A new report from the U.S. Department of Education finds that more than 20 percent of all school students ages 12 to 18 in the United States were bullied at school during the 2014-15 school year. Thus, more than 5 million children were bullied at school at some point during the school year.
When we break down the figures by racial and ethnic group, we find some significant differences. Overall, 24.7 percent of Black students ages 12 to 18 were bullied at school during the school year, compared to 21.6 percent of White students. Black students were more likely to be bullied in hallways and stairwells but were less likely to be bullied outside on school grounds.
Black students were significantly more likely than Whites to be bullied once or twice a week. Blacks were slightly more likely than Whites to report the bullying to an adult. Blacks were more likely than Whites to be bullied by the spreading of false rumors, being insulted or called names and by acts or threats of violence. Whites were more likely than Blacks to be bullied by being excluded from activities.
The full report, Student Reports of Bullying: Results From the 2015 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, may be downloaded by clicking here.
This is a conversation that needs to happen more frequently.
I have two questions that I would like to see added to it:
1.) Why do schools so often do little or nothing to combat bullying, and;
2.) What’s the racial breakdown of the students doing the bullying?