Schools have a responsibility to stop bullying

YES THEY SHOULD. MY SON WHO IS NOW 12 HAS BEEN BULLIED AND THREATENED SINCE 1ST GRADE AND UNTIL NOW THE SCHOOLS HE WAS IN DID NOTHING BY 3RD GRADE I HOMESCHOOLED HIM TO PROTECT HIM WE SINCE MOVED FROM PA TO COLORADO THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HE WAS IN HIS TEACHER PROTECTED HIM AND TURNED IN THE BULLY EVERYTIME NOW HE IS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HE WAS BEING THREATENED AND BULLY ON THE SCHOOL BUS SO THE SCHOOL TRANSFERED HIM TO A SPECIAL ED BUS FOR HIS SAFETY. MY SON HAS TOURETTES AND THAT IS WHY HE WAS BULLIED. HE HAS TWICE WANTED TO KILL HIMSELF BECAUSE OF BULLYING SO I DECIDED TO PUT HIM IN KARATE FOR SELF DEFENSE AND WE TALK ALL THE TIME ABOUT THE BULLIES. WELL RECENTLY A KID IN HIS CLASS DECIDED TO BULLY HIM AND TRIED TO KICK MY SON IN THE FACE AND MY SON FOR THE 1ST TIME STOPPED THE FOOT AND PULLED A SELF DEFENSE MODE ON THE STUDENT AND MY SON GOT SUSPENDED. i DID NOT PUNISH HIM FOR SELF DEFENSE OR BEING SUSPENDED HE DID THE RIGHT THING THE SCHOOL DID NOT THE KID WHO TRIED TO ASSAULT MY SON SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED THE SCHOOLS ARE NOT DOING ENOUGH AND MY SON WILL NOT BE A FATALITY DUE TO BULLYING AND MY SON AND TALK ABOUT IT ALL THE TIME FATALITY IS NOT WORTH IT. HE IS A SMART CHILD IN THE GIFTED PROGRAM AND HE SOCIALLY DOES WELL AND THE BULLIES JUST NEED A TARGET AND THEIR PARENTS DID NOT TEACH THEM WITH RESPECT. SO NOW TO REBUILD MY CHILD'S SELF ESTEEM AND SELF DEFENSE KARATE WAS THE WAY AND IT IS WORKING.

Kids of all ages, including adults, if not taught compassion, or have been a victim of bullying, will always continue and perhaps progress with this behaviour. Kids talk all the time about hating school, and this is the ONLY reason why. Tons of HS kids will tell you, it was their nightmare...and were glad to be gone into the adult world, where at work, at least, they had a "fresh start" Hurt hurts...a lot. ...and stays for a lifetime.

I'm with you soldierboy96. In these politically correct, zero tolerance policy times, teaching a kid to have a mean left hook is probably somewhere up there with spanking them in the mind of the average child psychologist. But it was effective against bullies when I was in school, and I'm sure it would be equally effective now.

As a former teacher in the WV school system, I saw a lot of behavior that could be defined as bullying. I dealt with it in whatever means we as educators had at our disposal. However, there are many factors that hinder educators from stopping this ongoing problem. One is the parents of the bully. They often will not support the school system in their effort to stop their child. They feel their child is not really a bully and that the school system is picking on them. Also really the only means we have for us is school counseling and alternative school settings. By removing the student from the regular school setting we get rid of him/her from the general population at school. However, this child will usually resent this intervention and become even more hostile towards others. For a long time I have pinpointed a great deal of the problem of bullying in what our children are exposed to on television, games, and other media. They are taught early on to defy authority on tv. Wrestling programs teach them to do whatever as long as you are the one to come out on top. I can say this because my last full year of teaching was a group of third graders with ten boys in it almost constantly in trouble for bullying others. They all defended their behavior by saying that they learned these moves from wrestlers and that they wanted to be like them. Education is not the only area that needs to work harder to produce non-violent children. Until we as a society clean up television, gaming systems and other areas we can forget cleaning up kids.

ABSOLUTELY schools should intervene in the cases of bullying. My oldest son was bullyied off and on through middle school and high school. I opted to let him work it out. I advised him as best I could, but what I didn't know was that I was only hearing about half of the abuse. My son kept most of it to himself. By the time he was in his junior year, he was a very depressed and angry young man. He went from 4.0 GPA in his freshman year, to a 1.75 in his junior year. I tried to talk to him but to no avail. Finally, one evening, in utter frustration, I shouted at him, "What is wrong? Why don't you tell me how you feel?" He yelled back at me... "I feel like hurting someone". My heart stopped. I saw visions of Columbine. I hugged him and made an appointment for counseling the very next day. It took a long time for the anger to fade away, but it eventually did. Today, he is a happy 25yo man. He is a banker, and enjoys his life. He was lucky, but it should have never come to what it did. The school was aware of the abuse and so were other parents. It was a crime that no one acted in his behalf. I blame myself also.

By ignoring the bullying we see results like Columbine, Virginia Tech, and so many more. Too many to count. The changes will only come with the changing of the guard. As soon as the older generation of teachers( you know the ones who walk out the door at 3:00 no matter what, who feel they would rather not stay after and help you, that you either fail or cost your parents tutoring money, only caring about the students who succeed, and look away from the strugglers). Only then will people see everyone as created equal and really wanted their pupils to excel no matter what it takes. Very simple. Isn't that why people become teachers anyway?

I agree with you. My son was subject to being bullied for over 3 months before I found out. I went to the Sheriff and the school. I was denied help with the situation on every aspect. With that spring break the bullies set fire to 2 vehicles in my driveways, we could have been killed over a bully that was out of control.