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A friend's son is going through this; being bullied. Joseph is an overweight kid, quiet, wears glasses, is sort of "nerdy". etc. He's done everything he's been told to do to prevent or stop the bullying. He told the teacher over and over about the boy who was bullying him. He told his parents who went to the school admins who, in turn, did nothing. Last week, the bully decided it would be fun to snap Joseph on the back of the neck with a rubberband. He told the teacher who saw his neck with the big red whelps. The teacher did nothing. He left the classroom and told the counselor. The counselor did nothing. Neither did the principal. Well, the bully decided he could get away with it and kept on with the rubberband thing. Finally, Joseph took matters into his own hands and unleashed on this bully. He beat the tar out of the boy.

His reward? He was suspended for twn days under the school's zero tolerance policy. He was also threatened with criminal charges. He's 14 and has never been in any sort of trouble at school. He did everything "right" but no one helped him. He helped himself. I'll bet that bully will think twice though about messing with him again. Joseph walks a little taller now. He holds his head up a little higher too. He goes back to school soon and he says the suspension was worth it, but he has absolutely no faith in the teachers or administrators at the school.

but he has absolutely no faith in the teachers or administrators at the school.

Most teachers and administrators in our gov't run schools don't deserve any faith -- or any respect either. I too dealt with bullying growing up . Only stopped when I finally beat the tar out of one of the biggest bullies, mostly through sheer surprise. I'm sure he could not believe what was happening, but then again, neither could I really.

If you don't stand up for yourself when you are a kid, nobody else will. And unless you are very lucky, the school WILL punish you for it. After all, that's a challenge to their authority, which is all many of them really care about.

He goes back to school soon and he says the suspension was worth it, but he has absolutely no faith in the teachers or administrators at the school.

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I bet he had **NO** faith in his parents either!

So...When every adult in his life has failed to protect him, has ignored the obvious, has abandoned him, do you think he will respect the advice they give him about prudent living? Do you think he will respect their advice about doing drugs, casual sex, faith in God, or love of country?

When we abuse children ( who have committed no crime) and treat them like prisoners in prison-like schools, we shouldn't be surprised that there is a “generation gap”.

The Prussian model, brick and mortar, prison-like, factory school should be abandoned!

It is cruel to warehouse children, and we should **not** be surprised that they learn prison survival “socialization” skills in these soulless places. Thankfully, humans are highly adaptable, most unlearn the highly dysfunctional socialization learned in school. They must unlearn the bad social habits picked up in school if they are to succeed on the job, in marriage, in the community, and get along with their extended families.

I have zero faith in them as well. A teacher allowed me to get knocked out when I was a freshman in high school; the kid hit me because he didn’t know I was on his volleyball team.

Yes the kid was black. No the teacher didn’t get security.