Don't be a bystander ~

                According to http://2011bullyingprogram.weebly.com/bullying-statistics.html, 1 out of 4 teens have been a victim of bullying. Even worse, nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) have reported being verbally harassed at school in the past year because of their sexuality. Each month the number of people being bullied rises. There are four types of bullying: physical, verbal, indirect, and cyber. This needs to come to an end; people have committed suicide as a result of being bullied. Even if someone was bullied as a child it will affect them the rest of their life.

                New Jersey is trying their best to end bullying; and they are making great progress. There is an anti-bullying law now; It states that school employees must report incidents of harassment to the principal the day they hear about it or witness it. A written report must be handed in one to two days after the incident; an investigation must be occur at least 10 days after the written report was received. Also if bullying or harassment happened off school property and a student brings it into school the law also covers it. If you want to read about how Chris Cerf, New Jersey Education Commissioner, kicked of Week of Respect click here http://www.northjersey.com/news/NJ_education_commissioner_kicks_off_anti-bullying_Week_of_Respect_in_Teaneck.html.

                The first week of October New Jersey had their second annual “Week of Respect” against bullying in public schools. Each teacher in the state had to acknowledge bullying in their own way at least one class period that week. By doing these lessons, the class really learned a lot about how one person in the class felt about each topic they spoke about. Everyone has their own opinions on bullying, so when these lessons were going on and everyone in the class was participating it was like you could almost feel the heat and emotion between the classmates. Karlee Patterson, Pitman High School senior, said during one of her lessons she almost began to cry because she is against bullying so for her to speak against it made her feel very emotional.

                Don't be a bystander and watch someone get bullied; stop them. What if you were in that situation? Wouldn't you want someone there for you? Next time you see a student getting bullied, in school or on the Internet, think of a way that you can get the bully to stop picking on him or her. Let's bring the bullying statistics down instead of having them rise.