NSU Horizons Spring/Summer 2008

verbatim 28 horizons Now more than ever, bullying has become common among students in American schools and on playgrounds. According to the U.S. Justice Department, one in four children is bullied every day. As a result of these incidents, children may suffer from anxiety, depression, or low self-esteem that could result in suicidal thoughts or behaviors. Today’s teachers are finding it more difficult to prevent or even detect bullying because it takes place in areas that are well beyond the classroom walls and hallways. What makes bullying a more complex issue is the lack of training and resources to identify it, address it, and eradicate it. Enter Meline Kevorkian, Ed.D., who has dedicated nearly two decades of her teaching career to addressing bullying and research- ing prevention solutions. Researching the cause and impact of bullying in our neighborhood schools has been her passion since her days as an educator in K–12 schools. This interest grew after Kevorkian’s career path led her to a university setting where she took a position as associate dean for master’s and educational spe- cialist degree programs at the Fischler School of Education and Human Services. Now that she serves as executive director of aca- demic review for Nova Southeastern University, she continues to conduct research and communicate community awareness after hours in schools and communities. Her motivation is simple. She lives by the words once expressed by Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Kevorkian is a founding member of the Consortium to Prevent School Violence and a board member of the International Bullying Prevention Association. Last year, she released an international study on bullying in schools and brought the International Bullying Prevention Conference to the NSU community, providing teachers, parents, and school administrators with access to the latest research and programs on bullying prevention. Currently, she is working with Broward County Public Schools on developing a policy that addresses bullying. Kevorkian is the author of several books on the subject: Six Secrets for Parents to Help Their Kids Achieve in School , Preventing Bullying: Helping Kids Form Positive Relationships , and the most recently published 101 Facts About Bullying: What Everyone Should Know and The Comfort Zone: Providing a Safe and Bully-Free Environment for School Age Child Care. She regularly appears as a columnist in The Miami Herald , speaking about cyber-bullying and other topics facing parents and children today. She has also served as an expert on various television and radio stations and programs, including CNN, NBC’s Today Show , WSVN, Mom Talk Radio , WLRN Public Television, BlueSuitMom.com , and Magic 102.7. Her Web site, www.mkevorkian.com , highlights Kevorkian’s research and communications. HORIZONS : How did you come to be a specialist in bullying and why? When I was working in K–12 schools, this was a topic that came up consistently in both private and public schools, but not with the name “bullying.” Being someone who always looked to research for answers, I found that research was absent at the time on how to help kids who face being bullied or how to help parents and teachers address it. When the topic surfaced, discussions sound- ed like “I remember when that happened to me.” However, we did not recognize its potential for long-term damage, negative impact on academic achievement, and link to school violence. HORIZONS : How many types of bullying have you identified? It is difficult to say how many different types of bullying have been identified because what we are all aware of is the physical aspect of bullying. The typical scenario demonstrates the bigger youth beating up the smaller child. What we are finding now is known as “relational bullying,” which includes name calling, spread- ing of rumors, exclusion, and isolation. It basically is contrary to bullying of decades past because it is defined as getting people to not talk to a particular person. Another aspect of bullying today is taking place in electronic form, and is known as cyber-bullying. In this case, offenders are able to take bullying to a whole new level and perform it 24 hours a day and 7 days a week electronically—thus, escalating the long-term effects of bullying. Instead of bullying taking place at lunch time a couple of times a week, it can now take place during evening hours, on the weekends, and pretty much all the time. There is no escape from it, which shows the aggressive nature of bullying today. I noticed immediately that it was very challenging for adults to identify with this. Parents often recall coming home with a ripped shirt and bloody nose. During those days, it was easier to detect bullying. Nowadays, the situations are much more difficult and frequently aren’t detected until a child is suffering. HORIZONS : Who does bullying impact and how? Bullying behavior impacts everyone. For some victims, the effects can be very stressful, cause problems in making friends, and impact academic achievement. Some of our youth are committing suicide after being bullied. There’s a term now called “bullycide” that describes children who have been bullied to the point of taking their own lives. Bullying behaviors may be the first steps to more serious problems. There is a direct link between children who ex- hibit bullying behaviors and violent crimes and incarceration. There’s a continuation to bullying. It is not as if these children leave high school and then realize that this behavior is not appropriate. They just don’t wake up one day and say, “I need to stop being a Fighting Smart: An Educator’s Mission to Prevent Bullying By Lisa Bolivar