School Issues #2 - Bullying Part 2

(Continued)

The Solutions 

Oh where to start. I know I don't have all the answers but what the schools are doing isn't working at all and they really need to change. Like I said in part 1, the "No tolerance" thing needs to be gone. To many schools are taking this "no tolerance" thing to far & in the end it just does nothing. It's like THEY get to choose what is to far & what isn't instead of going by, well the law. Talking NEVER does a damn thing, it just makes things a lot worse. You know, sometimes I think school officials forget what it is like to be a kid/teen and I wonder just how many of them were bullied or the one doing the bullying when they were in school. Anyways, sometimes a victim will get punished if they decided to protect themselves instead of taking the beating. This is one of the stupidest things ever. That is also when they like to pull the "no tolerance" card out. Every single person has a right to protect & defend themselves, PERIOD. If there is evidence that the victim was only defending themselves, they need to be protected by not getting into trouble. I think this is one reason some kids don't fight back, knowing they will get into trouble & they don't want to. Out in the real world, if someone was to come up to you & start hitting you, you would have the right to do what it takes to protect yourself so why can't these kids? After all they are people too, we are trying to prepare them for the real world after all and what exactly are we teaching our kids by telling them to not defend themselves?

What is even more heartbreaking is when I kid does tell the school what is going on & it gets ignored. It doesn't matter how they get ignored, the fact that it happens is mind boggling and uncalled for. Why on earth would someone ignore bullying? I also hate it when people at the schools blame the victim by saying it is there fault by the way they act, talk or maybe they should stop being gay if that was the case in the bullying. They need to stop putting their own beliefs into situations & deal with the problem for what it is. It's not their right to judge the victim & not help them. It is the schools responsibility to help & protect the kids regardless how they personally feel. Every time a school official turns away a kid that is being bullied, that alone is telling the kids they are not worth it, not important & that there is something wrong with them. What does this teach the kids?

This leads to my next thing, the teachers that let these acts happen when they know what is going on. I don't understand this. Are they afraid of getting fired? Personally I wouldn't want to work for a school that allowed such behavior. Even if it meant I had to work fast food & let me tell you, I HATE working for fast food. Or how about the teacher that bullies the kid? Seriously? You are there to teach & protect the kids. Again ones belief should not interfere with what is going on. If you have anger issues, issues with kids, stressed out ect, you should not be working with kids. A teacher who bullies a student needs to be fired. The problem is even if a kid tells on a teacher, that teacher could say it didn't happen & still work there. This is one I don't have a real solution to except for an investigation needs to be in the matter & watched closely. I forgot to mention in the first part that when I was in high school, I had a PE teacher that looked down upon those who were not good. She once told me to keep doing an exercise because my asthma would not effect it (we were sitting on our butts pushing our feet back & forth in the air). Another time when I got hit in the lower stomach with an indoor soccer ball which hurt REALLY bad (and for days), she told me to get over it, that it didn't hurt that bad & a few kids were laughing at me. This is a huge problem that needs to be dealt with also.

Doge ball, some people don't see the issue with this game but it's there. This game gives the bullies the advantage of getting out the "weaker" ones first & really hard without getting into trouble since throwing the ball at someone is part of the game. This game is just dangerous & I honestly think it needs to be gone from schools. What kind of game is it anyways, to throw a ball at someone to get them out??

If you stop and think about it, bullying, intimidation, harassing etc is a form of assault. Assault is against the law, period. I think the law needs to step in to bullying at schools. The bullies need to be punished by law. Different degrees for different situations just like in adult life. I get that if there are extreme cases, the bullies can be charged but I think it shouldn't just be during extreme cases. After all, aren't we supposed to be teaching our kids right from wrong? Having them miss some days of school or getting kicked out isn't working. They need the law to do the punishing even if it's just a fine for harassing or intimidation. If the bullying is a racial thing, color of skin, gay, religion etc, the punishment needs to be worse. If schools are made aware of an issue and they don't do anything about it, they need to be fined. If a teacher or another school staff knows of the incident & doesn't do anything, they too need to be fined. If a teacher does the bullying etc, they too can be fined & that is just for the first time. The second time fired. If the schools don't do something about another staff member being a bully etc, the school can be fined. All of these things need to start taking place. It won't stop bullying but it sure as hell would bring the numbers down. Every single kid has the right to go to school and learn, to be & feel protected. What these bullies do is a crime & needs to be handle as such. 

If one needs evidence of bullying, get a cheap digital recorder & record it or do it from a phone. I guess this is all I have to say on the issue. If you have stuck through & read all of both parts, I thank you! When I have something on the brain, it pours out like a storm. lol What are your thoughts?