Last year, 15-year-old Phoebe Prince and her family relocated from Ireland to Massachusetts where she attended South Hadley High School. Her pretty face, broad smile and Irish accent made her unique among her peers. After three months of severe taunting and physical threats by Prince’s classmates, she committed suicide.
For months, Prince was harassed via Facebook, text messages and verbal assaults. The bystanders, members of the student body and the faculty, made no attempt to cease the horrible maltreatment of the teen, not even on Jan. 14, the day of her suicide.
It seems undeniable to me that something is wrong with our society when both faculty members and students overlook the harassment of teenagers. A survey by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) said that bullying is widespread in American schools: More than 16 percent of U.S. school children said their peers bullied them during their current term. Many students look to the faculty for support, whether it’s school related, personal issues or some other form of dilemma. The inactions of the staff made it quite clear that they wouldn’t be that aid Phoebe needed and did a poor job executing their supposed role model behavior. Some integrity seems to have gone missing from those staff members who didn’t do a thing to help a victim of harassment.
Even at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School, a small school with approximately 317 students, there is an issue of bullying.
“Teachers have called me names and have mocked me. They make me feel inferior from the other students. I keep quiet, I get angry, but I keep quiet,” said freshman Sarah Sakov.
Students are supposed to feel safe when  they are at school, not uncomfortable. A student shouldn’t have to feel ‘inferior’ in any shape or form. When a teacher makes a student like Sakov upset, here should be someone who makes sure that the students know that they can go to him/her for help.
 Many students and staff members say that there is no bullying at DPMHS or that they have never been bullied while on campus. From what I have seen it seems like some people would rather just not discuss it or acknowledge the problem. The issue with this closed-minded viewpoint is that by not admitting that bullying takes place allows bullies to continue their malicious acts and doesn’t allow capable adults to help those poor teens.
People  do not take the problem of bullying as seriously as they should. Bullying is another form of stealing; bullies rob victims of a comfortable environment and steal moments of happiness.
One out of four kids is bullied according to statistics from the U.S. Justice Department. Each day 160,000 students miss school for fear of being bullied, according to the website www.how-to-stop-bullying.com.
Some would say that those being bullied could always just stand up for themselves and fight back. Then bullies would leave them alone. The issue is that sometimes the victims do not have the power to do so. We should help those too weak to help themselves. As teens use the internet more, bullying has moved into cyberspace.
Megan Meir, a 13-year-old with a low self-esteem, weight issues and depression was deceived by Lori Drew and her ex-friend when they created a fake MySpace account for a boy they named “Josh Evans” in order to gain Meir’s trust. The vulnerable teen was spitefully attacked by other people through bulletins and by “Josh Evans.”
Ron Meir, Megan’s dad, tried to remember the last message that Megan received from Josh. He believed it said “Everybody in O’Fallon knows how you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a (terrible) rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you.” Meir was driven to suicide by a 47-year-old mother and an ex –friend.
It’s outrageously irresponsible and immature for an adult to commit such an act. I don’t understand why a woman of Drew’s age would act in such a manner. It is expected that a teen might act in such a juvenile way, but a 47-year-old woman? Come on. Something is definitely wrong with this woman and her behavior is a sad reflection of our society.
These victims need help and you can be the one who gives them what they so desperately need. It is possible that you can help a victim by standing up for them, comforting them, informing an adult that will take action, creating a support group or by calling the Suicide Prevention Services at (213) 241-1259.
Many more incidents of bullying like the ones mentioned previously have happened throughout the U.S and many people just stand by and watch these gruesome incidents as they occur. People need to stand up for those too feeble to stand up for themselves. Aiding these poor souls would mean the improving the integrity  and morals of our society.