Bullying Hits Home

Goddard, Connie. "H8 @ skul: Cyber World Bullying." The Educational Digest. March 2008. Web. 28 Jan. 2011.

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In the article "H8 @ Skul: Cyber World Bullying," Connie Goddard begins the article describing how in middle and junior high schools, girls are becoming more electronic with their bullying. It has now become “cyberbullying," and has been taken over by girls. They have almost become more cutthroat and meaner than boys. This is because boys are more physical, while girls just attack self esteem. Goddard states that boys do it for hierarchy, while girls do it to "attract male attention." The suspects are usually the more popular girls, and they attack the victim’s looks. Most bullying, stated Goddard, is present in middle school because the body begins to start changing and the children begin to have a growing interest in the opposite sex. Goddard also goes on to state that, "the environment might be encouraging it both directly and indirectly." The internet makes bullying harder to monitor, along with a lot of the other electronics widely used by teenagers. Bullying wasn’t ever a big dead until Daniel Olweus began researching it in the 1970s. Bullying online has become a crazy because it is protected by free speech and most of the bullying is done on home computers. To stop bullying, suspects must be quickly disciplined because otherwise, "teachers and administrators appear to be hypocrites and encourage students’ contempt for authority."

With the bullying problem rising throughout the nation, this article shows insight to many that are blind about the subject. Many parents are clueless what goes on in school, and Goddard provides a peek into the school system. The technological time period we are in has made bullying especially easy for children. Goddard's article now shows parents how bad Facebook can really be. Goddard challenges the reader to realize what is going on. She wants to open eyes about what actually is said on Facebook and what is really said in text messages exchanged between young girls. Bullying today has been stereotyped by males. Many do not think girls are involved, and this article helps others realize how bad of a problem this has become. This article is very culturally significant because of the rising problem of bullying. Recently there was a homosexual student that killed himself because of bullying. This proves how serious the problem has become within the hallways in the schools. Columbine is another great example of what can happen in public schools these days, so this article is a must read for any parent with children in public schools.