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In a high-tech cry for help, a West Islip, N.Y., teen took his long battle with school bullies to the Internet after he said his life was threatened. But he and his parents say the school has done nothing and they are now suing.
Thanks John,
You always provide the most interesting stories. Just curious to know a little bit about you and the role you play on this site. Are you affiliated with CD, or just one of us?
Peggy
I used to shrug off bullying as "part of growing up," but it dawned on me that behavior is occurring in our schools every day that would never be tolerated in a workplace situation. If someone assaulted me at work that person would immediately be fired and quite likely prosecuted in criminal court. If I were injured I would take that person to civil court and almost certainly recover money damages. When the same thing happens to students in our schools, a segment of our population less equipped to deal with it, we say "Tough luck kid. Boys will be boys."
I used to shrug off bullying as "part of growing up," but it dawned on me that behavior is occurring in our schools every day that would never be tolerated in a workplace situation. If someone assaulted me at work that person would immediately be fired and quite likely prosecuted in criminal court. If I were injured I would take that person to civil court and almost certainly recover money damages. When the same thing happens to students in our schools, a segment of our population less equipped to deal with it, we say "Tough luck kid. Boys will be boys."
Exactly. There is no reason that bullying should be tolerated. Kids are people too! If any employer ignored blatant harrassment or assault in the workplace, they'd find themselves in deep legal doo doo...
Too often bullying is ignore and hidden in many schools. The real fact is that with the alternative requirement in most schools bully's get little punishmnet are are most often tranferred when it gets bad enough. In many cases even teachers are bullied by them and often don't report it. Suits like this will force schools and school districts to decide to do something about it. But it really depends on parents backing them when they do.It may take changes in state laws to get rid of bullies in schools.
Can't we handle the small things ourselves anymore without turning everything into a federal case? Take the money you're spending on a lawsuit and get the kid some self-defense lessons. The minute he hands a bully's own ass to him is the minute he will never have to worry about being bullied again.
Can't we handle the small things ourselves anymore without turning everything into a federal case? Take the money you're spending on a lawsuit and get the kid some self-defense lessons. The minute he hands a bully's own ass to him is the minute he will never have to worry about being bullied again.
The only issue I see with this, is then the parents of the bully may sue the other family. I wouldn't be surprised. Especially if the bully was injured in a way that was somewhat permanent.
Can't we handle the small things ourselves anymore without turning everything into a federal case? Take the money you're spending on a lawsuit and get the kid some self-defense lessons. The minute he hands a bully's own ass to him is the minute he will never have to worry about being bullied again.
Really? That simple huh? You don't think that there is a possibility that the now stronger kid is going to bully the old bullies? Who will retaliate in kind? No. Thats not the way to handle a bullying situation.
Shrugging it off and saying, 'kids will be kids' doesn't work either.
What does work is direct action to educate children about the pain and damage that this causes.
I had problems in middle school with bullies. I informed the school, and they took direct action, including suspension and detention. Those responsible stopped.
I had problems in middle school with bullies. I informed the school, and they took direct action, including suspension and detention. Those responsible stopped.
Really? That simple huh? Because where I came from, going to the authorities was the surest way to invite retaliation about three-fold of what you were getting before, because the bullies we had to deal with had no respect for authority whatsoever. That's why they were bullies. They had no clue, care or interest in the damage it caused, except to the extent that this very damage was exactly what they were trying to elicit. Their parents usually didn't care about the damage their kids were inflicting either -- because about 80% of the time, they were inflicting that damage on their kids themselves. My older brother had my back when he could, but sometimes even his hands were tied because he was too big to honorably step in. It also bears mentioning that much of the bullying I had to deal with was off school grounds where the administration had little room to act, so oftentimes I was on my own.
What the bullies DID respect was an ass-whooping. If you spoke their language, they understood. If you spoke their language fluently enough for them to understand that you were no longer speaking "KICK ME" as your first language, they eventually left you alone even if they knew they could still get the upper hand, because they got the message that you weren't an easy target for the damage they sought to inflict. If I had waited around for someone else to act on my behalf, I'd have gotten worked over about every other day.
I don't know what Disneyland you grew up in, but that's how it worked in my world.
What the bullies DID respect was an ass-whooping. If you spoke their language, they understood. If you spoke their language fluently enough for them to understand that you were no longer speaking "KICK ME" as your first language, they eventually left you alone even if they knew they could still get the upper hand, because they knew you weren't an easy target for the damage they sought to inflict. If I had waited around for someone else to act on my behalf, I'd have gotten worked over about every other day.
I don't know what Disneyland you grew up in, but that's how it worked in my world.
Not all kids have it within them to be so outspoken....and many have commited suicide due to being bullied.
Sounds as if the bully attitude rubbed off on you a little bit regarding that last comment.....
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