Bullying has become a serious problem in the 21st century. Each year about 2 million U.S. children attempt suicide, and about 700,000 receive medical attention for the attempt. Approximately 2,000 children from ages 10–19 complete their suicide attempt according to nami.org a National Alliance on Mental Illness website.

Elementary, middle and high schools have different versions and levels of bullying. Elementary school usually is sneaky bullying and regular little kid kind of bullying like pinching or pushing, middle school is usually lots of teasing and it is obvious, while high school is more cyber bullying, according to guidance counselor Lizzette Colon. She also said that middle school seems like it would be the most problematic time for bullying because the bullying is done in person and kids are going through puberty, having different teachers, etc. which is a big change for them so they lash out. She added that high school is the biggest concern for bullying due to social media.

“Kids hide behind computer screens and can say whatever they want to say that they wouldn't say in person,” Colon said, adding that she believes kids bully because they come from broken homes, were abused or they don’t have control at home so at school they want to feel in control. Students and staff believe there isn't a bullying problem at their school because the grades are mixed in different classrooms so they all get to know each other.

“There isn't a bullying problem here because since it is such a small school us teachers and adults overhear students talking about the drama going on so we put a stop to it before it gets any worse. We also have different diversities coming from all around the city to our school so there isn't more of one race either,” Colon said.

Bullying has a serious impact on kids from all ages. At a certain point the kid who is being bullied feels trapped and so stressed that they take their own life. Many celebrities have been bullied before and they give advice to kids who are presently being bullied today.

“When people hurt you over and over, think of them like sand paper; They may scratch and hurt you a bit, but in the end, you end up polished and they end up useless,” Chris Colfer said.

Chris Colfer is a gay American actor who plays ‘Kurt’ in the TV show “Glee” whose character is also gay. Colfer was bullied so severely in middle school that he needed to be home schooled for half of 7th and 8th grade. He is now an actor, writer, singer and producer.

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim,” Tim Field said, a prominent British anti-bullying activist with his main focus relating to workplace bullying. There are many celebrities that have been bullied when they were younger, which in fact encouraged them to start acting, singing, dancing, etc. Victims who are bullied are usually told to write, learn an instrument or something to control their feelings of being bullied and let loose in a safe way.

On October 25, 2012 Felicia Garcia, 15-year-old from Staten Island committed suicide by jumping in front of a train due to months of being bullied in person and cyber bullied for being in foster care, the way she looked and her sexual life. On August 29, 2013 Bart Palosz, 15-year-old from Connecticut commits suicide from being bullied starting back in middle school through high school of having to get stitches from his head being banged into lockers, being tormented, and humiliated. He died from shooting himself with a gun after the first day of sophomore year. On February 18, 2014, Maddie Beard 15-year-old from Idaho committed suicide from being bullied because of her sexual orientation. She died by hanging herself in her bedroom. These three people either went to the administration about the bullying or didn't trust them enough to go because they don’t do anything about it so the victims have no where else to turn to but death according to their death reports.

Usually before the death of a child due to being bullied, they leave signs of depression or update their statuses on twitter or Facebook saying how alone they feel or wanting to kill themselves. Billions of kids go on social media each day and can see these life threatening posts but don’t do anything about it until it is too late. There is no federal law that specifically applies to bullying. In some cases, when bullying is based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or religion, bullying overlaps with harassment and schools are legally obligated to address it otherwise they cannot do anything. Even with this specific bullying law schools do not follow through with the specifics they act like it is not an issue and allow the problem to get to the point where children kill themselves as a result.

There are multiple reasons why kids don’t ask for help when they are being bullied; they feel helpless and they want to solve it on their own to feel in control again, they may feel like no one cares or could understand, friends can help protect kids from bullying and kids can fear losing this support. The 21st century has made bullying a more serious problem because kids developed new ways to bully others with the use of technology.

“It can be extremely dangerous and damaging to the emotional and physical development of youth and its consequences are as extreme and sometimes more extreme than traditional bullying because cyber bullying opens up students to the possibility of 24-hour torment,” Ivana Kvesic reporter from The Christian Post said.

Although America today has National No Bullying month in October, it still doesn't seem to make a difference, suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for 15-to-24-year-old Americans according to Bullying Statistics, another anti-bullying website. Kids of all ages struggle with being bullied online and in person, and when it gets bad enough the victims attempt suicide with an estimation of 8 to 25 attempted suicides with the result of 1 completion also according to Bullying Statistics. There have been many different ideas of solutions to bullying but that doesn't seem to stop the thousands of deaths of children.