by Edwin Quinabo
School bullying is as old as the institution of education. Its ugly head crosses all cultures and countries, present in classrooms and halls at public and private schools. For many the problem of school bullying can be generational and leave lingering trauma into adulthood.
Alicia Arakawa (Bulda), a former Hawaii resident now living in Las Vegas, said she was bullied as a teen and that all her daughters experienced bullying. How did her childhood bullying have a lasting impact on adulthood? “It affected my self-confidence, increased my hesitancy to stand up for myself in all aspects of my life. I still have mental scars, get flashbacks when I see my bullies in all forms,” she said. “Some [who’ve been bullied] use their trauma to push them harder, for me, it forced me into isolation [back then] because I didn’t want the pain anymore or have feelings of suicide.”
Arakawa said of bullies, “they need to understand what those who they’ve bullied must go through. Bullies need deep therapy.” As a parent, she talks with her children about the subject openly and provides guidance. In her daughters’ bullying, Arakawa said, “after they reported what was happening to school administration, the bullying didn’t stop. In fact, their bullies threatened them more.” She didn’t explain the final outcome of her daughters’ situation, but said, “social media is a cesspool for cyberbullying. My daughters received a lot of belittlements, threats, and racial slurs.”
Prevalence of school bullying
According to the CDC’s 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, about 19% of high school students nationally report being bullied and 39% among students aged 12-18 in grades 6-12. In Hawaii, about 40% of students experienced bullying in school and 10.9% were cyberbullied. The CDC reports that Hawaii has higher rates of middle-schoolers thinking about suicide and high schoolers skipping classes due to feeling unsafe from bullying compared to the national average.
About 15.4% of students reported being bullied by a student who was more powerful than them in some way, 14.5% reported being bullied repeatedly in a school year: one day (32.5%), two days (17.6%), three to 10 days (31.5%), more than 10 days (18.5%). The prevalence of bullying is higher among female students (21.8%) than among male students (16.7%). The prevalence of bullying is higher in middle school (26.3%) than in high school (15.7%).
Students ages 12–18 in grades 6-12 who reported being bullied said they thought those who bullied them: 1) had the ability to influence what other students think of them (56.3%); 2) were more popular (52%); 3) were physically stronger or larger (39.7%); 4) had more money (35.2%).
Who are the common victims of bullying?
School bullying can happen to anyone, but certain groups are more vulnerable. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) vulnerable groups include:
*Students with disabilities: 34.9% reported being bullied due to their disability (NCES, 2020)
*LGBTQ+ students: 63.1% reported being bullied due to their sexual orientation (NCES, 2020)
*Racial and ethnic minorities: Research suggests that students from minority groups face higher risks of bullying (Pew Research Center, 2016)
*English language learners: Students who are still learning to speak the dominant language in their country may be more vulnerable to bullying (UNICEF, 2018)
Mary Ann Cabales, Kaimuki, said as a teen she was a victim of being bullied as a racial minority and learning English as a second language. As an adult, she often experiences anxiety when placed in stressful situations that she traces back to her youth being bullied. “My children also have been bullied at some point. It’s important for me to be able to educate my children. I would not want my children to be subject to the same situation, and I wouldn’t want them to do the same with their peers.”
When Rolando Guzman, Oakland, former Hawaii resident, was informed that over 60% of LGBTQ+ students report being bullied due to their sexual orientation, he was surprised. “From what I’ve read and hear of the younger generation, they are far more accepting of gays than it was in my days.” A gay man, now in his late forties, he recalls growing up attending schools in Waipahu, “I hid that I was gay because I saw how the effeminate boys who couldn’t hide their gayness were treated. You know, the name calling, physical pushing. That’s how it was back then. It’s sad to see gay students are still being harassed.”
Ariel Jay Flores, a Filipino community leader in Hawaii, has a son who is in special education. “He [his son] is segregated from other students, but he knows that he would be bullied if he were to be exposed to those students.” He says, “I don’t think any of my kids has approached me about being bullied at school. I’ve heard of mean girls at school whom they would eventually make friends with them.”
Flores shared tragic news of an extreme consequence of bullying, “I serve on the New Hope Leeward worship team and one of the men on the team had a daughter who took her life because of cyberbullying. The parents couldn’t pinpoint who might have been bullying her.” But they attributed her death to bullying, he said.
Consequences of student bullying
Studies show bullying can have severe consequences for both the victims and perpetrators. In a Pastore & Maggipinto study, the emotional toll on victims of bullying can lead to increased anxiety, depression, mental health issues, and even thoughts of suicide. These students’ academic performance is affected; their attendance and they have higher dropout rates. In a Holloway study, it showed those bullied have long-lasting consequences in future relationships, self-esteem and overall well-being.
For perpetrators of bullying, studies found similar mental health issues of anxiety and depression but added to those two problems are social isolation and legal consequences for their bullying.
Hawaii Department of Education response to bullying
Hawaii State Superintendent from 2017-2021, Dr. Christina Kishimoto, said “Bullying of any kind has no place in our schools and communities — it runs counter to everything we stand for as a public education system that’s grounded in respect, acceptance and aloha.”
In 2018, the Hawaii Department of Education was hit with a lawsuit that alleges the department has failed to provide a safe environment to its students due to lackluster policies and procedures governing student-on-student bullying and harassment. The lawsuit, which gathered data prior to 2018, lists alleged instances of racial slurs used against students, violence and troubling social media video postings without proper response from school officials. At the time, the Office for Civil Rights determined that the Hawaii DOE was in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.
