Bullying

[Steve]

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/03/nine-teens-indicted-in-connection-with-bullying-suicide-of-15-year-old/1

 

 

Nine teens, including three juveniles, have been charged in connection with the death of a 15-year-old Massachusetts girls who committed suicide after weeks of bullying on Facebook and at her high school.

 

Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel says Phoebe Prince suffered months of nearly constant stalking and harassment, the Associated Press reports.

 

Scheibel says school officials knew about the bullying, but none will face criminal charges.

 

Prince, who recently immigrated to South Hadley, Mass., from Ireland, was reportedly found hanging in her room in January, the Boston Herald reports.

 

The charges include statutory rape, violation of civil rights, criminal harassment, and disturbing a school assembly.

 

Read here Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen's account of Prince's torment by "The Untouchable Mean Girls" who even "went on Facebook and mocked her in death."

 

The Boston Globe reports that Prince killed herself in January two days before a dance at South Hadley High School. School officials said her death followed a wave of bullying aimed at Prince and some fellow students.

 

Her death, along with a similar case in 2009 involving an 11-year-old in Springfield, Mass, prompted both the state Senate and House to approve new antibullying legislation.

 

 

I am posting this story to start a discussion. Bullying is common the world over. Kids have always bullied kids. Some of us have been bullied, some of us were the bullies (I can tell whom from the type of poster you are...lol).

Its not liked but to a large extent in the west, especially North America and the UK its seen to be something of a rite of passage for boys. I would assume girls as well.

I was only bullied once. I never went through anything a lot of kids did. Coming from a very large family of boys and having older brothers who were big and strong as bulls (one brother was a body builder). I didn't have to go through much.

I fought my older brothers as siblings will but not many fights outside the home.

 

I have seen some very severe cases. Or what I deemed to be. I've seen kids pack knives saying they've had enough. I've seen one or two cases where a kid inquired about getting a gun. In my day, a gun was unheard of in my elementary schools. Knives were to some extent but only for self protection outside your neighborhood.

 

Nowadays, elementary schools in Philly see guns way more than one would expect.

 

Some of us will have a boys will be boys view of bullying. It happens. It happens to almost every kid. My nephew, my sisters kid, was being teased and bullied when he as about 8 y.o. I wanted to go to the school and settle it but as a man you know that would make things worse.

My sister wanted to have the teacher tell the class to leave him alone and at the time I told her if you want him to be totally ostracized and make things worse in some cases, don't do it.

I told her as a female she wouldn't understand. He is a smart, gregarious kid. A joy. He was promoted a grade higher because he was so smart (could've been two but he would have been way too young).

 

If I had a son (or daughter) it would be hard to see them go through it and not do anything about it. With the advancements in technology and social media it makes bullying and teasing easier to do and cause way more psychological damage.

In my day, as a last resort, you transfered the kid to a new school in another area for a fresh start. However, these days your facebook page and with email, etc. The kids at the old school can tell the kids at the new school.

 

If I had a son, I'd enroll him in a taekwondo class at about 6 or 7 y.o. From what I understand it builds confidence and they can handle themselves and they are taught not to use it offensively and even to walk away from fights and to resort to their training ONLY when they are physically threatened. I'd monitor him and if he was one of those types who would use to it bully I'd make him quit and 'whup' his lil ass for starting fights...lol.

 

Should there be legislation as the one in Massachusettes in the article? Is it all overblown? What are your thoughts?

[Nervous God]

My daughters school in Bangkok, ZERO bullying, VERY well monitored, her new school, there was some, spoke to teachers, now she's best friends with the girl who bullied her, which is good.

 

She's in a year with kids all 2 and sometimes 3 years older than her, so a little hard for someone aged 8. However she also saw a boy aged 11 getting bullied by other kids because he didn't have nice clothes, she just took them head on, told them off, befriended the kid with crappy clothes.

 

She's kewl!

[Flashermac]

I saw some brats bully students at a primary school on the edges of Bangkok. The same kids pulled the same crap on everyone smaller than them. One day the boys smacked around a girl in class. I promptly went to the headmistress to report it. She shrugged and said, "Oh, they always do that." WTF?

 

p.s. This was a special school for kids from very low income and slum families.

 

 

 

[cavanami]

The boy at the house with us, 12 y.o. was getting bullied at his new school.

After a few days of his, he "manned up" and went to take on the biggest bully in the bunch! The big bully backed down and the boy was never bullied again.

 

I mentioned that this ended well but he should be prepared if things should turn bad. He shrugged and said he was aware of that, but enough was enough!

Brave lad!!!

[Boo Radley]

Nowadays, you also get kids filming the bullying and school fights on their mobile phones and posting it up on Youtube.

Last time I looked, there were a number of Thai schoolgirl-schoolgirl fights posted there too. So as you say, modern technology makes it worse.

[Nervous God]

Well - It also means the fight can be watched and the person to blame found out, IF one of them is to blame.