New Jersey's public schools must be safe places where every student can learn and achieve his or her potential. Despite having some of the toughest laws on bullying in the country, here are some facts according the National Education Association, PACER Center, and StopBullying.gov:
• 1 in 7 students in grades K – 12 are either a bully or have been a victim of bullying.
• An estimated 160,000 U.S. children miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students.
• 83% of girls and 79% of boy's report experiencing harassment.
• Six out of 10 teenagers say they witness bullying in school once a day.
• 35% of kids have been threatened online.
• Nearly 9 out of 10 LGBTQ youth report being verbally harassed at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation (http://antibullyinginstitute.org/facts).
Considering this current data, this is an issue as future social workers that we feel strongly about. We are proud that New Jersey has some of the strongest Anti Bullying laws in the nation, however, as college students, we feel that there is a loophole in the law and that hazing should also be considered an act of bullying. Hazing is any activity expected of someone joining or participating in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses, or endangers them regardless of a person's willingness to participate.
We urge you to amend the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights of 2011 to include hazing as a form of bullying. Hazing is a serious problem for both high school and college-age students and we need to advocate for the implementation of more effective anti-bullying and hazing prevention in the State of New Jersey.
v
