Dear Dr. Clenance,

Throughout this phase, I have been pretty annoying and distracted by these assignments. I am also aware that I have trouble paying attention and interrupting you during class. I am really sorry for that. I know that I told you that I have ADHD, and I also have DMDD. I am aware that I have not been listening to the assignments. The main target audience for my essay is mainly young adults and teenagers. One of the most meaningful insights of my essay is that I wanted to bring attention to this topic to help make the future better for the next generations. The terms that have impacted my writing are the combining of my sources and the harsh lesson of my essay. I have done this by finding stuff online, like YouTube videos or video essays online. I also used the CCNY Library for articles and papers for my essay. For my audience, I used YouTube videos and skits that most teens and young adults like to watch in their free time. I also used photos from the articles and sources, as young people enjoy using technology the most. The main purpose of this synthesis essay is to explain an important message, which is that everyone should be treated equally. The proof that I used to broadcast this message is using many articles and skits online. The main genre of my essay is an informative and persuasive essay to teach young and growing people a lesson that will benefit them later in life. Another meaningful insight that I have gained during this phase is to be more attentive to others whenever they are doing something. I have learned this the hard way, with you calling out the distractions I always have in class. I am appreciative of the help she provided me to get at the Disability Office on the first floor of the NAC building. Something new that I have learned from my writing is that using my peer reviews from my classmates, I have gained more info on how to write essays. This also applies to my session at the writing center that I have been scheduling pretty often. The feedback that I have gotten from all of these people has allowed me to push myself to get out of my comfort zone. This is something my sister has been trying to get me to do with my traditional and digital art. I have learned that taking risks will benefit you in the future, even if it seems scary at first, but it will be worth it in the end. By taking risks, you will find out some new things about yourself and learn to be more adventurous and less boring. These experiences will help me continue to develop further and become a better person and to listen more often to the professor.

Sincerely, Julian Esteban Arroyave

Respect is important

My main question that I have for you is, do people respect others no matter who they are? It’s something that parents should teach kids from the moment they’re born. But I have still seen people of all ages discriminate against others for anything. I believe that every person has a unique perspective on life and distinct biases. The issue with these differences is that they can cause conflict, leading to misunderstandings, communication breakdowns, and tension in both the workplace and personal life. While different viewpoints are a natural consequence of varying timelines and cultural contexts, the primary issue is how these various discriminatory behaviors are handled, rather than the differences themselves. Without the correct understanding and empathy, these variations(age, race, hobbies, religion, appearance, etc.) can challenge social and personal lives, teamwork in the workforce, and even family relationships. The topic that I want to focus on is that everyone should be treated fairly and respected, a concept should be taught along with basic life skills. But these skills are not taught to most American children today. I want to focus only on North America for this essay, as I aim to present my argument to teens and young adults. In a YouTube video made by “ElisabethJ with an S,” She demonstrates a simple classroom activity using only a piece of paper. First, she crumples it up into a ball and attempts to smooth it out. But the paper does not look the same as it did before. The activity highlights lasting effects, even after apologies, and it illustrates the impact of bullying. There is this saying by a wise person: “You can say sorry, but you can’t change the story.”

“Bullying Activity for Any Classroom.” YouTube, uploaded by ElisabethJ with an S, 22 

October 2018,

Bullying Activity for Any Classroom

This simple, low resource, high impact activity is geared towards the bully, the crew, and those mostly unaffected by bullying behaviors. It can take 5 – 10 minutes but is very effective at getting kids to see the effect bullying has on a person.

