On September 9, 2013, 12-year-old Rebecca Ann Sedwick jumped to her death from an old concrete plant in Winter Haven, Florida.

After nearly a year of being subjected to intense bullying by her peers, Rebecca finally succumbed to the pressure and cracked, ending her life in order to end the harassment. The bullying began after a 14-year-old girl began dating a boy that Rebecca had previously been seeing.

The other girl took it upon herself to bother and harass Rebecca to express her negative feelings towards her. Rebecca’s parents forced her to switch middle schools, but the bullying only continued online.

It has been reported that 15 girls participated in the mistreatment of Rebecca. The 14-year-old had apparently turned another 12-year-old girl against Rebecca, and they were both arrested after evidence had been found of intense stalking and harassment.

The girls had told Rebecca on numerous occasions to “just kill herself.” Rebecca became extremely depressed and even said to a boy online, “I’m jumping.” That same day, she did.

From a young age, children are taught to treat others the way they want to be treated; with kindness, sincerity, and respect. Beginning in elementary school, and continuing on through high school, schools encourage students to be kind to one another.

In recent decades, schools have implemented anti-bullying programs in order to control the harassment and inform students of the affects of bullying.

Why is it, then, that stories as sad and overwhelming as Rebecca’s continue to overpopulate the news, seeming to only become increasingly severe?

Although many theorists believe otherwise, humans are not naturally born evil. It is true that genes do play a role in the development of a personality, but the way a human is nurtured truly develops the psyche.

A person that lives a difficult home life will begin to reflect these problems as they enter society. Although bullying is only a small part of the greater societal issue, it is where the problem begins.

Schools can implement as many anti-bullying programs as they want, but unless these ideas are also developed outside of school and in a student’s home, the lessons are useless.

Furthermore, young people that are mistreated at home or experience difficult personal situations are more susceptible to becoming bullies.

The 14-year-old seems to be a prime example of this case, since recently her mother was arrested for two counts of child abuse and four counts of child neglect.

Parents that are either neglectful or do not teach their children proper behavior are the poor foundation on which the bullying problem stands.

On another note, parents need to be more aware of their child’s behavior. Upon the 14-year-old’s arrest, the parents claimed that their child could never commit such cruel acts towards another student, suggesting that the parent’s either regard their child too highly or do not understand her at all.

The parents of Rebecca even admitted that they didn’t know the bullying had continued to such an extent, nor did they know how depressed and emotional their daughter had become. At ages as young as 12 and 14, parents should be more involved in their children’s lives.

With the advancement of technology, children are being given personal computers, phones, and more, opening up a world that is too mature and free for them.

Parents should be monitoring their children’s activity more closely, in order to prevent incidents such as this.

The problem with society that causes acts of bullying stems from the nurture that humans receive beginning at a young age. If home lives are difficult from the start, a child is going to grow up lacking the sense of respect towards other people.

No matter how hard schools try to prevent bullying, they are not parents and they cannot fix the root of the problem. Unfortunately, people can’t be forced into being better parents.

Society cannot force families to be perfect, nor can society control how children are raised outside of school. We must have hope that those of us that do understand the nature of this problem will be enough to put an end to it.