Bystander effect an old story at school

By Howard Leung

Picture this. You’re a high school student, walking down the school hallway when you see a huge ring of kids. And of course, the school bully just happens to be picking on your friend, calling him names, daring him to fight, while the rest of the crowd is chanting: “fight, fight, fight!”

You inch closer, pushing through the crowd. Once you get to the crowd’s rim, you and your friend lock eyes. You don’t know what to do. Should you get a teacher, get picked on by the bully and be called a snitch for the rest of the year? Or should you break up the fight by yourself, end up getting pounded, and lose the respect of the people in the crowd? So, full of indecision, you decide not to do anything, and you feel immensely guilty afterwards when your friend gets a black eye and a nasty bruise on his chest.

Now picture this. You’re walking through the hallway again, but this time you have a clear sight of your friend being picked on by the bully because there’s no crowd. You run up to your friend, push the bully off him, and tell him menacingly: “Don’t touch him ever again”.

Are both these scenarios and their outcomes likely? Definitely. These situations illustrate the bystander effect.

In fact, high school is the place to be if you want to know all about the bystander effect, due to a tiny problem called peer pressure.

Valerie Leung, a student at Rick Hansen Secondary School, has experienced the bystander effect before.

“In the cafeteria, I would always see this guy in a wheelchair. He would always sit with his so-called ‘friends’. Before he came in, I would always hear comments like ‘he’s coming again!’ or ‘hurry, get some chairs. Block his way!’”

Although this happened repeatedly Leung found herself overwhelmed and unable to intervene in the crowded cafeteria.

“I felt that they would tell me to leave them alone, and that it was none of my business, and then everybody would see me in a fight.”

When asked whether she would be more likely to help if there were less people in the cafeteria, she said maybe "I would help more- but now, I’m trying not to think about [getting embarrassed], and I’m trying to help people who are getting picked on.”

Howard Leung is a grade 11 student at Glenforest Secondary School. He has served as a page in Queen’s Park and is interested in world issues.

Free The Children is the largest network of children helping children through education in the world, with more than one million youth involved in our innovative education and development programs in 45 countries. Founded by international child rights activist Craig Kielburger, Free The Children has an established track-record of success, with three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and partnerships with the United Nations and Oprah’s Angel Network.