People can get discriminated against, harassed, or bullied for anything, even if they’re doing nothing. This can also lead to really severe consequences and long-lasting internal injuries in the victim. These consequences include insecurities, suicidal thoughts, and isolation, which can even lead to them taking out their anger on others. Other severe consequences include the victims becoming school shooters or going down dark paths later in their lives. Something that proves my claim is that, according to a book by Nick Dubin, he explains that “ Again, the emphasis for children should be on the fact that many people who appear to be different are likely to be targeted, but those who are different can also be some of the world’s most creative and successful people.” Another piece of evidence that I would like to make a connection to this with the help of a video produced by the YouTuber, “Dumanity,” creating a video essay about this called “How American Schools Create Violence And Stupidity”. Released on April 3rd, 2025, he explains the major issues with the US education system and how there are no consequences for their behavior in school. Another video that was made by this guy that proves one of my earlier paragraphs is called “How Bullying Creates School Shooters”, released on September 26th, 2025. He explained in his video discussing I think what he means is that he is trying to bring awareness to the main cause of these problems. You see, before they’re shooters, they are actually people who desperately need help. So I have listed all the kinds of reasons for this problem of why people aren’t treating others right. There are long-lasting consequences that people often overlook. Building on Dumanity’s video essays, according to an article published in November 2013, Bullying is defined as harassment and aggression towards anyone for anything. Research has increasingly documented the serious and long-term behavioral and health consequences of bullying. Together, these sources reveal that there are no consequences for this kind of behavior, and a pattern that causes it. For more info, watch the video on YouTube as I stated in the first paragraph or in my works cited.

“How American Schools Create Violence And Stupidity” YouTube, uploaded by Dumanity, 3 April 2025,

How American Schools Create Violence And Stupidity

Video essay, school, American schools, Education, commentary, cultural analysis, bullying, school fights MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YidmA4DCjGc&ab_channel=TobyFox-Topic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9p-yVwF71o&ab_channel=AndrewPrahlow-Topic

It’s a sad reality that some people will always find a reason to criticize, harass, and discriminate, no matter what you do. This is wrong because the words people say are very mighty and can hurt, which is not well known today. This is proof that there are many kinds of jerks anywhere you go. This can apply to any kind of discrimination and bullying; there will always be consequences. To prove my claim, I used this YouTube short made by Luke Davidson, titled “You Can’t Do Anything These Days” in which he does the same thing over and over again. There are also the captions, People when you’re skinny, fat, short, tall, doing something, doing nothing, and ending off with simply existing. Whereas Luke Davidson uses a YouTube Short to prove this claim, this is this YouTube short that I watched online, titled “Bully will never understand! (A life lesson)“ by Artsy_shortz‬ on YouTube, released in August 2024. They stated in the description by saying,” Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.” “Bullying is not just about physical violence, it’s also about psychological violence – the kind of violence that leaves scars on the soul.” “Bullying is a learned behavior. It’s up to us to teach our friends how to be kind and respectful to others.” In the YouTube short, she shows a yellow piece of paper with the caption “bully this paper, again and again.” They then say, “Now say sorry, again, one more time. ” They then finish off by asking. “OK, now a question! Is the paper fixed…” This same short proves that it leaves internal scars in the victim. This is used with cyber, verbal, physical, and emotional bullying, which can hurt anyone. Whereas Artsy_shortz‬ used a simple piece of paper to display these consequences, Christopher J. Ferguson, published an article as a part of Psychology of popular media, explains that cyberbullying is still an ongoing thing in these times. The author highlights that a combination of traits, specifically both left- and right-wing authoritarianism, mental health problems, and trait victimhood, work together to increase the risk of cyberbullying perpetration. If people started to monitor who is in this kind of harassment, we could create retribution for these offenses. This is a good example of this issue, as it summarizes the definition of cyberbullying. Something that proves my claim is that, according to a book by Shaheen Shariff, He explains in that book, it states, “Although most scholarly research and books on bullying focus on children’s behavior and look for ways to treat it using behavior modification techniques or positivist modes of discipline, my book addresses an important gap in the scholarship on bullying and cyber-bullying” In contrast to source A, Source B argues the opposite of verbal/emotional bullying, which is cyberbullying. This is the current age of bullying in the current heavily technology-driven world we live in today. This is proven with a line graph from June 2025, which shows the increasing cyberbullying happening from 2016 to 2025, a massive growth over nine years. Another graph that proves my claim in this paragraph is this bar graph which also shows statistics from 2018 to 2024. There is a list on the left of the graph with 12 points, and the graph reflects them and these statistics will continue to grow over the years, and if it is not solved.

