Question

Short Essay 4 ; Give a detail information

Starting in middle school, Jon loved to “give kids flak” and “teach them a lesson.” He was constantly clowning around in class, pulling chairs out from under girls who were wearing skirts and sticking his foot out in the aisle when the class “nerd” went to ask the teacher his fifth question of the hour. Lots of kids had been exposed to Jon’s goofing, and usually everyone laughed when they were not the ones affected by his antics. Since elementary school, Mike has often been on the receiving end of Jon’s bullying. He had shoved into the shower with his clothes on, his clothes had disappeared during gym class and were found in the cafeteria, and he was taunted weekly about his height and weight. He was constantly feeling like his same-age peers bullied him with physical contact, harsh and degrading words and gestures, exploitation, and exclusion. By the end of middle school, Mike had no true friends. He had few acquaintances that he talked with during the day, many of whom were also victims of bullying. He usually ate his lunch by himself, as quickly as possible, and aimlessly wandered the hallways of the school.

Answer the following questions in essay form. Your essay should be between 1 - 2 pages in length and adhere to APA guidelines.

What kinds of changes take place in social, cognitive, and emotional development during middle childhood that are likely to bring about bullying and teasing?

How does culture play a role in what is happening in this case for Jon and Mike?

What cultural definitions of masculinity are at work in middle childhood that may reinforce Jon’s behaviors or make Mike ashamed of his body?

Answer 1

One of the most joyous periods in one’s life is their middle childhood a period characterized by effective cognitive, social and emotional development. This period normally occurs between 6-12 where the child develops all the foundation skills necessary for them to move successfully to their adolescence and adulthood. Various factors affect the normal progress and functioning of a child during this period such as family make-up, financial prosperity of the family, parents’ education, class in the society, race, color etc.

Physical make-up is one of the most important factors that give an opportunity to other children to make fun of them and engage in bullying. Physical structures such as short, tall, fat, lean, colors such as brown, black etc. all contribute to bullying. This bullying severely damages the cognitive and emotional development of the children because they would develop an inferiority complex which always affects them. Most of the children do not fight back bullying because they are not matured enough to fight back besides, when someone is bullied or mocked all the other children will also join with the one who bullies because they are just children.

Culture defines how one develops throughout their life because making fun of others might have been a casual event on Jon’s culture, so he has lived through it and he is not sensitive towards how others feel. It also affects the way they behave in a common place and culture defines how people perceive the social interactions.

Culture has defined masculinity with an athlete body structure, aggressive behavior, absence to emotions etc. So Jon is trying to exhibit and prove that he is a boy and he would behave aggressively and make fun of others who do not have this type of physical appearance and those who don’t respond to him. He also tries to bully Mike about his physical appearance, he tried to intimidate him by hiding his clothes and shaming him and contributes in shattering the confidence of Mike to a great extent.