Bullying: a human rights and social studies issue.

"Bullying and victimization in schools have become major concerns for parents, teachers, and school psychologists" (Left, Kupersmidt, & Patterson, 1999, p. 505). Elementary and middle school teachers likely have seen students bully each other, so it is important that they notice the characteristics associated with being bullied and recognize bullying in all its forms: physical verbal, and psychological (Olweus, 2003). This knowledge will help teachers take action in bullying situations and resolve these conflicts.

The negative outcomes of bullying can be seen in the relationship between bullying behavior and school issues, such as academic achievement, school bonding, and absenteeism (Dake, Price, & Telljohan, 2003). Even just the initial stages of bullying can bring about changes in the victimized students' actions and demeanor: students may be afraid to walk home or even go to lunch, because they do not feel safe outside of the classroom. Other students may sit at their desks and just stare off into the distance, not paying attention to the teacher or to anything that is going on. Students may develop health problems as a result of bullying (Fekkes, Pijpers, Fredriks, Vogels, & Verloove-Vanhorick, 2006).

Bullying can be addressed in many forums, but some researchers believe that social studies classes are an excellent venue for addressing bullying as a human rights issue (Kirman, 2004). Social studies curricula are designed to familiarize students with the core values and principles of one's country. Through the social studies, students acquire the requisite knowledge and strategies to become citizens who effectively exercise their constitutional rights and privileges. The social studies also can build students' understanding of community, justice, and human rights. This article describes the relevance of bullying to each of these areas of social studies understanding.

DEVELOPING A SENSE OF COMMUNITY

In the primary grades, social studies curricula initiate children's understanding of the concept of community. Children learn about community helpers through stories and bulletin board displays featuring letter carriers, firefighters, nurses, doctors, and police officers. Children construct models of their neighborhoods, emulate community helpers through role playing, and take field trips to see community helpers in action. These activities are enjoyable, but do they really expand students" understanding of how a community functions? If the social studies unit focuses on the adult community helpers, then children may assume that they themselves bear no real responsibility for their community's health and security. To counteract this perception, social studies curricula can incorporate activities that enable students to recognize and function in the communities where they participate most directly--their classroom and school. Therefore, teachers who consistently focus on the classroom and school communities can provide concrete experiences for children to construct accurate perceptions of their individual and collective responsibilities.

Learning the Roles

It is essential that teachers encourage children's participation in their classroom communities and emphasize the integral role that each individual plays. The classroom community can be designed to ensure that everyone assumes responsibility for others' well-being and safety, including in bullying situations. Children can learn the ways in which the classroom community includes and respects everyone. For example, when children notice that a peer is excluded in the classroom, the playground, and/or the lunchroom, they should take action to include and welcome that individual. They should come to understand that exclusion is a form of bullying as harmful to the victim as physical bullying. It should be noted that children will recognize whether their teachers take action in exclusion situations as often as they do in physical bullying. In addition, children need models who demonstrate what to do when they are bystanders to bullying situations (Frey et al., 2005). In safe classroom and school communities, bullying is neither ignored nor tolerated.

Making the Rules

Children wonder how rules are developed and enforced. Most teachers recognize the importance of formulating classroom rules with their students, but may overlook the wording of their rules. There is a difference between enforcing a list of rules beginning with "Don't" and a list of those that start with "Do." Children want to know what they should be doing and what the boundaries are in the classroom context. These rules support children's positive contributions, since they provide clear expectations for everyone's behavior. Teachers also can identify and use a particular set of life skills (Kovalik & Olsen, 1994). These are such traits as caring, responsibility, respect, and friendship, among others, that can be used to establish and maintain a positive learning environment.

Just because it has not yet been possible to eradicate bullying (as is the case with sexism or racism), this does not mean bullying should continue. No student should feel unsafe in a school setting; teachers who emphasize positive, caring behaviors in the classroom environment can only help students become secure. In addition, teachers should familiarize their students with the school rules and policies regarding bullying (Eisenberg & Aalsma, 2005).

Learning the Appropriate Behavior

The social studies provide many opportunities for teachers to set aside time to discuss students' problems with bullying, identify types of bullying behaviors, and develop an understanding of the school's expectations. During these discussions, students learn what they are supposed to do in bullying situations--who to tell how to act, and what support they can expect from adults. Rowan (2007) states, "Role-playing is useful for acting out bullying scenarios in which students practice conflict resolution. A follow-up class discussion gives students opportunities to elaborate on what has been learned" (p. 183). Younger children often need guidance to differentiate between tattling and telling. To avoid confusion, teachers need to devote time to discuss how these behaviors apply in bullying situations. Teachers can clarify what will happen to the bully, the victim, and the bystander. All students should be able to answer the following:

1) How will victims and bullies be handled? 2) What will the consequences of bullying be? 3) How will the classroom community support victims and enact bully prevention strategies?

