Bullying and The article title states exactly what the article talks about, the many different cases of bullying and violence in schools. The title tells you exactly what to expect from the abstract but does not give away any information on what it includes. The author did a good job deciding on the title because although it is simple, it grabs your attention, it certainly did mine. Bullying is a very common happening among young children so the title having the word bully in it, draws your attention.
It could have been a little more creative but I do like the title and feel that it is both effective and appropriate. The purpose of the study is evident and can clearly and easily be derived from the title of the article. The author, Dawn Pennington, uses a plethora of resources to conduct her research and makes very good use of the research of other specialists. The abstract is very informative, interesting and gives people who don’t know too much about the topic some credible knowledge to go with. I appreciated the way that Pennington began the abstract. She used a well known tragedy in the shootings at Columbine to grab readers’ attention.
I would say that she accomplished her mission in that aspect. However, that incident is actually a severe case of what she is writing about. This is what happens when bullying goes to far and the victims can no longer take it. Columbine being that it was such a large scale retaliation placed a stamp on this country’s history. Pennington explores this occurance and takes the reader on a brief ride through it. She then moves away from the Columbine incident towards incidents of smaller magnitudes.
The everyday bullying that goes on in schools all over the country. Pennington, with the help of some of her colleagues describes different theories and reasons why violence occurs in schools. Dennis Murphy feels that it is parents’ false sense of security that allows violence to perpetuate. Most parents have the feeling of “not my kids, not at their school.” Jill Riethmayer feels that it is children’s inability to deal with their problems and the lack of friendly adult figures to confide in. Pennington, however, feels that children just need someone to talk to about being bullied and that the bullies are just misunderstood and are probably abused themselves and duplicate what they know. She writes very factually and gets straight to the point of what she is talking about and is rather effective at doing so.
Pennington is a savvy researcher. She used some of her own research as well as the research of others who have studied the topic. Her methods are appropriate and they do offer some explanation for the problem. By her using the Columbine incident, she manages to paint a very vivid picture of in-school violence. The author uses other incidents to paint more everyday pictures and does a very good job of doing that as well. She describes herself attending conventions, and other types of sessions as well as speaking with known bullies and victims.
She then analyzes all of her material and breaks it down into understandable information for the reader. The author does not give any results on what happened because it is an ongoing process. She did however, manage to give plans on what she and her colleagues plan to do in the future to attempt to put a stop to all the bullying that goes on. She plans on having more conventions and putting a plan into motion to get teachers and counselors better training on how to pick up on and handle bullying situations. She also explains her plans of conducting further research to try to better assess the problem. I really like the article and the overall discussion of this topic is well warranted.
The article’s main point is to recognize the problem of bullying and school violence and trying to put a stop to it. The article is readable, informative and comes from a very reliable source in the American Counseling Association. I feel more informed about the topic and I am definitely more interested in learning more about it.