The Other Side of Bullying
By Kathleen Craven
Boise State University Communications and Marketing
Every school has at least one. The popular girl who spreads mean rumors about her classmates and shuts out all but her closest friends from her social circle. Or the big boy who picks on smaller children, stealing their lunch money and threatening to hurt them if they tell. They’re bullies, and they may be targeting your child.
Or even worse, the bully could be your child.
According to the National Crime Prevention Council, 74 percent of children ages 8-11 say bullying and teasing occur at their schools. The National Education Association reports that every day, about 160,000 children miss school because they are scared of a bully. Kids who are harassed are more likely to do poorly in school, be depressed, have low self-esteem and, in extreme cases, even turn to violence themselves for protection.
Several recent high-profile cases have illustrated how dangerous bullying can be. A 13-year-old English boy hung himself after being taunted incessantly because of his choice of music and clothing. Another 13-year-old in Kentucky shot himself after being teased about a lisp and his tall, gangly appearance. And a Missouri mother is accused of driving a former friend of her daughter’s to commit suicide in a celebrated cyber-bullying case where the mother pretended to be a teen-aged boy.
Not only can bullying have tragic consequences for the victims, it can also negatively affect the bullies themselves. The NCPC reports that bullies are more likely to do poorly in school, smoke and drink alcohol and commit crimes in the future.
So what can you do if you suspect your child is being a little too heavy-handed? First, the NCPC recommends taking the situation seriously. Don’t treat it as a passing phase. Even if you expect no long-lasting effects for your child, remember that another child is being hurt. Second, find out why your child is bullying others.
“From a psychological perspective, kids tend to become bullies for two reasons,” said Mary Pritchard, associate professor of psychology at Boise State University and director of the Family Studies Initiative. The first is to avoid getting bullied themselves, and the second is because it gets them attention.
Pritchard suggests parents ask themselves two things: 1) are they giving their child plenty of positive attention and not just paying attention to them when they misbehave, and 2) what is going on in their child’s life — for instance, are they being bullied themselves, at school or even at home?
Boise State public policy associate professor Elizabeth Fredericksen, who has extensively studied bullying in the workplace, said insecurity can also play a role. “Unfortunately, just as in adult bullying, when people feel powerless in their private lives, they are likely to aggress in a public forum. Thus, if your kid is the bully, perhaps you need to consider what messages you are sending about managing conflict.”
Fredericksen also notes that many educators believe that media and movies are establishing models of behavior where the “tough guy” wins and if someone gets hurt, they usually deserve it. “This can play out in desensitizing others to the plight of the bully’s target,” she said.
By partnering with teachers and school administrators, and taking a close look at their own interactions with their children, parents can have a positive impact on decreasing bullying behavior. For more suggestions on dealing with both sides of the bully issue, visit www.ncpc.org/topics and click on “bullying.”
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For more information, please contact Kathleen Craven, University Communications, at 426-3275 or kcraven@boisestate.edu.
Getting a Jump Start
on College Credit
By Sherry Squires
Boise State University Communications and Marketing
Entering college is a major transition, and the expectations of college-level courses can be overwhelming for some students.
But a growing number of high school students are getting a jump-start on college and learning just what it takes to be successful by participating in concurrent enrollment programs. The programs allow students to earn both high school and college credit for select courses.
Students in concurrent enrollment classes study the same topics and complete the same requirements as those studying on a university campus. But they do so in a comfortable environment – their own high school classroom — and earn credit without driving to the university. High school teachers who meet qualifications as university adjunct faculty oversee the courses.
Also known throughout Idaho as dual credit, concurrent enrollment programs are collaborative partnerships between high schools and colleges. In the Treasure Valley, Boise State University contracts with a number of high schools to provide rigorous college courses at the high schools.
Boise State’s program is 10 years old and has grown by 36 percent in just the past year, according to director Fabiola Juarez-Coca. More and more students — 1,188 of them this past spring semester — are taking advantage of the program, she said.
Concurrent enrollment is offered in a wide variety of classes, from art to biology, foreign language to political science. Credit from these academic classes can be applied to any degree a student chooses upon entering college. The credits are also transferable to all Idaho colleges and universities, and most institutions outside of the state.
There are a number of incentives for students to participate. For example, they can earn almost one full year’s worth of college credits through the program at a much reduced-cost. The students pay $65 per credit, meaning that a typical 3-4 credit class costs them $195-$260. The same class would average about $900 if they were enrolled as a part-time college student this year.
Along with the benefit of college credits, high school students also have access to a number of college resources. For example, concurrent enrollment students at Boise State have access to the Boise State library for research, some campus events, the Writing Center, tutoring labs, and are issued a student ID card and an e-mail account.
