Posted on 04/09/2010 1:41:13 PM PDT by Patriot777
DALLAS — A 13-year-old hangs himself in a Johnson County, Texas, barn. An 8-year-old jumps out of a two-story school building in Houston. Nine Massachusetts teenagers face jail time after allegedly harassing a girl so mercilessly that she killed herself. These incidents, all of which took place in one week, reframe the age-old phenomenon of the schoolyard bully.
Students are turning to suicide, experts say, as an escape from taunts that now continue beyond the school day through cyberspace.
Such drastic responses, they say, reveal how an action once considered a rite of passage has turned into a public health issue.
"You used to get a reprieve every time you went home," said Beaux Wellborn, who helps lead the Bully Suicide Project, a Dallas effort started in November to address the surge in suicides. "Kids today don't get a reprieve. It's a constant cycle. Imagine waking up and getting a text message that someone hates you, then dealing with it at school and getting home to face it on Facebook and Instant Messenger."
(Excerpt) Read more at denverpost.com ...
There may be many solutions, but I think the number one protector of a child SHOULD be the parent.
Perhaps in some cases, the parent is not aware, through no fault of their own.
But if they are aware, I believe it is their responsibility to see to it that their child is in a safe environment. Whether that means confronting the other parents, going to the principal, switching schools, home schooling, turning off the cell phone/Facebook, whatever.
Also children should be allowed to defend themselves just like adults are.
Continuing along the line of parental responsibility, the parents of the bullies, once made aware of their kids’ behavior, should be responsible to put a stop to it. Or have to pull their kid out of school. Or be held criminally liable for their bully’s behavior. Just like a parent is responsible for their child’s stealing or vandalism, or should be.
One or two harrassers is one thing but groups of 9 or 10 are beyond what a person can take. The shame a young girl would feel when two of the bullies are boys you had sex with who have then turned around and are taunting you along with girls who have their own thing going with the boys is just heart breaking to think about.
There was just something diabolically Hitchcock like in the way these kids went after this girl. Another film Noir comes to mind, “Gaslight” with Ingrid Bergman where the husband treats a sane woman as though she were insane and arranges events to make her appear so to others! (Come to think of it, that’s what the media tries to do with conservatives)
That's true.
I told my son it is better to go to the office and get punished than to be seen by other kids as a wimp ...
That's a judgment call which could work out okay for him, or not. Either way, he should not have to be in the position to decide, and it's the adults' responsibility to see that he doesn't.
Where else, except for prison, does a person have to decide whether to fight physically against harassment, or live with it undefended? Not in any free workplace - it's economically indefensible, and the person has the choice of leaving the environment. Only schoolchildren and prisoners can't leave.
There's no legitimate reason for evil behavior by minors to be tolerated by the adults in charge.
You have to teach your children how to defend themselves verbally and physcially. If they don’t learn how to stand up to the Leftists-in-training then how will they do it when they are adults?
I don’t know what you are smoking, but you are not in command of the facts. I am not a mormon or Christian, but if you spend any time reading “mormon” posts, they are all posted by anti-mormons, and 99% of any exchanges or comments are also by anti-mormons. There are only two people who ever consitently post legitimate religious mormon threads, and they get only a few respectful comments. I don’t know about you, but I see no purpose in sewing the seeds of ill will.
And in NJ the teachers’ union pens an email with a prayer that our Governor dies.
Listen here...Newbie...I’ve been hangin’ out on this site for 8 years and I have a pretty good idea “of the facts”. Besides the admin moderators get in when things get a bit too snarky. Now lets look thru some of your “in forum posts” to see just what you are about. Since you are not Mormon or Christian...that leaves you what...atheist or agnostic...or are you “just curious yellow”?
