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Bullying Reported in Henry County Schools
Viewed: 5390
Posted by: Matt Boster
Date: Sep 28 2012 8:03 AM
You hear on the news all the time of kids taking their own lives for different reasons. But lately, and unfortunately, these reasons have become all too common: Bullying. Whether it be at school, through texting or cyber bullying, it’s happening more often than any of us care to know or even admit. Want to know some statistics? Well, you’re going to know because I’m going to give you some.
The statistics on bullying and suicide are alarming:
• Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year, according to the CDC. For every suicide among young people, there are at least 100 suicide attempts. Over 14 percent of high school students have considered suicide, and almost 7 percent have attempted it.
• Bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims, according to studies by Yale University
• A study in Britain found that at least half of suicides among young people are related to bullying
• 10 to 14 year old girls may be at even higher risk for suicide, according to the study above
• According to statistics reported by ABC News, nearly 30 percent of students are either bullies or victims of bullying, and 160,000 kids stay home from school every day because of fear of bullying.
*bullystatistics.org
This week, these statistics hit a little too close to home. We lost one of our own. A young man from Headland High School was a victim of this awful “crime”, thought there was no alternative, and decided to take his own life. Now, his mother and father have lost their son, someone has lost their brother, a grandson, a nephew is gone. The class of 2015 is one less. The wonderful young man many remember so well as he grew up is gone because many watched as he was picked on, taunted and bullied and no one did anything. The reports to teachers and administration that I am sure he turned in went unnoticed, or as I, as a victim of bullying myself 20 years ago, probably were looked as ‘kids being kids’ or ‘you’re reading too much into it’. Where are these administrators now? Are we taking it serious enough now?
WAKE UP PEOPLE!! This is not a joke!! Even elementary school kids are being bullied! What’s going to happen when a young 4th or 5th grader tries to hurt themselves? Are you going to brush it off then? What’s it going to take? Or is it not important enough? Is it only important enough to make the news when it’s about football and graduating or politics and who’s slamming who? This is very serious. And until someone opens their eyes and takes a big dose of reality, we’re going to continue to lose our children to this awful crime.
I hope the kids or teachers or whoever it was who tortured this young man, feel the guilt and realize that they are just as responsible, than if they had poured the medicine down his throat themselves.
It’s a sad, sad world we live in today. Rest in peace young man. You were probably the greatest kid who lived and had more love in your heart than the whole city of Headland.
Please put this on your main page, not the subti tles. This needs to be READ!! Not ignored!!
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