What Happens When Bystanders Stand Up to Bullying?
August 26, 2014
Besmartbewell.com and PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center explore the important role bystanders play in preventing bullying.
Bullying and cyberbullying are a part of growing up today. Surveys show that nearly 30 percent of middle and high school students have been bullied at school and 43 percent have experienced cyberbullying in the past year.
Those witnesses, the bystanders, are the key to ending bullying, say experts interviewed by besmartbewell.com. “Bystanders have a powerful influence in preventing bullying,” says Julie Hertzog, director of PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center. “It has such power when peers are saying, ‘nobody deserves to be harmed; everybody deserves to be treated with respect.’”
In two new videos at besmartbewell.com, bullying prevention experts and high school students offer tips for how bystanders can stand up to bullying. Watch Bullies and Bystanders: What Teens Say and Bullies and Bystanders: What Experts Say.