“Not in Our School,”- The phrase that most students find confident to declare when asked about the bullying situation Bethel High School faces apparently is not the honest truth. While physical and confrontational harassment does not literally exist inside the walls of Bethel High School, it is safe to say that it has not completely ceased.

With the evolution of communication, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become an acceptable way of interacting with one’s peers. While the ability to communicate in various ways has often been looked at as convenient and beneficial, it also has caused a new form of harassment known as cyber bullying, and has become a seemingly viral trend.

Recently, the most common type of cyber bullying has been in the form of anonymous posts, made on the sight known as Formspring. While its’ initial purpose was made to respectfully question others, many students have abused this power and turned it into a way of getting frustrations, opinions, and nasty comments heard. “It’s almost as if it is an easier way to bully someone,” says Amanda Conroy, a Junior at BHS.

This might just be the reason these forums have become so popular. The anonymity of online sites gives people the feeling of power, in which they find it acceptable to insult a person without their knowledge. “People think there won’t be any backlash,” Kim Atherton, another Junior states.

This could not be closer to the truth, for it is almost the exact reason people take advantage of another peer’s forum. In any situation where a person’s identity is masked, it is almost human nature to be overcome by the power it holds.

It is heartbreaking to see that students are constantly insulted and hurt over comments made by other peers. Perhaps people should learn to follow the old saying of, “if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
This begs the question of whether bullying has completely ended. For it may not be a problem in our school, but that does not mean it is not elsewhere.