With the Great Neck bubble in place, many believe that bullying is just a fantasy. Why concern ourselves with this when we can just walk around the school in our Uggs like we own the place? Or chill in the Commons talking about last night’s sick house party at John’s house where we played beer pong, got drunk, slept with some girls and overall just had a dope time? Unfortunately, not everyone has that privilege. Not everyone can just party all night and rock school all day. In some scenarios, some kids might not have any friends at all. But we don’t choose to think about that when we take these things for granted. We always attempt to be the “bigger person” without thinking how the little one feels and what he or she is going through. This may appear as a fantasy to most North High kids as they tease the guest speaker on internet safety immaturely or joke about the documentaries featured in health class, but bullying is not a myth – it’s real. These so-called “friends” of these so-called “popular” kids would willingly shove each other off a cliff to achieve their goals or desires. This is why bullying occurs; we’re surrounded by a surplus of people who would turn their backs against one another in an instant, in comparison to people who would care for one another. The latter are real friends and unfortunately, that is the minority we’ve been deprived of.
Numerous cases of bullying have been reported throughout Long Island within the past few months alone. In Garden City, a seventh-grader suffered depression, which caused him to develop an eating disorder due to lack of food intake. However, his parents were unaware of the situation in school until the boy returned home from school with bruises on his left cheek. Soon after, he was sent to the hospital and is continuously fed through a tube. He has been in medical care for about five months.
Not too far away, a girl of 12 committed suicide due to intense bullying at her school. In fact, the bullying was through social media, an assembly North attempted to educate their students about recently, but failed to do so due to the lack of maturity from the audience members. The parents of the girl have now threatened to take legal action towards the school along with those suspected of bullying her.
As the rates of teens and tweens dying of suicide have increased in the recent years, some states have begun to consider laws against bullying, in which some penalties would lead to juvenile prison. Currently, the states with laws against bullying are Colorado, Arizona, Texas, Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas, North Carolina and Hawaii. Surprisingly, New York does not have any bullying laws or policies in place; however, possible change is in the future.
Schools around the country are attempting to educate students on bullying and suicide, yet fail to an unfortunate extent. Here at Great Neck North High school, assemblies have been held to educate students on this subject matter. For instance, sophomores, juniors and seniors may recall the school-wide assembly in the big gym held within the stressful AP exam season which discussed bullying, self-harming, drinking and suicide. Also, all students can immediately recall the failed internet safety assembly towards the beginning of the 2017 Spirit Week. Health classes are no better, considering that these topics are listed in the New York State Health curriculum. Yet, students would rather finish homework or take a pleasant nap instead of paying attention to this life-threatening subject. Instead, schools need to take a more interactive approach towards bullying that discourages students from being a part of the activity.
Bullying victims are not “too-sensitive” to these issues, yet the world is unfortunately a harsh place. While bullying is inevitable, bullying victims become isolated from their friends and family, which makes life only harder and more difficult. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. It is important for bullying victims to report the issue to a teacher, administrator or parent before the problem increases. Bullying victims should also surround themselves with friends and family who care for them and their wellbeing.
However, students throughout the school should look out for isolated victims and be more inclusive towards those suffering. Although partying all night is certainly not a good idea, it’s still much better compared to being isolated in a dark room all alone.