This kind of treatment doesn’t apply just in school; it can happen anywhere. Such examples include work, going out, vacations, and even at home. Bullying occurs along a continuum that ranges from mild to severe. Minor and sporadic instances of harassment, such as name-calling, gossiping, or pushing and shoving, are examples of mild intimidation. This leaves scars like PTSD and other serious issues. A book written by Ellen Walser deLara published in 2016, called Bullying Scars : The Impact on Adult Life and Relationships, she states that “People who experience trauma seem to fall into three categories: those who survive the trauma but do not quite return to their original baseline functioning, those who recover from the trauma, and those who actually grow and exceed prior functioning as a result of the trauma they have overcome (Bonanno, Galea, Bucciarelli, & Vlahov, 2007). Tedeschi and Calhoun (2004) discovered the following indicators of post-traumatic growth in adults who had overcome trauma.” A perfect example of this is stated in a paper by Ajay Pradhan and Jalsha Joshi, members of the International Research Journal of Management Science, published in 2019. In that paper, they both explain that bullying in the workplace isn’t just related to untreated health and well-being among those being bullied; it is also associated with individual, unit, and organizational outcomes related performance and productivity, negative outcomes for patient care, increased absences from work, increased burnout, and shorter job tenure. (Sheehan, McCabe, & Garavan, 2018). This kind of mistreatment not only affects the person’s job but also puts their mental health at risk of deteriorating. I am trying to say that mental health is important and deserves to be taken seriously.  Whereas Pradhan and Joshi focus on this happening outside of school, Filippa Carnelius and Inga Dennhag concentrate on the mocking of others based on gender. Another form of people not treating others with respect is mocking others based on their gender. This is prejudice or discrimination against someone solely because of their gender. According to the article created in April 2023,  by Filippa Carnelius and Inga Dennhag, mental health problems and depression are common problems among youth, and the incidence goes up significantly when children reach adolescence. Studies show that 3–8% of adolescents are affected by Depression, which is more than twice as prevalent among females after puberty than males at the same age. In fact, young girls who have entered puberty are at the greatest risk of developing depression and other mental disorders. Similarly, both authors reveal that there are severe consequences of this, as depression in teenagers increases the risk of suicide and is associated with increased morbidity. This properly shows the consequences of this kind of harassment on women and young girls. This will cause them to bottle it up and keep it to themselves and not tell anyone, and be heavily traumatized and hurt internally due to these offensive comments, and have difficulties later in life. This is shown in this image of a distressed woman at work who is sighing, but her co-workers are mocking her.

I have explained that there are some issues with how kids/teens have been treating others, but I think that there’s a reason why they are like this. I believe it’s about how disciplined they are or how their parents treat them, as well as due to their personal issues or struggles, or problems with their personal lives. It also has to be issues with family members or toxic relationships with their family.  Something that proves my claim is that, according to a book by Walter B Roberts, he states that,” Educators can no longer recommend that the solution to aggressive behaviors is discipline alone. Parents can no longer assume that they play no role or are helpless in working with their children to solve the bullying they receive. By increasing the adult supervision and guidance on both sides of the school fence—at home and on the school grounds—we will be better able to help our children during some of their darkest hours of need.” According to the article, “Why Teaching Kids Kindness Isn’t Enough, by Claire Lerner, posted on Psychology Today on April 27th, 2021. It states that When kids act mean, they are often struggling with difficult feelings of insecurity, self-doubt, and anxiety, which are challenging to process. Kids often lash out to protect themselves, unknowingly harming other children with negative words or actions when they are feeling hurt. Harsh punishments for being mean or angry can increase this unwanted behavior. All children deserve support in processing feelings and tools for managing them effectively. Some strategies parents can use include telling the story of what happened without judgment and guiding children to assess the outcome. This supports my main claim because it shows that some parents don’t discipline their kids properly or aren’t part of their lives at all. Other reasons are that they have toxic or abusive parents who don’t love them at all. Building on Lerner’s article, other reasons are that they have toxic or abusive parents who don’t love them at all. This can be shown in this music video written by Lydia the Bard, titled “Are You Listening?”, where in that video, she tells a story through song with an animatic. Throughout the song, she calls out the ignorance of some kids being ignored or cast aside. Children are being put through pain that the parents refuse to see, as this is an issue regardless of culture or time. Together, these sources reveal that this can lead to them having mental health issues and lead them to take out their anger on others, as the victims of bullying do to others. It also relates to my earlier paragraphs by showing that people have insecurities and take it out on others.

