With suicide rates high, will passing laws on bullying really help? Will kids care about consequences?

Some students within schools don’t stop the taunting despite laws and policies that are already in place.  Currently, U.S. states with both policies and laws against bullying still have the highest leading rates of suicide.

“The laws are only as good as the people willing to report,” guidance counselor Mrs. Tamme Westbrooks said.

Nearly every day, one hundred sixty thousand students stay home from school from fear of bullying. Children and teens are losing days of their education simply because they are afraid.

Even at Southern Lehigh, according to one survey, half the students have been bullied. Of those students, only one had an adult and teacher intervene.

“Everyone has been bullied in their life, no matter what” said one anonymous student.

English teacher and GSA adviser Ms. Kate Schartel traveled to Harrisburg to lobby for two specific anti-bullying acts to be passed into law. The Safe Schools Improvement Act had the most success. Not nearly as effective was the Student Non-Discrimination Act which includes rights for LGBT students.

“As the society as a whole looks at these issues and these students, there’s still going to be an uphill battle,” Ms. Schartel said.

The pattern seems to show that underclassmen are being bullied more than juniors and seniors. Ninth graders who are still learning high school social skills may have it worst of all.

The rates of bullying in the high school have not increased, but incidents seem to linger longer than past years. Part of this may be due to the fact that people do not report these bullying incidents as fast as they should.

“People reporting it is critical,” Mrs. Westbrooks said. “So often, teachers don’t report or hear [about an incident]. Other kids need to be more willing to report.”