On any given school day, 30% of American adolescents are classified as perpetrators, victims, or spectators of bullying, and 3.2 million children are bullied each year (Greenya). Some children today wake up early during the school week anticipating another day of school. For them, it's like a home away from home that provides a safe environment to learn, interact with peers, grow, develop a sense of self, and get a sense of how they want to be perceived in the world. Of course, there are also occasional moments of complete anxiety: a week of finals, a nerve-wracking class presentation, or a good result in a composition class. For other children, however, anxiety is a daily problem. For them, the weekend never comes fast enough, and normal weekday mornings are instead filled with feelings of nausea, sadness, and dread. Some may even consider ending their lives. Every day, hundreds of thousands of people are affected by this brutal form of abuse. In fact, it is estimated that "160,000 children skip school every day to avoid bullying" (Greenya). What were once considered typical childhood rowdy behaviors, bullying is now a national school event that has attracted the attention of parents, teachers, administrators, police and even state and federal lawmakers. Bullying has become a serious and widespread problem. The bullying crisis has grown significantly in recent years. Bullying surrounds everyone, from everyday harassing insults hurled in hallways, to bruises caused by pushing or punching, and even lethal projectiles. Never before have there been large numbers of horrendous cases of bullying with fatal outcomes – the growing prevalence i...... middle of paper ...... 2011.Billitteri, Thomas. “Cyberbullying”. CQ Researcher. CQPress, May 2, 2008. Web. October 24, 2011. Billitteri, Thomas. “Preventing bullying”. CQResearcher. CQPress, December 10, 2010. Web. October 24, 2011. Greenya, John. "Bullying". CQResearcher. CQPress, February 4, 2005. Web. October 24, 2011. Li, Qing. “Student Experiences with Bullying and Cyberbullying.” Global Issues in Context Online Collection. Detroit: Gale. Global issues in context. Network. October 24, 2011. Srabstein, Jorge C., and Bennett L. Leventhal. “Prevention of bullying-related morbidity and mortality: a call for public health policies.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization. June 2010: 403. Global issues in context. Network. 24 October 2011. Stop bullying. Special Topics. The Department of Health and Human Services in collaboration with the Department of Education and the Department of Justice, Web. October 24. 2011.