Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
bullying in the uae paper
Citation preview
1
COM 451 501
Integrated Strategic Communication
Anti-Bullying Campaign
Sara AlMadani 200818976
2
Table of Contents
A Review of the Literature .................................................................... 3
Definning bullying .................................................................................. 4
Types of bullying .................................................................................... 6
Causes of bullying .................................................................................. 7
Bullying in the UAE ............................................................................... 8
Bolt Down On Bullying .......................................................................... 9
Ministry Of Education ......................................................................... 10
Targeted Publics ................................................................................... 11
Bibliography ......................................................................................... 13
3
A Review of the Literature
Researchers have shown that bullying has been around for a long time, but no one really thought
of it as a serious issue. Until an increasing percentage of young people started to hurt themselves
to the point of taking their lives away, just to escape the reality that they cannot control. As these
percentages grow every year more researches are targeted towards this subject, as a result of
investing time in researching this topic people are more aware of the potential consequences that
comes with bullying. Since bullying have crossed the line of common/ playful teasing into a
lifestyle that the bully exercise in a daily routine. Researchers have come up with different views
of bullying and as the research deeper into the issue of bullying the more areas and perspective to
bullying they have. Addressing those seven points will hopefully cover the different aspects of
bullying. This literature review is focusing on those seven aspects of bullying.
1. Importance of bullying.
2. Types of bullying.
3. Causes of bullying.
4. Bullying in the UAE.
5. Bolt Down on Bullying.
6. Ministry Of Education.
7. Targeted publics.
4
Defining bullying
Starting off not many people are familiar with the definition of bullying, which makes
them unaware if it was exercised on them. “Bullying is a negative and often aggressive or
manipulative act or series of acts by one or more people against another person or people usually
over a period of time. It is abusive and is based on imbalanced power.” (Sullivan, Cleary, &
Sullivan, 2004) (pg 3). In a book by Sullivan, Cleary, and Sullivan (2004) they mentioned that in
the past twenty years researchers started to take massive interest in bullying where they came up
with those basic tenets about bullying. The first basic tenet is that bullying is unpredictable and
can strike at any moments. Second tenet, it happens in all types of schools / workplaces. Third
tenet there is no restriction on a specific age, gender, race, class. Fourth tenet, the impact of
bullying has a lifelong effect on the person.
As years pass by, the forms of bullying develops. Today we have three forms of bullying
the physical and the non-physical and the damage to property. The physical form of bullying is
the most obvious and seen form of bullying and it is basically when someone is being physically
hurt, through physical contact like being hit, punched, spat at, etc. The non- physical form is the
hardest forms of bullying to notice as there is no physical contact at all therefore it is hard to spot
when is it happening. In the non-physical there are two other forms that fall under. The Verbal
and the non-verbal. The verbal is mainly the oral or spoken words that include abusive phone
calls, teasing, racist and cruel remarks, etc. The non-verbal form can either be direct and indirect.
The direct nonverbal form includes making mean faces and gestures. This form is not usually
regarded as a form of bullying as it is harmless, but it may be used to make a person feel
intimidated or remind them that they (the bully) is always around. The indirect nonverbal form of
bullying includes ignoring the person which will make the person feels excluded or isolated, and
5
make other people dislike them by spreading rumors. The last form of bullying is the damage to
property. This form is considered to be the hurtful of them all as it may include destruction of
personal property that might be dear to the victim. Like ripping clothes, damaging books, taking
property (stealing).
To many people bullying seems to be a one on one relationship, but as a matter of fact it
is a three person triangle which includes the victim, the bully and the bystanders. The bystanders
may not seem like an important element in the bullying situation. But they are considered as
involved as the victims and bullies and can help in easing the situation and maybe as well cure
the bullying issue for good. Sullivan, Cleary, and Sullivan (2004) have created a useful model
which is called the downward spirals of bullying and it basically illistates how bullying works
and what each of the victims, bullies and bystanders usually think and act by.
If this buylling phenomena keeps on growing there will be a huge threat to the future
generation as bullying had a prelong consequences that affects the victims and may lead to
6
extreme measures like self injuries or even susicde. “According to the World Health
Organization, somewhere in the world, someone commits suicide every 1 minute and 40 seconds
and there are 1 million deaths from suicide every year” (Boguski, 2010). Professor Nock
explains the important differences between suicidal and non-suicidal thoughts and behaviors in
his 2010 article in the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology (Nock, 2010). He explained that
self injurious thoughts and behaviors divide into two groups the suicidal thoughts (intent to die)
and the non-suicidal thoughts (no intent to die). The suicidal thought has the suicide ideation,
suicide plan and suicide attempt under it. And the suicide threat or gesture, thoughts of self
injury and self injury falls under the non-suicidal thoughts. This categorization has helped
classify people position when bullying are exercised on them.
Types of bullying
When a person mentions the word bullying people automaticlly associate it with schools
and students. That is a huge misconsumption people tend to have, as bullying is not only
excersied in schools and at students, it maybe that schools is situated comfortably at the top
when it comes to bullying practices. But there are other types of bullying that are occuring. There
are five visible bullying types currently.
