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What are the Different Types of School Harassment?

G. Wiesen
G. Wiesen

There are many different forms of school harassment, though in general these different types tend to refer to those who are involved in the harassment or the specific type of harassment that is occurring. The people who are involved in a harassment situation often dictate the form of harassment that happens, such as harassment that occurs between two or more students, harassment between two or more teachers, and harassment involving a student and a teacher. Regardless of who is involved in school harassment, however, there are also a number of different types of harassment that can occur at school such as sexual harassment and bullying.

School harassment typically refers to any type of harassment that occurs at a school, rather than at any other type of workplace or social environment. Harassment, in general, is behavior that seeks to make a person feel intimidated or threatened, or that creates a generally hostile environment for someone in a particular place. This usually consists of language, actions, and images used by one or more people to make another person or small group of people feel threatened or strongly distressed. School harassment usually consists of this type of behavior and is often categorized based on who is involved or specific forms of harassment.

Teachers can be a source of child harassment.
Teachers can be a source of child harassment.

A student harassing other students is a fairly common form of school harassment, which involves one or more students targeting one or more other students for abusive behavior. Harassment in a school can also occur between teachers, and not involve students at all, which can be similar to other forms of harassment that can occur in other workplaces. There can also be school harassment that involves one or more students and one or more teachers on each side of the situation. A student can harass a teacher in a classroom, and teachers can harass students; both situations are inappropriate and emotionally destructive.

School harassment may involve two or more students.
School harassment may involve two or more students.

Different types of school harassment are often indicated by the type of harassment that occurs, regardless of who is involved. Sexual harassment involves aggressively sexual behavior from one person toward another, which is unwanted and leads the target to feel threatened and creates an environment in which he or she cannot learn or teach. Bullying is also a major form of school harassment that consists of physical actions and words that make a person feel threatened with violence, often due to differences in culture, physical appearance, or behavior. This often occurs between students and can result in anything from fist fights to terrible acts of violence in a school.

Discussion Comments

wavy58

Bullying in my middle school was mostly between students and teachers. The kids were at the age where they wanted to show off, and several of the boys would sass the teachers from time to time.

The teachers always sent them to the principal's office. They wanted to make an example out of these boys, and since most of the kids were terrified of the principal, this worked. I think they cut down on bullying by doing this.

JackWhack

There really wasn't much bullying in my high school. I only got picked on by one kid, and she was a transfer student who left after one semester.

Of course, I went to a small country school. I think that bullying is much worse at larger city schools.

In my town, everyone knew each other, and though there were snobs and people who were considered lower class, there really wasn't any violence or torture. I wish it could be this way in big schools, too.

Perdido

@orangey03 – It is tragic when school bullying leads to death. I know that some people are ashamed to tell anyone, especially a teacher or parent, about being bullied, because it makes them feel weak. However, what they don't realize is that their very life could be in danger.

Kids who grow up thinking that they could never commit suicide change their minds when bullied for long periods of time. There are countless stories in the news of bullied kids killing themselves to escape a miserable situation.

It's almost always student to student bullying that causes this. Often, several students gang up on one kid to make his life miserable.

orangey03

Bullying in schools is a serious issue. There have been many occasions when kids who have been bullied have either killed themselves or have been killed by other students just for being different.

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    • Teachers can be a source of child harassment.
      By: Jasmin Merdan
      Teachers can be a source of child harassment.
    • School harassment may involve two or more students.
      By: michaeljung
      School harassment may involve two or more students.
    • School harassment may include text messages.
      By: Maksim Kostenko
      School harassment may include text messages.
    • The people involved in harassment often dictate the form of harassment that happens.
      By: stefanolunardi
      The people involved in harassment often dictate the form of harassment that happens.
    • School harassment can lead to physical violence.
      By: Monkey Business
      School harassment can lead to physical violence.