Anyone know someone who has been a victim of serious bullying?

[Locut0s]

Watching the CNN special on bullying I was reminded of my own less than happy childhood at school. While I didn't quite suffer some of the hell that some kids go through today I didn't have a happy childhood either, was near suicidal at times, and I often wonder if this has played a significant roll in my life long problems with depression and anxiety. Anyway I was curious watching this what other experiences people here might have had. Either as parrents of bullied kids or former kids who were bullied!

[SheilaT]

1. define "serious bullying."

One problem is that very many people dismiss bullying as not very important.

My oldest son was always a little different, and did not make friends easily. He was also very smart, and interested in things his age mates didn't care about. By fifth grade he was quite isolated socially, to the point where in sixth grade the guidance counselor had him eating lunch with him because otherwise he was totally ostracized at lunch time.

I was aware of most of this. I didn't know what to make of it. When he was four years old, this son lost all of his hair to an auto-immune condition called alopecia areata, which causes hair loss. He was totally bald, and so he looked different from all the kids around him. I honestly thought that the baldness was the source of all his problems, even though I wouldn't let that be an excuse for him.

We switched him to a different (private) school in 7th grade. There, his being so smart wasn't an issue. There they liked and respected the smart kids. But he continued to have problems making friends. Halfway through his senior year of high school, a friend of mine suggested to me that he might have Asperger's Syndrome, which is a form of autism. I went on-line and did the research. It was as if they'd studied my son before writing up the criteria for Asperger's.

The entire point of my story is this: Bullying is NEVER acceptable. But there are a lot of different reasons why bullying occurs, and it can be helpful to have a fuller understanding of what's going on.

As a follow up, this son is now 28, works full time in a computer related field, has friends and a social life that suits him. All is not lost.

I don't think bullying should ever be tolerated, whether in school or the workplace or wherever.

[IDemo]

24. I was your son, minus the balding

I was somewhat frail due to diabetes and genetics, and terribly shy. While I did mostly OK in grade school, junior high on was sheer hell.

[SheilaT]

2. delete. posted twice.

ever be tolerated, whether in school or the workplace or wherever.

[Mimosa]

3. Me. And a couple of my high school friends.

back during the 1960s. We coped by becoming the school freaky rebels. :7 We may have come across as 'cool' but we didn't fit in. And our grades weren't great because teachers thought we were weird. I was reading oscar Wilde, Colette, E.M. Forster and Virginia Woolf instead of the boring stuff we were assigned.

That wasn't helpful when combined with dysfunctional home situations.

[bluestateguy]

4. I am not gay, but I was deemed insufficient;y macho masculine by the Alpha Male Assholes

So I took some of their crap.

After I hit the gym and bulked up the bullying tapered off.

[Bluenorthwest]

37. So once you conformed to them, they stopped

I see. How nice. Joined them. Good for you and yours....

[bluestateguy]

45. They didn't accept me, they just moved on to picking on others

How about I handle it my way and you handle it your way?

[Balbus]

5. Yes - anyone with an older brother.

[pinboy3niner]

6. I'm sorry to hear that you had such a traumatic school experience

My school experience was a good one, full of good memories.

I don't remember seeing bullying, except in one case. In junior high, some of the kids would throw pennies at one mentally-challenged student. That bothered me so much that I stepped in to stop it on one occasion.

In HS, the jocks held sway, and probably bullied others--but I don't remember any particular incidents. I was targeted by them at one point, but it doesn't qualify as bulling. As newspaper editor, I wrote an editorial questioning double funding for jocks' orgs, compared to other student orgs, and they planned to waylay me as I delivered my copy to the print shop. It didn't happen, but it was an interesting experience.

I wish you could have had the kind of positive experience I had in school. :hug:

[TomClash]

7. Every Democrat in Washington nt

[ejpoeta]

8. my 12 year old has had problems all along in school.

I was picked on as a kid. Public and private school were pretty bad. had kids throw my books down the hall, spit on me.... it was awful. Now my daughter who is different and very smart has had a lot of issues. She has ADHD and acted out in school from an early age. the other kids would provoke her. They would say she was doing things and because more than one of them said she did it, she got in trouble. She acted out a lot. But her grades were good so it was tough getting her diagnosed for ADHD. She didn't start taking meds until 4th grade. There was a marked difference. But she still had problems. And the kids would push her buttons to get her to react.

She is in middle school now and has been doing well. Finally got her to see what the kids were doing. I have discussed her problems in the past on DU, about the group of boys that were harrassing her. One kid hit her with his locker door. A teacher saw it and talked to the boy. They always talk to the kids, supposedly. The kids just don't do it when the teachers are looking.

