A child may lean against a doorpost with his or her arms folded. To the onlooker, it may look like a benign posture—however, there may be a victimized child who understands that this is the bully’s "shorthand" code of conveying the message: "Hand me your lunch as you walk by me, or else."
Bullying may be expressed in many forms. Boys are generally targeted more than girls. Boys tend to use physical aggression when they bully .by hitting, kicking, and fighting. Girls, on the other hand, more often use exclusionary techniques to bully—a form of aggression often referred to as relational aggression. Girls often start rumors, form cliques to keep certain people out, and ignore other children in attempts to show dominance over another child.
Many children who are victimized fit into one of two types: the passive victim, and the provocative victim. While people often feel bad about passive victims, provocative victims often elicit less compassion from others. Sometimes it appears that the provocative victim has "brought on" his or her own fate—but does any child deserve to be the target of repeated physical or verbal aggression Why might so-called provocative victims actively participate in being the target of bullying: For example, are their provocative gestures simply a clumsy way of attempting to interact with others One feels compassion for the inhibited child because he is reserved; a social misfortune in our society, but an aggressive child is given none of this.
The dynamics of the bully/victim relationship need to be understood in a larger context (Pepler, Craig & O’Connell, 1999). It is not only the bully and the victim that is involved in a system of interaction: The bullying context includes multiple levels of the child’s social environment. The bully may enlist the help of "henchmen" (those who assist the bully, but often do not have the initiative or leadership to initiate bullying). Also, bystanders (whether actively encouraging the bullying act or passively standing by) play a role in maintaining the pattern of bullying. Even the students who habitually flee the site of a bullying act play a role in maintaining the bully/victim interaction.
In handling the situation, it is important not to focus only on the one or two students that are directly involved, but on the playground and school as a whole. Studies have shown that in order to break down the stability of peer bullying you must initiate change on many levels: Not only in teaching the bullied child how to assert himself or herself and to deflect attacks, but also to raise awareness about the problem of bullying and encourage the school community at large to take a united stance against bullying.
The purpose of the example presented in the first paragraph is ().
A.to introduce the topic of school bullying
B.to present a clear definition for school bullying
C.to criticize those students who bully others
D.to show how prevalent school bullying is
