With 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.
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 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.