1. School bullying.
2. Workplace bullying.
3. Cyber bullying.
4. Gay bullying.
7
School bullying is the most known and common type of bullying which most of the
people are knowlegdable of. Bullying not only happen by student to student, but also happens by
teachers and the school system. Most of the time when the phrase “bullying” is heard the first
thing that comes to a person’s mind is a bunch of kids or teenage students ganging up against
another one. One thing we have not heard of a lot is bullying in the workplace. This kind of
bullying usually happens when grown, mature employees in one of the high ranked companies or
organizations; get bullied by their bosses or another colleague.
Although this issue of bullying in the workplace is still not known, companies have
already planned an anti-bullying and anti harassment policies. Most companies make it clear as
one of their code of conduct that bullying and harassment should not take place in the workplace
under no circumstances like ABCB (Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank). There are three other types
that falls under workplace bullying which is bullying in academia, nursing and teaching.
Another type of bullying is cyber bullying with all the technological progress, bullying is only
bound to fall into technology and make use of it. And it is usually done by any form of
technology mobile phone, internet, etc. Last type of bullying is gay bullying which is basically
when the bullies make hurtful comments about someone with questionable sexual orientation.
Causes of bullying
The causes of bullying may be clear and some may be underlying. Ego plays an
important role the bullies character. It was believed that people with low self esteem would be
more apt to being a bully, as they think that it okay to put people down to make themselves feel
8
better. Or on the other hand they would have a high self esteem that they would think that it is
okay to treat people in a bad way because they are superior. Another clear cause is that some
people would like to be in control therefore they would use bullying as a form to force others
into their demands. Approval is also considered a cause of bullying as the bullies would seek
their approval by abusing them, and ofcourse it would be an approval out of fear.
One of the underlying cause for bullying starts at the bullies home, where the bully is
usually neglected and lack adult supervision or maybe bullied at home where they are missing
parental care and love. In addtion some of the bullies do not suffer the consequences of their
actions therefore they are not aware of the damages they might cause to someone.
Bullying in the UAE
Like any other country, the UAE also has its share of bullying that is being covered and
neglected by society. Although this has caused a lot of problems in the past, people still find it
difficult to face the fact that this is an actual issue that has been going on for generations. One of
the reasons that bullying in the UAE exists could be because of the different nationalities living
in the country. Where students or teenagers in the particular reason find the need to be defensive
and racist. It’s thought that 70 per cent of bullying cases go unreported, but whether it’s a big or
a small problem is irrelevant.’ (Samineh Shaheem, 2011).
The society is in denial of this issue, since there are no accurate statistics about the
percentages of students that are being bullied, or that are even harmed psychologically or
mentally because of bullying. In a recent article Samineh Shaheem, a woman who is in the
process of stopping bullying that is happening in the UAE said that: “There are currently no
9
formal statistics for severe cases of bullying in the UAE. According to a 2008 survey by the
UK’s NHS, 44 per cent of young people admitted they’d been bullied at school.” (Samineh
Shaheem, 2011). This only reflects the idea or the point that the society, government, parents,
and schools should be more aware of this issue.
“24 percent of the students are too scared to go to school” (Samineh Shaheem, 2011).
This only shows how this percentage could increase when the society is living in denial about
such an issue.
The UAE is a Muslim country, not mentioning its rich culture that has been going on for
decades. One of the aspects that the Emaratis or Muslims believe in and have been following for
decades is “respect”. Respect is one of the most important features that Emaratis stick to and
believe in, which contradicts with what is happening in the UAE regarding the bullying issue.
Sadly, this issue is not only happening within schools and students; it has now moved on to
workplaces and between elder people.
Bolt Down On Bullying
“Bolt Down On Bullying” is a campaign that has been going on in the UAE to support
the “National Anti-Bullying Day” which is held annually in November. This campaign has been
started and found by Samineh Shaheem, a psychology professor. Samineh mentioned in one of
the interviews with the radio Dubai Eye that bullying is still new in the UAE and it hasn’t
reached it’s extreme level yet. She also added that it is still in a condition that it could be
controlled if people the society start acknowledging this issue as a real one and being aware of it.
10
The purpose behind this campaign is awareness. People must hear of it in order to know
that there is a problem, which will result sooner or later in them realizing that this needs to be
solved.
Each letter from the word “Bolt” states one aspect that is involved in this campaign. B:
Be a friend, O: Offer support, L: Learn to respond, and T: Tell someone. This word has been
chosen to show what the campaign is really aiming at and what it wants people to do at the end
of the day.
This campaign also involves a month of seminars & counseling services for parents,
health care professionals, teachers, and any other people that are concerned about this issue
spreading in the community. The Campaign has been known in the society mostly because of
social network. It has a twitter and Facebook account, which helps to reach the society since
social network has lately boomed in the UAE.
