I think bullying shouldn’t be allowed because bullying increases the chance of people attempting to risk suicide. According to "The Origins of Bullying" Scientific American Blog Network, “Late on a Saturday night in September, a 14-year old boy named Jamey Rodemeyer, who had been the target of bullying from fellow students at Williamsville North High School in Buffalo New York, took his life. Just hours before he killed himself, Jamey left the last of his numerous messages online talking about the pain he had been dealing with for a long time. Jamey’s suicide was a terrible, extreme reaction to being bullied, and tragically, his was not an unusual case” (Hogan Sherrow, 2011). My thoughts on this boy committing suicide is that he didn’t deserve to commit suicide and should have told his parents for help on his bullying and tell the school that their son is getting bullied or move to a different school. Jamey isn’t alone because he has a family he can talk to about his issue.“Some reports there were as many as ten teen suicides in the month of September this year, in the United States, that were linked to bullying” ("The Origins of Bullying." Scientific American Blog Network). Some of the reports show many teens committing suicide in September in the United States because the teens were getting bullied often.

Bullying is causing students to become more depressed. According to Bullying Statistics and Center for Disease Control 2015, students who experience bullying are at increased risk for poor school adjustment, sleep difficulties, anxiety, and depression. I was bullied in 8th grade at Murray Middle School. There was a person named James  that knew me at Ramsey Middle School and bullied me at least five five times during my Social Studies class and on the bus. I told my social worker about the issue I had with him in class and on the bus. My social worker told me that the bully would be kicked off the bus for three days.I felt it didn’t pay off after everything he has done to me such as touching me inappropriately, attempting to steal my belongings, and laugh at me. When I told the bus driver about the issue, the student who bullied me would often smile at me leaving the bus, but I often ignored him because he was a bully. This ultimately led me deciding to hate anyone from Ramsey Middle School even more due to this event. According to Childhood Bullying 'damages Adult Life'" BBC News, those who had been victims of bullying, without becoming bullies themselves, were more likely to have mental health problems, more serious illnesses and had a greater likelihood of being in poverty. The more times I get bullied, I lose interest interacting and having fun with others because I was bullied before.

I think bullying shouldn’t be allowed because there is an increased risk of violent behavior later in the victims’ lives. “Students who are both targets of bullying and engage in bullying behavior are at greater risk for both mental health and behavior problems than students who only bully or are only bullies” (Bullying Statistics and Center for Disease Control 2015). “Actions aimed at changing the behavior of the bullying youth (fighting, getting back at them, telling them to stop, etc.) were rated as more likely to make things worse” (Bullying Statistics and Center for Disease Control 2015). Behavior such as fighting can make things worse in bullying because people who is fight physically with the victim can lead to more consequences. “The research published in Psychological Science, suggests the most negative outcomes were for those who had been both victims and perpetrators of bullying, described in the study as "bully-victims." Described as "easily provoked, low in self-esteem, poor at understanding social cues, and unpopular with peers," these children grew into adults six times more likely to have a "serious illness, smoke regularly or develop a psychiatric disorder" (Childhood Bullying 'damages Adult Life'" BBC News). As of now, I’m not really good at understanding how most people feel and I am also unpopular with my peers because I don’t usually care for others.

Bullying shouldn’t be allowed because bullying causes harm to people such as becoming depressed and attempt to suicide. If bullying continues, the chances increase of risking their lives into dangerous conditions. To prevent people from getting bullied often, talk to an adult you can trust about the issue. The president could focus more on bullying by having a national live discussion about bullying and ways to prevent it.

Sincerely,

Feng Xiong, 10th Grade