Students should feel safe

With all of the chaos that students face on a daily basis, bullying should not be one of them. Students have a plethora of hardships that they are encountering daily, such as academics, relationships, working, etc., that if they are having to deal with someone harassing them on some level ,as well, that could lead to a breaking point.

My belief statement is, I believe students will learn best and to their full potential, if they feel safe in their school environment. Teachers and school officials need to realize that there is no official way a bully or a victim will look, sound, or act. There seems to be a stereotype that the students who get bullied are the "nerdy" ones who get good grades and wear black thick rimmed glasses and the bully is the "dumb jock" who wears a letterman jacket and can bench press 300 pounds. That is not necessarily the case. Growing up, I never experienced bullying to the extreme, but when i did witness it, the students who would get bullied were those who were below average students. The bullies were the ones who would be on the honor roll, so it was basically a stereotype reversed.


Ultimately, my point is you never really can describe what the characteristics of either the bully or the victim. An explanation of why the victims were doing poorly in their academics is because if a student does not feel safe in their classroom then how are they going to focus their energy of their schoolwork, when they are more likely worrying on how they can avoid their bullies at all costs possible. As a future educator, I believe it would be my job to make sure my students can feel safe at their school. The only worries they should have are doing a good job in school and are able to learn to their fullest capabilities. I believe they will achieve this through a safe school environment.