Thesis

BULLYING AND ITS EFFECTS TO THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND SOCIAL IMPROVEMENTS OF THE FRESHMEN ENGINEERING STUDENTS OF DON BOSCO TECHNICAL COLLEGE IN MANDALUYONG CITY Prepared by: Adrian Vic David Balitaan Mark Dominic Boquio CHAPTER I The Problem and its Background Introduction Power and authority in school are the main reason why students use an aggressive behaviour towards these regular students. They use these aggression to be on the top of the food chain so that normal students will fear and bow after him. “ Bullying is commonly regarded as an aspect of aggression” (Roland and Idsøe, 2001, p. 446). Masterson (1997) also said: “ bullying is regarded as a form of aggression in which a person repeatedly harasses another person physically and/or psychologically”. A large amount of students in the Philippines are suffering from harassment and bullying. A widespread of campus bullying frights DepEd as more and more students are becoming victims of bullying. This is why we chose this topics so that we can help the victims of bullying to recover. This will not get rid of bullying but our aim is to lessen the act bullying. Theoretical Framework Research has shown that bullying can and has had long-lasting effects on children well into adulthood causing serious implications on their social development. The effects are damaging to both the aggressor and the victim leading to a never ending chain of bullying. Although, some may think bullying is natural and even typical, many believe it is dangerous and can cause serious health problems for children in their developmental stages (Smith, Cousins and Stewart, 2005). Many different attempts to understand the optimal learning environment have been pursued in previous research. Even back in the 1950s, Maslow attempted to explain the levels through which a person must progress in order to be in a position to grow cognitively and emotionally. In his theory, known as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Maslow lists four steps that he asserted must be met before a person is ready to move on to the fifth level of having a need to know and understand. The first level put forth by Maslow is for the needs of hunger, thirst, and bodily comforts to be met before one is ready to progress to the second level. The second level is the need for safety and security. Bullying activity within our schools can be a direct assault on a child’s ability to progress through this second level of need. Once an individual feels safe and out of danger, the person is able to attempt to satisfy his/her need for acceptance and love. Again it is obvious that children threatened with bullying activity will have difficulty feeling accepted and loved in a hostile environment. The fourth level involves the individuals need to gain approval and recognition, another area that is under assault in an environment where bullying is left unchecked. It is only after having had each of these areas of needs met that a child is able to progress to the fifth level of having a need to know and understand. In a perfect world, the teacher would find every child at this point at the start of every school day. Unfortunately, many barriers stand between where the child is and where the teacher needs him/her to be, and bullying is one of these obstacles. The present study attempts to build a link between the theories concerning the best practices in reducing bullying activity with existing theories about the advantages of safe learning environments. (William Daryl Stone, April 2009) Conceptual Framework Bullying is when a person is selected on over and over again by an individual or group with more power, either in terms of physical strength or social standing that they abuse their powers to control or to be in an “ authority” position to exercise their power over someone. Bullying is a big barrier between academic excellence and social improvements. This divides the powerful to weak people. This is a big problem because this will change our future, this will be an obstacle to a greater and peaceful future. What if bullying is lifted? Will it enhance and improve once academic performance and social obligation of a student? Research Paradigm As the diagram shows, the school is the starting point of bullying because this is where students meet, from different all walks of life. What if bullying is prevalent in this institution? Will it affect the student physically, mentally, or emotionally? That it will be an obstacle for their learning and social progress. But what it bullying is reduced? Will this improve their academic performance and social life? This questions will be our guide in seeking answers. Statement of the Problem The study will measure the effects of bullying on academic performance and social life of freshmen engineering students of Don Bosco Technical College-Mandaluyong City, SY 2012-2013. Definitely, the study will attempt to answer the following questions: 1. What will be the academic standings of these students who are victims of bullying? 2. What are the effects of bullying in their social life? Will it lessen their friends or not? 3. Is there a significant relationship between the academic performances of students who are victims of bullying with their social life? Hypothesis of the study There will be a big impact of bullying in the academic performance of a student because some students are becoming afraid of going to schools, afraid of being bullied again. At some point there is a long term of effects in their social life because they are scared because they will think that everyone will also bully him/her so they decide to be alone so that there will be no more superior. Significance of the study The researchers believed that this study will help the students, teachers, parents, and the school administrators as well. By this research the aggressive students will know the bad effects and the consequences of what they are doing so that they will tolerate themselves to bully again. For the victims, this will help them to increase their performance in school and to boost their confidence in meeting people. For the teachers to know how to treat this students well and how they will teach them. For the parent to know their absence to their children. And also, this will help the school administrators to think what will be the right activities for their students. Scope and Delimitation The study will be conducted at Don Bosco technical College Mandaluyong City. The study will include the aggressive (bullies) and the not aggressive (bullied) students. The respondents will be chosen randomly. A survey will be conducted to determine the students who are experiencing bullying and who are doing it. The respondent will be those who are enrolled this semester SY 2012-2013 who are currently taking engineering courses. Definition of terms ” Bullying is characterized by someone who consistently oppresses someone else psychologically or physically because they feel more powerful than the person who is being the victim of aggression (Farrington, 1993). Generally, bullies, also known as aggressors tend to be aggressive, tough, strong, confident, and impulsive.”(Farrington, 1995, P. 2). On the other hand, their victims are usually peers that appear to be ” unpopular, lonely, rejected, anxious, depressed, unwilling to retaliate, and lacking self-esteem.”(Farrington, 1995, P. 2). Academic performance depends on their QPA if they are 1. 00-2. 25 above average, 2. 50 normal, 2. 75 reasonable, 3. 00-5. 