Teachers report that signing up for a concurrent enrollment class for dual credit often changes a student’s perspective on school.
“High achievers in high school need to be challenged beyond what is good enough to make the grade,” said Melinda Lathrop, an English teacher at Homedale High School who teaches concurrent enrollment classes. “When they are expected to write and think like college students, their attitude changes. No longer are they cruising through high school. They’re reaching for excellence, and they’ve got the credits to show for it.”
Family Play Leads to
Fitter Kids
By Melissa Jensen
Boise State University Communications and Marketing
The calendar is filling up fast. School activities, recitals and homework can all compete for family time. Many families rush through the day, wolf down a fast-food dinner and fall onto the couch exhausted at day’s end with a TV remote in their hands. The rest of the night is spent in a blur of sitcoms and reality shows.
“That same family, if they would do something physically active, would feel re-energized at the end of the evening,” said Ken Bell, professor of kinesiology at Boise State University.
As an advocate for promoting activity in the family, Bell encourages adults to “come out to play.” When adults are outside gardening, walking or playing ball, the kids will generally follow suit.
Bell said that many adults aren’t active because they grew up thinking exercise was a dirty word and that being physically active meant “killing themselves” in the gym for an hour. Now we know that anything that gets the body moving can be counted as exercise, and short bursts of activity can add up throughout the day to help maintain overall health. This can be as simple as taking the stairs instead of the elevator or parking farther away from the grocery store.
When adults are more physically active, they are more productive as workers and have fewer sick days. A more active lifestyle should have a similar, positive effect on children, Bell said.
Adults can also be advocates for promoting physical education classes and recess in school. These classes help to make children healthier individuals and go a long way to help curb childhood obesity.
The best way for kids to be active is for parents to be active. Following are a few ideas to promote physical activity in the course of a day:
- Have fun.
Find activities that the family can enjoy together such as walking, cycling, bowling or fishing. - Get outside.
There is a strong correlation between the amount of time spent outside and being physically active. - Keep trying.
Most people aren’t star athletes, so begin with fundamentals and build to more complex activities. - Be encouraging.
Physical perception is a huge part of self-esteem, so give lots of pats on the back for any improvement. - Sign up.
Join local recreation centers, school clubs, intramural sports teams and summer camps. They are all great ways to get activity in your life.
Keeping Kids Safe Online
By Mike Journee
Boise State University Communications and Marketing
Keeping your children safe and secure while on the Internet seems like anything but a “virtual” concern these days. And when school assignments require time online, it’s often hard for parents to keep tabs on everything their children are exposed to.
Robert Minch, an Internet security expert and information technology professor at Boise State, said a little extra vigilance by parents can help keep children safe as their online time ramps up during the school year. These three things are a start:
Educate your child about appropriate online behavior, especially the dangers
of giving out personal information.
Warn them that they might run across inappropriate things online
and tell them what to do when that happens.
Set up the computer with the right software and settings beforehand
to ensure you keep them as safe as possible.
“It’s really about common sense,” Minch said. “Something as simple as keeping the computer that they use in the living room or kitchen or someplace you can watch them while they work is a very effective way of keeping an eye out for trouble.”
But Minch was careful about endorsing measures so stringent that the positive benefits of having the World Wide Web at your fingertips are counteracted.
Instead, Minch recommended parents regularly check the logs of recent Web sites viewed (available on most Internet browsing software), ensure that anti-spyware and anti-virus software is kept up to date, and check to see that search engine filters, like the “Safe Search” mechanism on Google, are enacted.
He also recommended that children have their own computer, or at the very least their own account on a computer used by multiple family members, in order to keep important family records – such as financial records or a parent’s work files – safe from accidental dissemination or deletion.
For parents with younger children and kids who want to use the Internet and family computer appropriately, these measures are often enough to keep unsuspecting children safe from prying eyes or worse, Minch said. But for tech-savvy children or older kids who are intentionally misusing a computer, perhaps even working to conceal their online activity from parents, it may take an expert to foil their escapades.
“I don’t think the average parent could deal with a situation like that themselves,” Minch said. “They need an expert who knows more about the computer than their children do.”
Navigating the Transition
to College
By Julie Hahn
Boise State University Communications and Marketing
This year, thousands of students will begin their freshman year of college with that stomach-churning mix of fear and excitement born of entering a completely foreign environment. But this year’s freshmen will be armed with a potentially dangerous weapon that wasn’t readily available to students who entered college even 10 years ago — the cell phone.
How parents handle that sort of instant access can do a lot to shape students’ experiences, said Brian Macdonald, associate director of Boise State University’s New Student and Family Programs. Macdonald and his colleagues spend their time trying to make the first year of college easier for both students and their parents, and an essential part of that is helping students strike out on their own.
