or have more supervision around the campus, I think that bullying would go down. But we can’t have a ton of schools everywhere, there are a lot as it is. The adults can change the bullying, but if an adult isn’t around, then most likely, there will be bullying. The adults in a middle school could make school more exciting, which would make less people bored, so the bullies who bully for fun wouldn’t be bullying. I didn’t get bullied that much, nor did I see others get bullied. Bullying is a big issue and with a lot of work, can be put to an end. The adults at a school can change it if they tried a little harder. I think that bullying is part of who kids are; they like to make those who are different feel bad. Bullying hurts others and needs to stop.

Bullying is a world wide issue and it’s getting bigger. We can’t do much to help/solve it. The ones most in charge and in command and most that are going to be able to stop this mess and send it in the other direction. Bullying needs to change. And something needs to occur for this change to happen.

I had only been “Bullied” once. In 7th grade in my group of friends... There were four of us. Three eighth grade girls were just being them annoying selves… So our group looked over at them. They immediately called us on it. Saying to stop dogging them out. We sat at the same table the next day and the weeks that followed. So soon they would start following us around and even following us to our lockers after the bell had rang. We would keep walking by our locker till they stopped following us. So, they wouldn’t know where our lockers were. The way our two tables were set up two of us were facing their direction and there table. And even though we would barley even looks at them. Not even so much of a glance. Someday these three girls would just walk by with not one look at all. Other days they would call us bad names as they went to their table. Some days they would stare us down. It was different each day. As far as seeing people get bullied goes.. I never really saw too much of it other than the constant name calling never knowing if they are *kidding* or not. Never anything big, like slamming into lockers? No. In my middle school years name calling was Everywhere. According to everyone that did it they were just kidding. But no matter if they are kidding or not it could always hurt someone. On the inside. No one ever did anything about that. Including teachers... Not that they knew. In our situation of bulling the school administration did nothing then something. We went to a counselor and told him about what was happening to us and then after that we went to a math teacher and ASB teacher. He was known for the person for everyone was supposed to be afraid of. He had a loud voice and caught everyone with gum. After we informed him about things started looking up. The bullying stopped and when we told him the names he acted like it was no new thing. Children are mean to weak because if they pick on the strong who’s going to win that war?? Why do they pick on anyone at all? I have no idea. But the weak are targeted as being bullied because the weak are usually different and get picked on majorly just because they aren’t like everyone else. Another question is Will it always be like this? I’m am going to have to say yes until something convincing changes my mind and until something Big/Drastic happens to kids and their way of thinking or teachers and adults do something about it. Adults can most definitely stops the culture and make a different of Middle School. They can change what’s going on by having a most strict policy and having a more disciplined system if one is caught bullying. But what happens, instead? The bullies in themselves “get in trouble” by the teacher, or whoever it is, telling them to stop or there will be consequences. I find this unfair and a slap in the face to the people who is actually was bullied by them. Overall, I could make some changes to the school board and make the Middle School Experience allot better and more enjoyable. Also, most kids see bullying yet they don’t know what they can and or should do about it. Or in another way kids are bullied and they don’t know what to do about it. This is what happened to me. With effort teachers and adults can come together and stop this problem if they really wanted too.

---  Bullying is everywhere, but the place you see it the most is in middle school. Most people say middle school is like living hell and the memories of being bullied are long lasting. Some adults still hold grudges against their old middle school bully, even though it was many years ago. I’m positive that everyone’s either seen someone being bullied, been bullied, or been the bully. At Balboa Middle School I’ve usually been the one to see. Every day I see people stick up there middle finger at someone for no reason. Maybe there just being immature or there trying to be “cool”. I’ve also seen a few physical fights that eventually everyone in the school is there watching until the principle or another staff member comes and breaks it up. I remember in 8th grade at P.E my 7th grade friend would always get bullied by this girl on the basketball team. She was called fat and got dirty looks from the girl on the basketball team. It didn’t only hurt her it also hurt me to just sit there and watch. I couldn’t just sit there and watch her being taunt anymore. I had to do something. So first I asked her what I should say to the councilor in case she didn’t want me to say something specifically. So she told me what to say and I was off. Since I was an office assistant last year it was easy to just go and talk to her councilor. After I told her what happened in P.E she called my friend up to the office to talk to her about it. That day right after my friend told her what was going on she called the girl that was bullying my friend up to the office so she could tell her side of the story. All the councilor did was made her sign a paper that said if she bullied her again she would get suspended. Also there was a talk about bullying, but no one was really paying attention so it didn’t help much. Everyone has their own view on bullying. Some think it’s funny to watch the smaller children squirm. Others are more considerate and think bullying is just plain cruel.