Ministry Of Education
Ministry of education is the targeted organization that should be aware of this issue. The
ministry has not done any kind of research or campaigns to aware parents, schools, or students
about his serious issue. One of the things that should at least be considered by the ministry is a
paper that should be signed from all schools that discusses an anti-bullying environment in the
school. This will help in students speaking up if they have had a bullying experience in any way.
“AlNahda School” is one of the schools that deal with the anti-bullying policy. “The
policy deals with "all kinds of bullying, physical, verbal
11
In an article, Major Rashed Khalaf al Dhaheri, the criminal affairs manager at the Abu
Dhabi community police station said that the bullying issue is a problem that should be discussed
or resolved between schools, parents, and the police.
There were no search results found about any sort of campaigns or awareness from the
ministry of education in the UAE. The ministry should start researching and finding out statistics
and facts about bullying in the UAE since this issue is increasing in the region. People might not
notice this issue because most of them refer to bullying as physical pain or scratches, while
bullying could actually cause a huge harm psychologically and mentally. In addition to that,
bullying could also be the reason behind kids or teenagers not having their own personality.
Sometimes teenagers do everything it takes to fit in one of the societies or even schools in
particular. Even if it means for them to not stand for anything they believe in.
Targeted Publics
The publics that should be targeted for this awareness campaign are not just in one field.
The first targeted publics are the parents. Parents should be aware of what is happening in their
kids’ lives when they are in school. Whether they are bullied, mistreated, or unhappy. Kids don’t
usually open up to parents about such issues. Parents should have meetings with the teachers,
which is the second targeted public. Teachers should be fully aware that when they turn their
back, it is one of the most common things for one student to bully another, or for students to
gang up on someone. Teachers should have the awareness and the way to deal with such
students. Bullies usually tend to be proud of what they do, and stubborn about stop harming
others whether it was by the usage of words or actions. Teachers should also involve the students
in topics about bullying in general like things that happen when a person bullies another, what
12
does bullying cause, and the serious outcome of it. This sometimes causes a big help in students
leaning and being less stubborn about their bullying. This is where the third targeted public
proves its place, which is the school. A school should have courses or trainers that would teach
teachers or instructors how to deal with bullies in class. Another beneficial thing is that schools
also should have a special teacher that works as a psychiatrist in the school. In case one of the
students had problems whether it was the bully, or the student being bullied. They could both
benefit from speaking to the psychiatrists. Last but not least in the school’s list is to make it an
essential for all students and parents to understand the non-bullying policy that is taking place on
campus. A paper that is distributed to the parents and students to know what the consequences of
their actions might be.
Ministry of education is also considered as a public although it is an organization. Since
the ministry has no background, statistics, or facts about bullying; this only reflects how even the
ministry is not aware about this problem or issue that is increasing in the society
13
Bibliography
Abu Dhabi Commerical Bank . (2010). http://www.adcb.com/Images/Code_of_Conduct_tcm20-
18970.pdf. Retrieved June 07, 2011, from ADCB.com:
http://www.adcb.com/Images/Code_of_Conduct_tcm20-18970.pdf
Boguski, M. (2010, April 21). Why do people hurt themselves? bullying and new research.
Retrieved March 20, 2011, from Celebrity dignosis:
http://www.celebritydiagnosis.com/2010/04/why-do-people-hurt-themselves-bullying-
and-new-research-on-suicide-and-non-suicidal-self-injury/
Browne, A. (2008, July 21). workplace bullies the target of new laws. Retrieved March 20, 2011,
from suite 101: http://www.suite101.com/content/fighting-back-against-workplace-
bullies-a62594
Cheever, J. (2010). Common Causes of bullying. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from Life 123:
http://www.life123.com/parenting/tweens-teens/bullying/causes-of-bullying.shtml
Cheever, J. (2010). why do people bully? Retrieved March 20, 2011, from life 123:
http://www.life123.com/parenting/tweens-teens/bullying/why-do-people-bully.shtml
Clack, D. (2011, January 25). Bullying in Abu Dhabi. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from Time out:
http://www.timeoutabudhabi.com/community/features/20565-bullying-in-abu-dhabi
Huneidi, S. a. (2010, November 29). Campaign to help bullying victims. Retrieved March 20,
2011, from The national: http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/education/campaign-
to-help-bullying-victims?pageCount=0
14
Nock, M. K. (2010, April 4). Self Injury. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology , pp. Vol. 6:
339-363.
Sullivan, k., Cleary, M., & Sullivan, G. (2004). Bullying in Secondary schools. London: Paul
Chapman Publishing.
Wikipedia. (2011, March 30). Bullying. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullying
Worksheet library. (2010). how to handle the classroom bully. Retrieved March 20, 2011, from
worksheet library: http://www.worksheetlibrary.com/teachingtips/thebully.html
The social networks sites for the campgian:
• http://dubaieye1038.com/9119/bolt-down-on-bullying/
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bolt-Down-On-Bullying/165363520155024
• http://twitter.com/smrhuneidi/status/9263699676106752
