More than 3.2 million students are bullied each year. The definition of a bully states that they have a superior strength and can intimidate someone; and a “bully” takes advantage of that power. Many campaigns and organizations are in the working with the common goal of ending bullying, although, that is impossible. Impossible, because everyone and some point is a bully themselves whether it is privately amongst yourself or when you share your opinions. Many individuals who bully another do it for the laughs of the bystanders who are near and to get more attention than they would have if they didn't pick on an innocent child. 1 out of 7 students in K-12 is either a victim of bullying or a bully themselves. Although, a bully is really someone with an opinion that may or may not share it publicly. Sadly those who do victimize another by sharing their opinion affect the victims’ education and social status.


Studies show that about 160,000 teenagers skip school each day to risk being bullied either verbally or physically. This sometimes leads to the statistic of 1 out of 10 students dropping out of high school because they can no longer tolerate being picked on each day. Signs of physical and verbal abuse could be as minor as skipping certain classes, avoiding the bus, having cuts, bruises, or damaged items/apparel; or they could be more extreme as running away, trying to stow a weapon into school, and talking about suicide or violence to others. Throughout the different school levels (elementary school; middle school; high school) physical bullying is like a roller coaster because at different points there are higher peaks, then it go down again, but eventually ends up going up. Verbal bullying, on the other hand, stays constant and never ends even after the school life.

It also affects the victims’ social status sometimes by tearing away their “friends”. Sometimes, people are embarrassed or ashamed to be friends with someone who gets picked on because they are scared that if they do not agree with the bully then the bully will pick on them and hurt them too. As a result of that, the friends may turn on the alleged victim and leave the victim in the dust. That wrecks their self-esteem even more than the bully does alone. That is also another sign of physical or verbal abuse--displaying low self-esteem. Sometimes that will lead to a serious case of depression and anxiety and could end an individual’s life because they do not want to deal with their life anymore. A shockwave is sent out after the death of an innocent student to their parents who wished they knew more and could help, their friends who feel it is their fault that they weren’t an upstander and didn’t even try to help, other bystanders who laughed along even though they knew it was wrong, and even the bully himself. It was the bully’s responsibility for another successful suicide that hurt many others all because the wanting of more attention.