Re: About Bullying--My Thoughts

I agree very much, Diss. Unfortunately what you're describing sounds a whole lot like a scenario to be found in Socialism, and those with power in the US would much sooner drive the country to ruin purposely than see that way of thinking take root. Also, giving kids such power of self-determinism is greatly feared by many adults. It's largely without merit, but I can definitely see a few Lord of the Flies concerns that are probably legit. Still, I think kids are capable of far more than restrictions allow in many many respects beyond the right to do what they want with their own bodies. And I completely agree that the American school system is both shit and woefully underfunded. There's no way they can do any giant overhauls like that when so much of the public is tricked into demanding lower taxes for themselves so that gigantic corporations can keep billions in tax revenue for themselves. We're seeing the sad and inevitable consequences of that, which always eventually leads to having to cut funding of public schools, which is still taking place in many states now.

Still, your ideas are great and pretty logical. The abuse of bullying would not be so widespread if not for the conditions that make it so easy for it to take place. Giving children more control over their own situation is a great way to overcome that abuse, and models like Sudbury or even Montessori or Waldorf are already proven to be a much better way. Home schooling can be great, but not everyone has parents with free time or the money for a private tutor, which is expensive.

Also, all those Columbines? None of them were committed by bullies, although those two guys seemed to become bullies in order to fight bullies. Nearly all of those kids were actually the result of years of torment by their classmates. They are merely some of the most extreme results of bullying, but there are so many more who don't necessarily go and shoot up their school. Much of the torment manifests in other ways, less visible and with the cause less obvious, but no less tragic.

In many ways, I see a similar connection between the bullying and sexual abuse. Disempowered people are targets for abuse. It's the same when women have few rights. It's the same when racial minorities have fewer rights. Teach children sex education in a way that includes the information that nobody, no matter how much authority, has the right to touch them in ways they don't want to be touched. Their body belongs to them and no one else.

Of course, we're still NOT teaching kids how to fend for themselves. This is vital if you want to continue the hyped media stories and the crime drama plots. Just one more thing Obama's failing me on.

I implore everyone who encounters big tragic stories about sexual abuse to ask if those children were given proper sex ed, and if they understood they had the right to say no. Bring it up wherever you see it bemoaned, because bemoaning the abuse is inexcusable when you do nothing to teach children themselves how to fend off that abuse.