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152 Chapter 11 Definition: Clarifying Terms

rise to the top. I generally enjoy my job; it

pays the bills and a little bit more, and it

Effectshas enough variety to prevent abysmal

boredom. It's just that I feel somehow shamed

by the way I earn my living after reading an

article about the "new woman,"

Most magazine writers choose as a subject

a mother who has also returned to school, in

addition to everything else she does. It

depresses me to read that she has usually

earned a 3.80 grade point average, seemingly

effortlessly, Her family cheers he~ on and

never seems to mind the time that school and

homework demand from her, Even more

disheartening is that her family members

report with pride that she was able to make

those grades without depriving them of their

Conttast normal family life. That certainly hasn't

Example been my experience. Algebra, for example,

demanded so much of my time and energy that

bitter words and sarcasm were routine in my

household. When I was married, my husband was

supportive only as long as my classes didn't

disrupt his life.

Some modern mothers may indeed be just as

they are described in the magazines, but I

feel certain that there are many more just

like me. My wish would be to have a writer

P' j

Examining Essaysof Definition 153

showcase a woman, if not with feet of clay,

at least shuffling her way artlessly through

a cluttered life and, at times, barely

coping. I might not admire her, but I

wouldn't feel inadequate, and I'm certain I

could identify with her. In fact, I think I

would like her.

~ ~

Professional Writer

Bully, Bully JohnLeo

John Leo, staff writer for u.s. News & World Report, offers his ob- servations on the cUIrently hot-button issue of bullying in the United States. Focusing on definitions in a national study, he ar- gues that rumors and dirty looks and putting up with horrible classmates are all part of growing up and should not be classified as bullying. .

Now we have a big national study on bullying, and the problem with it is right there in the first paragraph: Bullying be- havior may be "verbal (e.g., name-calling, threats), physical (e.g., hittingt or psychological (e.g., rumors, shunning/exclu-

. sion)." Uh-oh. The study mayor may not have put bullying on the map as a major national issue. But it rather clearly used a dubious tactic: taking a lot of harmless and minor things ordi- nary children do and turning them into examples of bullying. Calling somebody a jerk and spreading rumors counted as bully- ing in the study. Repeated teasing counted too. You achieved bully status if you. didn't let the class creep into your game of catch, or if you just stayed away from people you didn't like (shunning, exclusion).

2 With a definition like that, the total of children involved in either bullying or being bullied themselves ought to be around 100 percent. But no, the bullying study says only 29.9 percent of the students studied reported frequent or moderate involve- ment-and that total was arrived at by lumping bullies and their victims together in the statistics.

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154 Chapter 11 Definition: Clarifying Terms

3 Debatable Definitions The low numbers and highly debatable definitions undercut

the study's conclusion that bullying is "a serious problem for U.S. youth." Of the 29.9 figure, 13.0 percent were bullies, 10.6 percent were targets of bullying, and 6.3 percent were both per- petrators and victims. The study, done by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, is based on 15,686 questionnaires 'filled out by students in grades six through 10 in public and private schools around the country.

4 We have seen this statistical blending of serious and trivial incidents before. The American Association of University Women produced a 1993 report showing that 80 percent of American students have been sexually harassed, including a hard-to-believe 76 percent of all boys. The AAUW got the num- bers up that high by including glances, gestures, gossip, and naughty jokes. The elastic definition encouraged schools and courts to view many previously un controversial kinds of ex- pression as sexual harassment. Before long, schools were mak- ing solemn lists of harassing behaviors that included winking, and calling someone "honey."

5 Another set of broad definitions appeared when zero-toler- ance policies descended on the schools. Antidrug rules were ex- tended to cover aspirin. Antiweapons regulations covered a rub- ber knife used in a school play. Just two months ago, a third grader in Monroe, La., was suspended for drawing a picture of G.!. Joe. Now the antibullying movement is poised to provide a third source of dubious hyperregulation of the young. One antibullying specialist says "hard looks" and "stare downs"- everyday activities for millions of hormone-driven adoles- cents-should be punishable offenses under student codes.

6 This has all the makings of an antibullying crusade with many of the same wretched excesses of the zero-tolerance and antiharassment campaigns. Serious bullying can be ugly. Par- ents and schools should stop it and punish offenders. And schools should do whatever they can to create a culture of civil- ity and tolerance. But rumors and dirty looks and putting up with horrible classmates are all part of growing up. So are the teenage tendencies to form cliques and snub people now and then. Adults shouldn't faint when they see this behavior, or try to turn it into quasi-criminal activity.

7 Another pitfall: In focusing on gossip, rumors, and verbal of- fenses, the crusade has the obvious potential to infringe on free

Examining Essays of Definition 155

speech at schools. Will comments like "1 think Catholicism is wrong," or "1 think homosexuality is a sin," be turned into anti-bullying offenses? The crusade could also demonize those who bully, instead of helping them change. Some of the anti- bully literature circulating in Europe is hateful stuff. One screed calls "the serial bully" glib, shallow, evasive, incapable of intimacy, and a practiced liar who" displays a seemingly limit- less demonic energy." Yet a lot of the academic literature re- ports that bullies often aren't very psychologically different from their victims. And the national study says a fifth of bully- ing victims are bullies themselves.

8 The example of Europe's more advanced antibullying cru- sade should make Americans cautious. The European campaign has expanded from schools into the adult world and the work- place. Several nations are considering antibullying laws, includ- ing Britain. Definitions are expanding too. A proposed antibul- lying law in Portugal would make it illegal to harass workers by giving them tasks for which they are overqualified. Deliberately giving employees erroneous information would count as bully- ing too. Ireland's antibullying task force came up with a scarily vague definition of bullying: "repeated inappropriate behavior, direct or indirect," which' could "reasonably be regarded as un- dermining the individual's right to dignity at work." Imagine what the American litigation industry could do with wording like that.

9 It's time to stop and ask: Where is our antibullying cam- paign going?

1. Circle the thesis in this essay.

2. The definition in question defines bullying as "verbal . . ., physi- cal . . . , or psychological" behavior directed against the victim. Of those three characteristics, which two does Leo find trouble- some?

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