By what moral basis do you even judge “ill will”, that is if you are not Mormon of Christian? Command of the facts...command you own reality first before judging mine!
no. a congressional bill will not address this. kindness begins at home and in the public square. look how adults treat each other on tv. reality shows - where meanness and deception are prized. just look at any of them. the entertainment industry glorifies bad character and villianry. look at the news shows where commentators routinely argue with one another. how about congress and the white house where angry diatribes and finger pointing are daily fair. anger and lack of self-control are rampant. kids are not taught ‘decent human being 101’ at home or at school. i think public society is doomed if we don’t return back to some kind of moral standard based on the bible. sounds puritanical but we have lost our way and you can’t legislate character especially when those legislating are the worst offenders.
If the government school system can’t prevent this crap, it should be abolished, period.
Public education = Epic FAIL. They first FORCE kids into a multi-cultural stew, then fail to monitor behavior. Kids are understandably insecure in such a setting and settle into clanish behavior for protection. You're either 'cool' or 'uncool' ie. a 'dork' or whatever names they use today.
Woe to the kid who is a loner, has anything physically different, dresses 'funny', etc. I recall at my high school, one boy with cerebral palsey was ostracized just for this reason alone, another girl whose mother dressed her in old fashioned long dresses was a pariah. Too smart, too dumb, too ugly - all vulnerable. And teachers are neither trained nor paid to act as referees. And why should they? In today's climate, even the exceptional teacher who cares enough and has the forceful personality to intervene would probably face disciplinary action. And that's just in the 'good' schools. In schools dominated by gangs, teachers regularly get assaulted if they are too hard on the rowdy students.
At my HS alma mater, an Hispanic honor student, who was captain of the baseball team, was the object of jealousy by some black students. The result? He was shot dead, in the back one day, while walking home from school. It was at an intersection I must have crossed 1,000 times in my school days, about 30 years prior.
We had our known bullies, they even attacked kids who were highly respected, just to prove how tough they were. Lots of fist fights. But no murders. Today it's all gangs and a (expletive) dangerous place to send your kid. Especially if he or she excels. In my considered opinion, the fundamental thing that needs to be done to de-liberalize this country is to
what does that mean....’in the near future?”. you are not serious about wanting to be a human being. you are probably a liberal troll, right? and liberals are the worst—liberals talk peace, love, hope and then they reveal their inner self which is pure totalitarian with freedom for themselves but nobody else.
Physical, sexual, and emotional abuse do not become “okay” just because someone under 18 is doing it. It’s not okay just because it’s in a state-run institution, either. The government simply should not operate institutions where this happens. If they can’t keep order, they should admit it and close the “schools.”
I think the difference here is it wasn’t one bully, it was a group of bullies. Tormenting is now a sport. It’s the topic of discussion and planning in the clique of kids. One person may be easy to avoid or address, a group isn’t.
1) fails to properly discipline misbehavior, while punishing freedom of expression 2) practices liberal brain-washing
3) promotes cultural conflict
4) doesn't prepare students for the marketplace
5) cannot compete with cash-poor Parochial schools, which provide a superior education at a fraction of the cost of public schools.
I could list many more reasons, as I am certain you and other FReepers could. But 'nuff said. We are in agreement
No, I understood you: I was just reiterating. I have a lot of kids - repeating myself is an occupational hazard.
LOL. I completely understand.
I agree with you. The schools are responsible for making sure that kids are safe and supervised while they are on school property, including the bus.
My kids have been told that if a bully enters into a physical altercation with them, to fully defend themselves. They’ve got black belts in karate, so they can handle it.
I told them I don’t care if self-defense is against school rules. It is their right.
I’ll deal with the fallout. Anyone who tries to punish one of my kids for defending themselves is in for a rude awakening. So is the bully.
Not sure when “bullying” became a crime but in my day full scale retaliation cured most cases of bullying. If it’s more than one you just have to get creative.
My child has full authorization to return fire as appropriate to discourage future unwanted attention.
But it shouldn’t be this way in the first place! You don’t hear about bullying in Chinese schools, because it’s a place for learning, not learning how to defend yourself on a daily basis! I have personal, extensive experience in bullying. I suffered and almost flunked tenth grade, I flunked the first semester. And then of course my parents blamed me.
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