“Lydia the Bard – Are You Listening? (Official Animatic Lyric Video)” YouTube, uploaded by Lydia the Bard, 22, February 2025,

Lydia the Bard – Are You Listening? (Official Animatic Lyric Video)

STREAM THIS SONG NOW – https://ffm.to/streamareyoulistening.OYD Omg another Lydia the Bard song calling out society for its deep ingrained ignorance and lack of empathy? What a surprise Hope you enjoy our new song! We’ve been working on this for a LONG time.

In conclusion, in today’s world, there are problems with the way children are being disciplined and behave. These sources help support my claim, as they explain the types of discrimination occurring in America. I now understand how this is happening and how we can resolve this issue, so that the future will look brighter for the next generation and beyond. That is to teach your kids to be kind and treat others with respect, which is to start teaching kids to treat others properly. They should even teach them that perfection doesn’t exist, and that we should accept others no matter their flaws. I think that some people are not fit to be parents and that they should take the time to decide whether or not they should have kids to begin with.  If parents started to become a part of their child’s life and discipline them, then less bullying and harassment would happen, and kids would be happier and brighter. I believe that if people were actually more kind and were reprimanded for their misbehavior and mistreatment, then there would be fewer mental health problems, suicidal thoughts, and depression in children, teens, and young adults. Something that proves my claim is that, according to an article written by Sophie E Moore, he states,” Strong evidence exists for a causal relationship between bullying victimization, mental health problems, and substance use. Evidence also exists for associations between bullying victimization and other adverse health and psychosocial issues; however, there is insufficient evidence to conclude causality. The strong evidence that bullying victimization is causative of mental illness highlights the need for schools to implement effective interventions to address bullying behaviours.” Another piece of evidence that proves my claim is that from the same book written by Ellen Walser deLara, where she states, “It is essential for mental health practitioners to increase their awareness of the aftereffects of bullying in people’s lives and to become aware that there are ongoing consequences. The first place to start is by asking clients about any bullying they experienced as children.” There have been several strategies that have demonstrated efficacy in addressing and preventing bullying on the individual level and more broadly within schools and communities. I truly believe that people will start to teach kids the most valuable life lessons, so our future will become brighter. Proof of this is shown with this image of where it says give respect, get respect. This can relate to a very true saying that also proves this, which is,” what goes around, comes around”.

Works Cited

“Bullying Activity for Any Classroom.” YouTube, uploaded by ElisabethJ with an S, 22 

October 2018,

Bullying Activity for Any Classroom

This simple, low resource, high impact activity is geared towards the bully, the crew, and those mostly unaffected by bullying behaviors. It can take 5 – 10 minutes but is very effective at getting kids to see the effect bullying has on a person.

“Bully will never understand! (A life lesson).” ‪YouTube, uploaded by @Artsy_shortz, 15 August 

2024 ‬

– YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

Cyberbullying Research Center “Summary of Our Cyberbullying Research (2007-2025)” 

cyberbullying, 30, June 2025

https://cyberbullying.org/summary-of-our-cyberbullying-research

Carnelius, Filippa, and Inga Dennhag. “The Association between Gender, Sexual Harassment, 

and Self-Compassion on Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents.” Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 77, no. 3, 2023, pp. 256–65, https://doi.org/10.1080/08039488.2022.2089231. 1, December 2019