A later Hawaii School Health Survey of more than 16,300 public middle and high school students showed incidences of bullying has gone down. The survey was a joint project of the Hawaii State Department of Education (HIDOE), Hawaii Department of Health and the University of Hawaii,
“This is a positive trend that we want to see continue as our schools uphold the commitment to provide safe and nurturing learning environments for all students,” said Dr. Kishimoto.
But anti-bullying advocates say a more robust effort is needed at a district-wide level, including better training and more preventive measures.
SPEAK NOW APP. Nanea Kalani, HIDOE Communications Director, told HNN “Students, staff, families and communities are asked to help stop bullying in all its forms by promoting the positive behaviors of respect and empathy toward others at home, online and in our communities. Any instances should be reported to a trusted adult on campus for immediate investigation. Incidents can also be reported digitally and anonymously through the Department’s Speak Now app.
Speak Now HIDOE anti-bullying reporting app provides another avenue for students to report bullying incidents on campus — digitally and anonymously, and if they choose — to appropriate school personnel. The app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Besides the Speak Now app, bullied students can report incidences in the traditional way by talking to a schoolteacher, counselor or principal immediately. The principal will initiate an investigation to determine if a Hawaii Administrative Rules (HAR) Chapter 19 violation occurred. Chapter 19 is Hawaii state law that governs student misconduct. Timely information of administrative’ findings will be given to the parents involved.
Hawaii anti-bullying laws prohibit students from making verbal or non-verbal expressions that cause others to feel uncomfortable, pressured, threatened, or in danger because of reasons that include but are not limited to the person’s race, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, religion, disability, or sexual orientation. Hawaii schools that receive federal funding are required by federal law to address discrimination based on certain personal characteristics.
At present, no federal law directly addresses bullying, but in some cases when bullying overlaps with federal law, criminal charges can be made. Bullying could even be a hate crime. If federal discrimination laws are broken, a student and parents can contact the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
What parents want done and tips for families
Flores said bullies should be reprimanded and sent to the guidance counselor. “But if they continue their behavior, they should be expelled from school and sent to an alternative educational institution that would help alter their harmful behavior,” he said.
“From a young age, children need to be taught that there are repercussions for their actions. Most children who are caught bullying receive a light punishment which does not teach them the severity of their actions. In some cases, schools do not even acknowledge the situation,” Cabales said.
Common disciplinary actions schools take for bullies include progressive discipline, suspension, counseling, detention, collaboration with parents on social skill building behavioral support, ensuring the safety of the victim. As part of school discipline, a bully is asked to apologize to the bullied student. A meeting is held with the bully’s parents and school principal. If bullying persists, the bully is expelled from school.
Anti-bullying advocates say families must communicate with their children daily and ask questions about their school day, ask about their friends, and observe their child’s emotional state, any changes in behavior, appetite or sleep patterns. These could be signs of anxiety linked to bullying.
Parents should also teach anti-bullying habits like not pushing or teasing, but rather to be kind and respectful. Experts recommend if bullying occurs, to tell your children to ask the bully to stop, walk away and report it to an adult. Parents should contact the child’s teacher, school counselor or principal at the school.
What parents should not do
StopBullying.gov lists mistakes parents should avoid:
*Never tell the child to ignore the bullying.
*Do not blame the child for being bullied. Even if he or she provoked bullying, no one deserves to be bullied.
*Do not tell the child to physically fight back against the kid who is bullying. It could get the child hurt, suspended, or expelled.
*Parents should resist the urge to contact the other parents involved. It may make matters worse. School or other officials can act as mediators between parents. Often bullies have issues of abuse or stress happening in their home life. Confronting the bully’s parents could trigger confrontation.
What fellow students should do
StopBullying.gov recommends that student bystanders first should not put themselves in harm’s way. When it is safe, bystanders should:
*Help the bullied get away
*Be their friend
*Don’t give bullying an audience
*Tell a trusted adult
*Set a good example
Guzman said when he saw gay kids get bullied growing up, and some of his friends did the bullying, he would always step in and diffuse the harassment. “I was a bigger teen than others. No one suspected that I was gay and because of my physique, most kids were afraid of me. When I saw the more effeminate kids get bullied, I would tell them, ‘how would you like if I did that to you?’ That would quickly end the harassment. But, of course, I couldn’t be everywhere to stop what was going on,” Guzman said.
Bullying based on race
Hawaii is known as a multicultural melting pot, but it isn’t a paradise for some students when it comes to bullying. Racial bullying has been a problem for decades. In a dramatic difference from the rest of the U.S., white students surveyed by the CDC in 2023 are far more likely to experience racism in Hawaii schools. According to the survey, roughly 47% of white students in the islands reported unfair treatment compared to the national average of 17%. Black students and Micronesian students are also more commonly known to experience racial bullying in Hawaii.
Overall, it was found that 39% of Hawaii high school students surveyed by the CDC in 2023 had been treated unfairly because of their race or ethnicity, well above the national average of 32%.
Anti-bullying advocates say kids pick up the same resentment and anger they see from their families at home. That anger could include racial animosity. This is why some anti-bullying advocates say kids should be taught in school about compassion, kindness and respect. But that’s unlikely, they admit, due to resistance by parents who feel that behavior should be taught in the home, and not in schools.
Wookie Kim, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, said racism in the state has long been a challenge for schools, but not all teachers and administrators are taking incidents seriously. She said it’s sometimes difficult for teachers to differentiate between friendly banter between students and harmful name-calling that borders on racism. Kim added race is the most common basis for bullying when the ACLU receives complaints from parents in Hawaii schools.
While school bullying persists, surveys in Hawaii show improvement. Awareness and education on bullying helps, parents believe, but say still more prevention needs to be done.
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