Girls Bullying
This is a factual book about girls being bullied and centers mainly on the non-physical forms of bullying. These include organized exclusion, constant degrading remarks, mocking, mind games and vicious rumors among other things.
The author notes that boys are more inclined to use physical bullying while girls generally do the above noted forms. The book goes into the various styles of bullying, especially mass media bullying (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) It notes that this form is hard to spot unless the person being bullied shares the messages with their parents.
The book then talks about why people bully including that some people are natural bullies and some bully others because of the way they were brought up although this does not forgive their actions. They may feel insecure, need to feel powerful, want to be popular, etc.
Then the book examines the impact of bullying on those who are bullied which can lead anywhere from depression on through suicide. Then the book goes into specific examples. It's interesting that the examples are from the UK yet they show the same reluctance that American school administrators have on doing anything effective against bullies in their schools.
In my own opinion, first off, anyone who physically bullies others should immediately be suspended for a minimum of two weeks while behind-the-scenes attempts are made to see if there is any chance the person might change their ways. If they are allowed back into school and resume physically bullying others than they should be expelled. Period.
I also feel that certain schools should be set aside for those who are expelled from other schools for bullying, etc.. These schools would de-emphasize the traditional curriculum and instead focus on 'real life' topics that would help the students in trouble to better adapt to school and society in general. The fact that must be kept in mind is that bullies and others who act up in class on a consistent basis are effectively stealing an education from the students who do wish to learn and. like thieves of the more common type, they must be dealt with effectively.
The book also has information on how to deal with bullying.
My only criticism of the book is that the above uses up about 80% of the book and the rest of the book is basically ads for other books.
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