“Parents have been way more involved over the past 10 years,” Macdonald said, which can lead to “helicopter parenting” — parents who “hover” around their college-age children and continue planning their lives for them, including their class schedules.
“Resist!” he says. “If they call you and have a complaint, have them figure it out.”
Universities such as Boise State devote a lot of time and effort to helping students avoid the common pitfalls of their first year — everything from calling mom and dad with every problem to the dreaded freshmen 15 to figuring out how to balance work and school to navigating the end of high school relationships and the beginning of new ones. At any school, the road to college independence begins with orientation.
Macdonald said that at orientation, students learn about three things: “Stuff that you know that you know, stuff you don’t know and stuff you don’t know you don’t know,” he said. A student knows that she will have to regularly attend class, but might not know how to register for classes. And she might not have any clue that she will have to pay for a parking pass if she wants to find a parking spot close to class.
“If you don’t go (to orientation), you’re going to get caught off guard once school starts,” he said.
Macdonald has tips to help make the transition easier for students:
- Start building relationships. “You can have a 4.5 grade point average, but if you’re not connected you won’t do well,” Macdonald said. Talking to classmates and fellow residence hall members can help students make connections that will give them a safety net should they face a difficult situation.
- Take advantage of student resources. Students have access to academic advising, health and wellness services, study groups and more — all provided by the university.
- Realize that freedom can be overwhelming. During the first few weeks of school, students are more at risk for alcohol poisoning and sexual assaults as well as homesickness and loneliness, Macdonald said. “This is where so much self-discovery goes on,” he said. Many orientation programs — including Boise State’s — now include non-academic components that deal with those problems, as well as counseling for when times get really tough.
- Be responsible about work and money. Many students have to work to pay the ever-increasing costs of higher education, and it’s difficult to keep work and school balanced. In addition, freshmen are often approached about applying for their first credit cards. “Figuring out a budget, learning about credit, loans and rent can really affect them,” Macdonald said. Make a budget and stick to it — the aftereffects of not doing so can linger longer than four years.
- Talk to professors. “Professors have office hours,” Macdonald said. Popping in during those hours can help students immensely, he said. “If you develop a relationship with someone you don’t become just a person who failed a test or whatever the problem is,” and the professor will be more willing to help a student get the most out of the class.
It’s important for students to confront any challenges head-on, Macdonald said, and New Student and Family Programs tries to help students do just that.
“We try to get them to the point where they’re ready,” Macdonald said. “Fear and anxiety inhibit learning.”
Refugee Students Bring
Opportunity
By Julie Hahn
Boise State University Communications and Marketing
Years of unrest in Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East are changing classrooms halfway around the world.
Boise, Meridian and Canyon County schools have seen an influx of refugee students from around the world, said Julie Bu, the assistant director for the Educational Talent Search at Boise State University. Educating students from refugee backgrounds poses special challenges for schools, she said, as well as opportunities for fellow students and their parents.
Bu regularly works with students in junior high and high school as part of the Educational Talent Search, which is one of the federally-funded TRIO programs that help students get on the right track for college. TRIO programs benefit students who are low-income and who will be the first people in their families to attend college.
Bu used to serve a number of immigrant children as well as children of immigrants. That population is still there, she says, but Boise’s status as a refugee center has meant an influx of students from war-torn countries. Boise, Meridian and Canyon County schools now educate students from Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran — and their experiences are wildly different.
“Some come in with education from their own countries, and if they do they’re fortunate,” Bu said. “But some have spent their entire lives in refugee camps.”
Such a diverse population creates educational challenges as well as opportunities, Bu said. A number of refugees, for example, “have very complex backgrounds and have suffered trauma and warfare,” she said.
In addition to dealing with such serious problems, students face the everyday disconnect that comes from not being a part of American culture. Bu related a story about a teacher she knows who tried to get kids involved in class by having them play a game of “Jeopardy!” — a show that is almost completely foreign to children who aren’t from the United States.
Learning about the culture takes time and experience, and that’s where native students and their parents can help, Bu said — to everyone’s benefit.
Small things add up. Bu suggests taking time to say hello to the parents of immigrant and refugee children. Driving the student to soccer practice, helping him or her join a club, volunteering in the classroom or simply including a child on an outing can go a long way toward setting an example for your child.
“They are going to learn there are other people who may not look like them, but they will learn acceptance and trust,” Bu said.
Schools are trying to keep up with the growing immigrant and refugee population, Bu said, but it’s difficult — and the schools can’t handle the responsibility alone.
“If you embrace these students, it’s a gift,” Bu said.