Read the following article on bullying carefully; list FIVE MAIN points discussed, then write a summary of the article in NOT MORE THAN 120 words. If this limit is exceeded, only the first 120 words of your answer will be read and assessed. Remember to include in your summary paragraph the five points you listed.
As far as possible, use your own words. Your summary must be in continuous prose. You may use the space on page 5 to jot down a plan.
In your answer, you will be assessed on how well you
- identified the main ideas and opinions in the extract
- organized and expressed these ideas and opinions in your own words
- used appropriate grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation.
Typically, bullies and their victims share the same characteristic: low self-esteem. Whether they internalize or externalize their feelings determines if they become bullies or victims of bullying.
Usually, negative situations and events in a child's life can trigger low self-esteem. Externalizing feelings of pain or discomfort or worthlessness, which start in the home, can cause some children to become bullies as they seek to control their social environment to compensate for their lack of control in their family. For instance, if parents of a child are separating or divorcing, the child might feel responsible for the situation, or powerless to keep the parents together. Frustration and anger develop. As a result the child might take out the anger on others, to compensate for the lack of control over the parents' separation.
Other children internalize their feelings by refusing to talk about how they feel. Instead they become depressed and withdrawn, and see themselves as failures or lacking in some important way. When a bully attacks such a child, the attack validates this child's feelings of inadequacy, so the child often reacts negatively, accepting or confirming the negative self-evaluation because he/she feels the bully is correct.
Children with high self-esteem do not respond negatively to bullies because they already know that negative personal statements made by the bully are untrue and therefore unworthy of attention. The main goal of bullies is to get their victims to experience fear, anger or sadness. Once their victims demonstrate these emotions by words, actions or body language, the bully has control, and the bullying will continue until the victim no longer responds in the desired way.