00 needs improvement. Social life if they want to spend most of their times with friends and alone. Chapter II Related Literatures and Studies Foreign Literature With regard to school differences, it seemed that the schools in my study tended to differ much in the level of bullying occurrence. School two tended to be much higher than school one in terms of bullying and victimization. However, there is a slight difference in terms of gender. In bullying others by teasing and calling names, boys in school two (18. 3%, n= 9) scored much higher than boys in school one (6. 06%, n = 2). However, girls were found to score slightly higher in school one (17. 02%, n= 16) than girls in school two (14. 2%, n= 10). While both boys and girls were involved in kicking and hitting in school two, only boys were found to get involved in isolating others in school two. No girl from school one had admitted having bullied others by isolating, shutting out, kicking and hitting, and also no girl from school two had admitted having bullied others by isolating and shutting out. In terms of victimization by being called names and teased, the percentage of boys in school one was much higher (33. 3%, n= 11) than that for boys in school two (12. 2%, n= 6). However, girls in school two were much higher (34. 2%, n= 24) than were girls in school one (8. 5%, n= 8). According to Rigby (2008) “ this is true that in most studies some schools did report much higher level of bullying than others” (p. 38). Although the two observed schools were located in different places in the city of Palu, where school one was in the middle of the city and school two was a bit on the periphery of the city, it is too early to conclude that the differences of bullying phenomena were due to the socio-economic statuses of the schools‟ catchment area. Looking at what the two schools have been doing to address bullying behaviour, school one has its own regular program dealing with students‟ violent behaviour, while school two does not. Therefore, it can be assumed that the higher level of bullying in school two was due to the lack of safety in comparison to school one. In a general sense, the students felt secure enough to go to school if they felt protected. The protection could be an awareness of any potential violent behaviour from deviant students. So, the effects of what a school has been doing about students‟ malign behaviour are extremely important aspects of predicting the degree of bullying occurrence in the school. (Darmawan, May 2010) Research has shown that bullying can and has had long-lasting effects on children well into adulthood causing serious implications on their social development. The effects are damaging to both the aggressor and the victim leading to a never ending chain of bullying. Although, some may think bullying is natural and even typical, many believe it is dangerous and can cause serious health problems for children in their developmental stages (Smith, Cousins& Stewart, 2005). Putting a stop to bullying is essential as it will help young children excel in their education and minimize violence and crime. It is important to know that the bully needs help also, as he/she may be a victim as well. Often times, many of these bullies tend to attack when there is very minimal adult supervision and no one is around to intervene in the attack. If aggressors are not taught how to properly gain social skills, studies have shown that their behaviours might lead the aggressors, as well as the victims to become affiliated with violent crimes and delinquencies (Cullingford & Morrison, 1995). Local Literature “ Any severe or repeated use of written, verbal or electronic expression, or a physical act or gesture, or any combination of these by one or more students directed at another student that has the effect of actually causing or placing the latter in a reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm or damage to the property, creating a hostile environment at school and Infringing on the rights of the other students at school. ” – Anti-Bullying Act of 2012 The peak of social media has further widened the use of internet and computers but at the same time increased the occurrence of misconduct and offences through the World Wide Web. Evening news programs started featuring controversial stories which setting was the internet. Common topics include cyber bullying and identity theft. The heightened number of harassment and violation of rights via the web was probably what pushed the litigation of the cybercrime law. However, like the recent most controversial law that is the RH Bill, the Cyber Crime Prevention Act generated many issues and criticisms. Since the day before it took effect, enormous amounts of social media postings, comments on the subject were seen all over Philippine networks. Some were in favour of the law with cyber bullying prevention in mind while most, especially Filipino youth, protested. (Posted on October 9, 2012 by admin. In October 2, 2012, the Philippine Cyber Crime Prevention Act of 2012 became effective.) From the looks of it, Jamie Garcia hasn’t seen the end of his predicament. In fact, it could only be the beginning of his long battle for justice – not only for himself, but for fellow victims of bullying. A senior high school student at a popular Catholic school, Colegio San Agustin (CSA), he couldn’t take it anymore so he bravely came out and sought the help of media. He has long been suffering from the hands of the school bully, “ JD. ” Worse, the father of “ JD, ” identified as Allan Bantiles, reportedly “ slapped Garcia and then pulled out a gun to threaten him. ” A teacher managed to intervene. Bantiles was led out of the premises. The report noted: “ The CSA Makati Alumni Association (CSAMAA) filed a case report of the incident with the Department of Education and reported about the increased security on campus and the banning of Bantiles ’indefinitely.’” Moreover, “ CSA officials then ordered Bantiles never to set foot on their campus again, while Garcia’s father, Mike, moved to have the gun-toting dad’s car pass cancelled, ” as reported by Joseph Holandes Ubalde of Interaksyon. com. Days after the incident, two fathers, “ Ed Reyes” and “ Boy“ (not their real names) revealed that their sons, also students of CSA, were bullied, too, but the school failed to take proper action. As a parent, I find this very alarming and disturbing. What puzzles me is why a known school like CSA has seemingly turned a blind eye to what’s happening right under its noses? (PARENTIN TALK by Tintin Bersola-Babao (The Philippine Star) |  Updated October 7, 2012 – 12: 00am) Chapter III Methods of Research Used and Sources of Data Research Design/ Research Method To attain our goal for this study, we will be using the correlation method of research. This method is the most appropriate to our research. We will conduct surveys to get the information needed in order to finish this research. And we might also use interview. Respondents of the Study The first year engineering students enrolled in Don Bosco Technical College Mandaluyong City school year 2011-2012 will be the respondents of the study. To make sure the accountability of the data, 10% of the total population will be taken as a sample. And too guarantee equivalent distribution, 5% came from victims and 5% from the aggressors. Research Instrument / Data Collection Instrument The survey will be the main instrument to be used in the study to determine the entry level of the students. The survey will focus on the effects of bullying, if they experience it or if they do it.