Alan Marx

September 29, 2014

Professor Young

English 1100

Essay 2

            In the town of Basking Ridge New Jersey there is an issue that I feel needs more attention to be brought upon it. Basking Ridge is ranked number 5 on the on the safest places to live website and we as a town very proud of that. But the area that I am concerned with revolves around the schooling district. As we grow older in our teen years we become an age where bullying becomes a factor in our every day lives. In school when children are not around parental supervision kids can become physically, or mentally abusive to each other, bullying in the community of Basking Ridge has become an outgoing problem for many years, whether its in the hallways or through technology I feel it is the time where the board of education needs to step in and help.

            Bullying is defined as “unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.” As shown in this definition it doesn’t mention that bullying can only go on in a school, bullying can happen anywhere. But I feel when kids or teens are in the early stage of their lives bullying can be more effective. Things like depression, health complaints, and even suicide are 3 possible words that could be tied to a child being bullied, and these 3 things can may a parent sick forever.

            The town I live in, Basking Ridge, is a very beautiful place to live. It is full of some of the wealthiest people from our state. If you drive around the area you will notice these nice paved roads, big houses with the grass cut, people running, all of these little things make me feel good to be able to come home to each and every week. But growing up in this town from grades K-12 I witnessed many forms of bullying in the schools that I attended.

            Ever since the rise of social media it has become easier for students to bully one another outside of school. When you’re sitting in your room at home typing away on either your computer or cell phone you can just watch a conversation turn into a media frenzy in just seconds. There’s always a problem that can start just by a few unkind words. Students will go back and forth calling each other bad names until it has to become physical. The words “Fight me” always tend to pop up under someone’s name and then the next thing you know, their standing 10 feet away from one another ready to brawl. Sides are always taken and usually whoever wins is looked at as the bigger person and the one who looses is looked at as the smaller person. Social media is on the rise in our current generation and bullying tends to be rising with it.

            In the memoir Valerie Kinlochs memoir “Harlem art she shows how the place she lives which is Harlem to be beautiful in its descriptive ways. I see a connection between Basking Ridge and Harlem very much as they both are beautiful towns. The only way to appreciate it is to stop and look around once in a while and you can just see that after all of those years of war or Civil rights, we now can live in a peaceful and well-respected Community where everyone feels safe. “This art that makes up Harlem is not simply abut the artifacts of art, but the people of Harlem themselves.” (Kinloch 150) Knowing who surrounds you in your community can also help you appreciate where you live. The people of your town help out everyday trying to make where you live a better place, and I feel that that’s what Valerie Kinloch is trying to say in her memoir.

            Solving this problem is hard to do, every year someone maybe a student or the principle takes it upon themselves to have an assembly to aware us of why and how bullying goes on in our school. Us being kids, we don’t really listen and take in what is being said to us in these assemblies. Bullying like I said is more than just in the school, which gives us responsibilities to say something to someone when someone is being bullied outside of schools. Kids are sneaky and it’s hard to keep up with a population of an entire school. Students usually will not want to be the “tattle tail” because they may get bullied as well. I believe that the board of education needs to create a separate coarse for bullying in school. Students should learn of the causes and effects of this social dilemma. I also believe that the consequences of bullying should be more severe showing kids that if they do get caught bullying that they will never do it again.

            Bullying is a big problem in Basking Ridge NJ. It is time that the students stand up and say something. Watching a person get socially torn over the computer is not something you should do nothing about. Tell a teacher, a parent, tell someone about this. That person has feelings as well, and it is time that we as bystanders are looked at as bigger people.

Works Cited

"What Is Bullying." Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.

Kinloch, Valarie