Teachers can take preventive measures before bullying occurs. Beyond the obvious measures of teacher awareness, constant presence, and alertness (i.e., stand at the door, observe the tenor of all entering students, note changes in demeanor), a teacher must first ensure that parents and students know that bullying will not be tolerated in the classroom, on school grounds, or during school-sponsored functions, such as field trips. Parents should be able to expect that the teacher will act, and not ignore, bullying at school. It should be evident that whether their child is the bully or the victim, parents can depend upon the teacher to treat their children fairly.

Applying the Rules

Likewise, it should be evident to students that the rules regarding bullying are uniformly applied and enforced by all adults within the school. The National School Boards Association's Council of Urban Boards of Education conducted a nationwide survey of students' feelings on school safety and bullying. Their findings, reported on the ABC News show Primetime, showed that older students had less confidence in their school's ability to stop bullying (Croft, 2006). Likewise, a recent National Crime Victimization Survey of 3.7 million teachers revealed that 79 percent of elementary and only 56 percent of secondary teachers enforced school rules (Dinkes, Cataldi, & Lin-Kelly, 2007). When a substantial number of teachers are not accepting responsibility for school safety, nor enforcing equal treatment of rule violators, how can we expect students to take action in bullying situations or believe they will be treated fairly? Therefore, schools and classrooms should exemplify communities in which members receive equal protection, respect, consideration, and treatment.

DEVELOPING A SENSE OF JUSTICE

Social studies curricula devote considerable discussion to the balance of power among the branches of government as well as to a nation's system of justice. Students learn about the court system at each governmental level and the ways that justice has defined citizens' rights and responsibilities throughout history. To assist students' understanding of the court system, social studies teachers may hold mock court trials of famous cases, in which students role play the parties involved. These exercises serve as vicarious experiences with the justice system, but the students have no real say or investment in the outcomes or the fairness of such proceedings.

Promoting Responsibility and Justice

Since the social studies are intended to develop students' understanding of democratic systems of justice, students need real experiences dealing with disputes and making decisions fair to the parties involved as well as to their community. In preparation for this responsibility, schools must provide students with extensive training and opportunities to share and accept power within the school. Peer mediation is one means of developing students' requisite skills and knowledge of justice (Varnham, 2005).

Elementary, middle, and secondary schools have implemented peer mediation systems to involve students in resolving conflicts, thereby empowering students and encouraging their participation in the school community (Kajs, Thomas, Wilson, & Zambon, 2001). While the zero tolerance policies used in schools in the United States and other countries result in students being expelled or suspended for their behavior, peer mediation provides alternatives that keep students in school and hold them accountable for their behaviors and conduct, including bullying (Nairn & Smith, 2002; Varnham, 2005).

Through peer mediation, students must consider both sides of a bullying dispute, evaluate the information, and develop workable solutions that are fair and agreeable to all parties. Peer mediation promotes each student's stake in the bullying situation and underscores the message that bullying is not the acceptable social norm for the school. It is likely that the students' solutions are more sensible and understandable to their peers than whatever might be achieved by adults invoking the school's disciplinary system. Finally, research has shown that peer mediation increases student interest in the justice and legal system, while promoting citizenship (Kajs et al., 2001).

DEVELOPING AN UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Human rights advocates around the world have denounced bullying. While bullying may have been in existence as long as there have been schools, it is no longer viewed as a rite of passage for children. This changing perception represents an opportunity for social studies curricula to explore the ways this human rights protection is initiated, defined, and enacted by different states within the United States, as well as around the world.

Legislative Protection From Bullying

American elementary and middle school students learn about the legislative process during social studies class. Traditionally, this unit of study focuses on the process of how a bill becomes a law--who is involved and what steps are taken along the way from a bill proposal to enactment. Students may be disinterested in the legislative process because it seems irrelevant to them. This perception may change, however, when teachers incorporate their state's attempts to pass legislation about bullying. Linfer and Small (2003) report, "State laws have a greater potential to influence policies and practices of local school districts and individual schools related to bullying" (p. 446).

Thirty-six of the 50 states have passed legislation about bullying (Bully Police USA, 2008). As students focus upon their state's legislative process, they have a firsthand connection not only to how the process relates to their lives, but also to how their human rights are being protected. Students can compare their understanding of bullying with the state's definition. Legislation often contains language pertaining both to bullying and harassment. Examining the purposes and consequences of the law provides further opportunities for students to understand the impact on their individual rights, well-being, and safety. Some states specify the support that both bullies and victims will receive. For information about individual states' anti-bullying laws, visit the Bully Police websites (www. bullypolice.org or www.bullypolice.net). In fact, this study may enable students to more fully appreciate the bullying policies and anti-bullying programs their schools have enacted or should be initiating.

