Many Kids Look the Other Way When They See Bullying

The government's efforts to stamp out bullying and violence in schools have so far been fruitless, a survey reveals.

The Foundation for Preventing Youth Violence surveyed 5,530 schoolchildren and found that four out of 10 witnessed violence in school over the past year. And one out of three said anti-bullying programs by their schools are ineffective.

Most of those programs consist of lectures in a large auditorium and have little impact on changing behavior patterns.

A bigger problem is that apathy toward violence experienced by others is still widespread. Fear and indifference are at the roots of the problem.

When asked why they do not step in to prevent bullying of classmates, 30.6 percent of the surveyed students said they fear reprisals, while 26.9 percent said it is not their problem and 23.5 percent said they feel it would be futile.

The foundation said as long as students remain apathetic, school violence will continue.

One in of four students who said they turn their heads when a classmate is being bullied confessed to bullying other students as well. And one in five students who said they turned their heads said they also suffered bullying.