It is students demonstrating these behaviors that educators must target as early as possible in order to have a chance to divert them from a destructive, antisocial path during their lives. Unless new behaviors are learned and adopted, bullies continue to bully throughout their lives. When continually faced with bullying behavior by their peers, victimized students report fear of going to school, fear of riding the bus, physical symptoms of illness, progressively lower levels of self-esteem, and diminished ability to learn in school. As young adults, victimized students have lower self esteem and higher levels of depression. Witnesses to bullying can be affected in this way as well.
Bullying is clearly a threat to peace in our schools.
For the past two years, MPAB has done a lot of research on how best to address bullying, and compiled a great many resources. We are collaborating with the Muskie Institute and the University of Southern Maine on this part of the project. A data base of resources will also be created and made available to schools. Adult involvement is crucial to the success of any school improvement initiative. MPAB will be providing staff training to a number of schools in anti-bullying programs this fall.