Cook, Sam. Cyberbullying data, facts and statistics for 2018 – 2024. Comparitech, 10 January 

2024, https://www.comparitech.com/internet-providers/cyberbullying-statistics/

Currie, Lisa. “Why Teaching Kindness in Schools Is Essential to Reduce Bullying” Edutopia, 17, 

October 2014, https://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-kindness-essential-reduce-bullying-lisa-currie

Dubin, Nick. Asperger Syndrome and Bullying : Strategies and Solutions. 1st ed., Jessica 

Kingsley, 2007.

deLara, Ellen Walser. Bullying Scars : The Impact on Adult Life and Relationships. 1st ed., 

Oxford University Press, 2016.

Ferguson, Christopher J. “Cyberbullying and Its Relation to Right and Left Authoritarianism, 

Trait Victimhood, and Mental Illness.” Psychology of Popular Media, vol. 13, no. 3, 2024, pp. 472–80, https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000473.  

“How American Schools Create Violence And Stupidity” YouTube, uploaded by Dumanity,

3 April 2025,

How American Schools Create Violence And Stupidity

Video essay, school, American schools, Education, commentary, cultural analysis, bullying, school fights MUSIC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YidmA4DCjGc&ab_channel=TobyFox-Topic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9p-yVwF71o&ab_channel=AndrewPrahlow-Topic

“How Bullying Creates School Shooters” YouTube, uploaded by Dumanity, 26 September 2025, 

How Bullying Creates School Shooters

We have to put an stop to school shootings. SOURCES https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A-QtG0CvkJq7a1AcqEplM_1UuQnzU3q4RDPYebMs1M0/edit?usp=sharing MUSIC 4 A.M. Animal Crossing: New Leaf – Nintendo Alright (Elp Version) – ATLUS Sound Team https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5x_9KEogM8&list=RDw5x_9KEogM8&start_radio=1

Lerner, Claire. “Why Teaching Kids Kindness Isn’t Enough” psychologytoday, 

27, April 2021, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/zero-six/202104/why-teaching-kids-kindness-isnt-enough

“Lydia the Bard – Are You Listening? (Official Animatic Lyric Video)” YouTube, uploaded by 

Lydia the Bard, 22, February 2025,

Lydia the Bard – Are You Listening? (Official Animatic Lyric Video)

STREAM THIS SONG NOW – https://ffm.to/streamareyoulistening.OYD Omg another Lydia the Bard song calling out society for its deep ingrained ignorance and lack of empathy? What a surprise Hope you enjoy our new song! We’ve been working on this for a LONG time.

Moore, Sophie E., et al. “Consequences of Bullying Victimization in Childhood and 

Adolescence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” World Journal of Psychiatry, 

vol. 7, no. 1, 2017, pp. 60–76, https://doi.org/10.5498/wjp.v7.i1.60. 22, March 2017

Muller, Deb. “The 10 Most Common Types of Workplace Harassment” hracuity, 17, January, 

2025 https://www.hracuity.com/blog/workplace-harassment/

Pradhan, Ajay, and Jalsha Joshi. “Impact of Workplace Bullying on Employee Performance.” 

International Research Journal of Management Science, vol. 4, 2019, pp. 1–13, 

https://doi.org/10.3126/irjms.v4i0.27882.

“Respect: Examples and How to Learn or Teach It” Cognifit, 22 March 2019, 

https://blog.cognifit.com/respect/

Roberts, Walter B. Working with Parents of Bullies and Victims. 1st ed., Corwin Press, 2008.

Shariff, Shaheen. Confronting Cyber-Bullying: What Schools Need to Know to Control 

Misconduct and Avoid Legal Consequences. 1st ed., Cambridge University Press, 2009, 

https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511551260. 

United States. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, issuing body, and Inc 

Development Services Group. Bullying. Last updated: November 2013, Office of 

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2013.

“You Can’t Do Anything These Days” YouTube uploaded by Luke Davidson, 24 October 2025

You Can’t Do Anything These Days #Shorts

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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