While growing up, students are taught about bullying and how it may affect one’s mental health. We are taught that it is a horrible concept and has very bad repercussions. Many kids who may have been bullied throughout childhood are now facing the consequences of it since they’re older.
Growing up, children go through four developmental stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. These stages start at birth and work their way up to when a child is twelve. These are all under the cognitive developmental category. This theory was developed by Jean Piaget, who was a very intelligent child himself and studied developmental factors throughout one’s childhood. The sensorimotor stage mainly consists of a baby going on to be a toddler. The preoperational stage is when a child develops character and tends to be egocentric. The next stage is the concrete operational stage where a child learns logic and forms an understanding of more ideas. The last is the formal operational category when a child is more abstract and thinks more in-depth about certain topics. This age is when a child is in middle school, where bullying seems to occur most.
According to the New York State Department of Health, bullying can start as young as preschool, then intensify in middle school, and can carry on into high school. We learn most about bullying when in middle school and then proceed to not learn more about this topic. Students are taught that bullying has only bad effects and nothing good could ever come out of this, but what if it could? The top five effects of bullying when searched on Google are depression, anxiety, loneliness, headaches, and poor academic performance. These are real effects and many see these every day in young kids, which is so sad. Sometimes students don’t realize how hurtful words may be until they can tell how hard they may affect others.
Although there may be more bad than good when it comes to bullying, I believe that it can help students become stronger and can lead to them being able to stick up for themselves. According to Academia, students who are bullied at a young age develop strength towards their challenges. Bullying also helps students with confrontation and interactions. When being bullied and one chooses to stand up for themselves, they have to confront the oppressor in order for them to stop. This can help that student learn for later situations. However, there is a difference between vocal bullying and physical bullying. Physical bullying is never good, and one should never allow that.
With all of the stages of how a child grows up, I think one should learn these strengths while in the preoperational or concrete operational stages to learn best from experiences. I’m not saying that it is okay for someone to be a bully, but it is good to have a little intimidation sometimes to learn a little defense for themselves. So no, we don’t know that all bullying effects are harmful.
