8-Year-Old Bullied For Her Love of Bugs Just Got Her First Scientific Publication

[LisaM]

4. I stand by what I said.

Here's the excerpt about the "bullying"...

"She is often teased at school by her peers because she will proudly display her current bug friend on her shoulder," wrote Nicole.

That's it! The headline made it sounds as if she had been shunned, or beaten up, or extorted for lunch money.

All they should have done differently was to change the word "bullied" in the headline to "teased" and it would have been far more accurate. I think we are very quick to toss the word "bullied" into the conversation these days, when it's actually a serious issue. If the terms are synonymous to some people, I think that's a big problem.

Either way it's a great story about a possible budding young scientist. Why muddy the waters?