President and Michelle Obama hosted an anti-bullying conference at the White House yesterday, bringing together students, teachers, parents, and policy experts to discuss strategies for combating harassment online and offline.
Talking about the impact that bullying can have on a child, the President said:
So consider these statistics. A third of middle school and high school students have reported being bullied during the school year. Almost three million students have said they were pushed, shoved, tripped, even spit on. It's also more likely to affect kids that are seen as different, whether it's because of the color of their skin, the clothes they wear, the disability they may have, or sexual orientation.
And bullying has been shown to lead to absences and poor performance in the classroom. And that alone should give us pause, since no child should be afraid to go to school in this country."
The conference brought together policy experts to discuss strategies for combating bullying and offer advice for parents, teachers and children. Four themes emerged from the advice on offer:
- The school environment is key. An academically successful school, with a positive atmosphere will see fewer incidents of bullying. For that reason, as well as addressing individual incidents, a holistic approach to preventing bullying is needed.
- Teachers should be trained in how to respond when they see bullying in the classroom. Taking time to learn how to respond effectively now can save time when finding solutions to problems in the future.
- Children should be empowered to speak up. Every child should have an adult in his or her live that they can trust. The major reason children who are bullied don't tell anyone is that they don't believe that anything will change if they do--adults need to show that they will take action if kids speak up.
- Parents need to support their children: setting an example by their own behavior, rewarding kids if they do the right thing, and being involved in their kids activities, online and offline. If children tell their parents that they are being bullied, parents have a responsibility to support their children and respond in a constructive way.
President Obama and his administration are putting in place policies to support parents, teachers, and schools tackle bullying effectively. You can find out more at StopBullying.gov.