Florida provides an appropriate example of the process involved in initiating and passing such legislation. The Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act unanimously passed in both the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate, and Governor Charlie Crist is expected to sign it into law (Sampson & Gilpatrick, 2008). Enactment of this bill will have taken three years, as legislators debated the definitions of bullying, categories of students who would be protected, and even the need for such a bill (Sampson, 2008). This act prohibits bullying and harassment of any K-12 public school student or employee, including through the use of school computers and networks. Not only are all students afforded equal protection, they may be referred for counseling whether they are the bully or the victim. School districts are required to develop policies on bullying and harassment that specify processes for investigating claims of bullying and harassment, notifying parents, and outlining the consequences of these acts for individuals who commit them (Sampson & Gilpatrick, 2008).

International Protection

Social studies textbooks and curricula generally include a discussion of the role of the United Nations in promoting world peace, aiding victims of war and natural disasters, and advocating for human rights. Yet, teachers may be unaware of this organization's actions on behalf of children's rights. They must help their students recognize that freedom from bullying and harassment are human rights issues addressed by the United Nations member nations.

In 1989, the United Nations proclaimed that children deserve and need special protection, care, and safeguards under its Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Consequently, the UN convened and adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This document had been in development since 1978, when the United Nations sponsored the International Year of the Child. Among the 54 articles are two that became legally binding and are pertinent to bullying and human rights. Article 19 states that:

States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s), or any other person who has the care of the child. (Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 1990)

Likewise, Article 29 pertains to the child's education and outlines several areas related to human rights and bullying:

b) The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and for the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations; ... d) The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin. (Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 1990)

Since teachers and school personnel are entrusted with the care of children throughout the school day, it is imperative that each adult assumes responsibility for the well-being of the students, protecting them from physical and psychological harm. Each child, regardless of ethnicity, gender, culture, and language preference, deserves equal protection and should be able to rely on the adults to act on his/her behalf. Teachers should focus on uses and abuses of power and promote their students" positive attitudes and tolerance of others. Further, the adults at school must model appropriate behaviors toward all children and recognize bullying for what it really is--a violation of children's human rights.

References

Bully Police USA. (2008). Does your state have an anti bullying law? Retrieved June 7, 2008, from www.bullypolice.org.

Croft, G.T. (2006). Back-to-school: Books and bullies. Retrieved September 19, 2006, from http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/print.

Dake, J., Price, J., & Telljohan, S. (2003). The nature and extent of bullying at school. The Journal of School Health, 73(5), 173-180.

Dinkes, R., Cataldi, E. F., & Lin-Kelly, W. (2007). Indicators of school crime and safety: 2007 (NCES 2008-021/ncj 219553). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, and Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

Eisenberg, M. E., & Aalsma, M. C. (2005). Bullying and peer victimization: Position paper of the Society for Adolescent Medicine. Journal of Adolescent Health, 36(1), 88-91.

Fekkes, M., Pijpers, F. I. M., Frediks, A. M., Vogels, T., & Verloove-Vanhorick, S. P. (2006). Do bullied children get ill or do ill children get bullied? A prospective cohort study on the relationship between bullying and health-related symptoms. Pediatrics, 117, 1568-1574.

Frey, K. S., Hirchstein, M. K., Snell J. L., Edstrom, L. V., MacKenzie, E. P., & Broderick, C. J. (2005). Reducing playground bullying and supporting beliefs: An experimental trial of the Steps to Respect program. Developmental Psychology, 41(3), 479-491.

Kajs, L. T., Thomas, D., Wilson, L. J., & Zambon, D. (2001). The use of peer mediation programs to address peer-to-peer student conflict in schools: A case study. ELA Notes, 36(3), 4-6, 10.

Kirman, J. (2004). Using the theme of bullying to teach about human rights in the social studies curriculum. McGill Journal of Education, 39(3), 327-341.

Kovalik, S., & Olsen, K. (1994). ITI: The model integrated thematic instruction (3rd ed.). Kent, WA: Books for Educators.

Leff, S., Kupersmidt, J., & Patterson, C. (1999). Factors influencing teacher identification of peer bullies and victims. School Psychology Review, 28(3), 505-517.

Linfer, S. P., & Small M. A. (2003). State laws and policies to address bullying in schools. School Psychology Review, 32(3), 445-455.

Nairn, K., & Smith, A. (2002). Secondary students' experience of bullying at school and their suggestions for dealing with it. Children's Issues, 16(1), 1-15.

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (1990). Convention on the rights of the child. Retrieved February 2, 2008, from www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc. htm 2/2/08.

Olweus, D. (2003). Bullying is not a fact of life. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Mental Health Services.

Rowan, L.O. (2007). Making classrooms bully-free zones: Practical suggestions for educators. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 43(4), 182-183, 185.

Sampson, H. (April 28, 2008). Bill aims to stop school bullying. The Miami Herald.

Sampson, H., & Gilpatrick, B. (May 1, 2008). Anti-bullying bill passes Senate; signing expected. The Miami Herald.

Varnham, S. (2005). Seeing things differently: Restorative justice and school discipline. Education and the Law, 17(3), 87-104.

Ernest Andrew Brewer is Assistant Professor of Social Studies and Rebecca P. Harlin is Associate Professor of Reading, Department of Teaching and Learning, College of Education, Florida Atlantic University.