November 3, 2016

Dear Next President,

There is one problem in schools that has hooked my mind the most. That problem is bullying. It has been a school problem for years and the thing that most disturbs me is that it hasn’t been getting much better. I believe that bullying needs to be looked at in a different way.

Many students are affected by bullying, whether if it’s that they’ve been bullied or they were the bullies. Many students that are bullied either attempt or commit suicide. Those lives matter and it needs to stop.

One of the ways to stop bullying is to report it, but, according to stopbullying.gov, “Only about 40% of bullied students report it.” That number needs to go up. One of the main reasons that most students don’t report bullying is that they don’t want to be considered a tattletale. We need to show students the difference between telling and tattling. Telling is done to protect yourself and/or other students. Tattling is done to get someone in trouble. We can put it this way. Think of your little or big brother or sister when you think of tattling. They’re probably doing it to get you in trouble. Think of telling a teacher about a fight when you think of telling. You are doing it to protect yourself and other students.

Another problem linked to this is cyberbullying. It is also a serious problem that can result in suicide. I personally think that cyberbullying is worse than regular verbal bullying because you can’t get away from it. Once you go home, you don’t have to worry about verbal bullying anymore. You can’t get away from cyberbullying. It follows you everywhere. The only way to avoid it is to give up your phone, tablet, gameboy, kindle, etc., and I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

WIth those problems, there are also multiple solutions. Students could make anti-bullying skits for school assemblies. The principles could also hire people that are just there to talk to the students, like Therapists. I had to go to a Therapist once, and I think that everyone need one at least once in their lives. Just having someone to talk to is a big deal when you’re being bullied. If you still aren’t comfortable with talking to someone like that, then you can talk to your friends. They will stick up for you. Again, bullying is a big problem and it needs to be fixed. I hope to see changes during your presidency.

Sincerely,

Emily.