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In this section, you will analyze another issue and the public policy that addresses that issue.

Bullying is an issue that impacts many school-aged children each day. According to the stopbullying.gov website, the definition of bullying is as follows:

Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time.

The website also provides the following statistics for bullying:

The 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) indicates that, nationwide, 20% of students in grades 9–12 experienced bullying.
The 2008–2009 School Crime Supplement (National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice Statistics) indicates that, nationwide, 28% of students in grades 6–12 experienced bullying.

Bullying has become an increasingly common occurrence in today’s society. This increase has led to the creation of public policies aimed at protecting victims of bullying.

Activity

You will now conduct your own research to determine public policy against bullying in Texas. Follow the directions below and answer the questions that follow in your notes.

Go to the Policies and Laws section of stopbullying.gov link: Stop Bullying
Click on Texas

Does Texas have policies, laws, or both to address bullying?
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Laws only
Do laws or policies in Texas include cyber bullying?
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Yes
Where are Texas laws or policies located?
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The Texas Education Code

Lesson Summary

In this lesson, you examined nationalism and patriotism. You also examined various public policies and were able to see how public opinion and cultural beliefs can influence the formation of such policies.