Emily is really smart. She is now in accelerated math and science. She loves greek mythology and her interests are not that of the other kids her age. She dresses different. I love that about her. I did tell her that she could expect to have problems because of this. It is the desire for conformity. But even if you conform it will not stop it. She acts like she is ok but I worry. At least she has a friend now at school. That helps some. She did a thing called the 'young americans' which she learns a routine and performs and it's all about positive stuff.

[HughBeaumont]

9. *Raises hand*

In my redneck shithole of a high school (Vermilion Ohio, and I'll always mention it), it was pretty much open season on anyone who didn't look like a JCPenney mannequin.

Band kids got fucked with the most. As did the learning disabled. So did non-popular smart kids. Fat beta kids had bullseyes on their back. Acne. Brown patches. Skinny. Non-athletic. Bad hair. Socially awkward. Not as attractive. Has no interest in fighting. From the wrong family. Listened to the wrong music. Helped the cafeteria workers. Open season.

Oh, and that whole thing about marijuana being "the great equalizer" . . . like in Breakfast Club, where kids from all walks smoke a doob and everything's Jim Dandy? Bullshit. An asshole who smokes weed doesn't become mellow or accommodating . . . he's still an asshole. Some of the larger burnouts bullied the kids listed above right along with the athletes and cheerbitches. Although I really gotta thank them . . . it's because of people like that I never touched drugs of any kind.

Oh, and if you were gay, you were in a locked-from-both-sides closet or you risked your life. And I'm not even kidding on that one.

Athletes weren't just bullies, they were serial victimizers.

I went to church with many, many victimizing idiots.

Most of my bullies were children of teachers, which is why nothing at all was done about it.

Coaches did absolutely nothing about bullying. Some coaches were bullies themselves and threatened kids with violence (myself included).

Teachers . . . same thing. They berated and humiliated weaker kids in class, often.

Nobody stood up for anyone. It was every person for themselves. Adults failed to protect any of us. My grades suffered tremendously because I couldn't concentrate and was only thinking about 3:00 PM. My relationship with my family was massively strained because they, like many others (including some on this board) blamed ME for it all. My sister never saw where I was coming from because she was friends with all of them.

"It gets better?" No, it fucking doesn't. It NEVER goes away. It was the most miserable experience of my life and might as well have been an eternity as long as it lasted.

I carry hatred for these fuckers every single day, to this day. I can't go back to that city without my senses going haywire. I can't look at a former asshole without wanting to hospitalize him. I have a grave hatred and intolerance for drunks and assholes. I won't step into a bar because I see these very types of people. They all look the same and if you talked to them, they act the same as well.

Every day one of my former tormentors walk around not giving me or anyone else one "sorry" or feel one ounce of remorse or pay even the slightest bit physically, I feel there's something terribly wrong with that.

Adults (particularly administrators) and police need to get their hands dirty and stop this. There's no two ways about it. Bullying is assault. Assault is a crime, a crime that's being committed by and large BY CHOICE. These aren't kids with mental or behavioral issues, they're normal kids who are choosing to be an asshole and commit a CRIME.

It's just a massive disgrace that there are certain people on a progressive board that fail to see that.

[Cid_B]

15. Being an asshole isn't a crime...

... otherwise 80% of this board, myself included, would be serving life in prison...

It does get better and if you are still full of rage then the problem and the solution lies with you...

[yardwork]

17. That is a very insensitive and uninformed post.

[Cid_B]

19. Who else is going to fix his problem then hmm?

He has the rage.. he has the problem... and the chance to fix it.

What is wrong about that? Is it better he should stew until he dies about something that happened in freakin high school?

[yardwork]

25. Did he ask you or anybody for advice?

[Cid_B]

29. Hi... welcome to the discussion board... People talk and others respond...

I think the circle jerk where everyone agrees with you is next week...

[HughBeaumont]

23. Precisely why said poster is in my RedX Toilet.

I don't even want to know. It's called "clean up". I have no tolerance for people who defend this bullshit. The "Tent" is too big, methinks.

[yardwork]

26. Well, in his post he does acknowledge that he's an asshole. I quote.

[HughBeaumont]

27. Sad. It's called "Walk a mile".

People don't seem to get that there's no "one size fits all" for this.
:toast:

[yardwork]

28. Guilt and regret are not comfortable feelings. Much better to blame victims.

[Cid_B]

31. Fine.. Blame the jerks from high school...

I'm pretty sure they are busy with their own lives though and I wouldn't expect much resolution...

[Darth_Kitten]

38. +100000000000000000

Right on!

What a rotten place to grow up in. I'm so sorry for your experiences. Bullies ALWAYS have their enablers, always. It's rare that anyone with any guts stands up to these slimy assholes.

Bullies, and this probably applies more to the adult kind, are actually envious of those they bully. The bullied have qualities they will NEVER have. They know, compared to the people they bully, that they are empty, lacking individuals. And it eats away at them.

Good.

[polly7]

41. Yes, bullying is assault and should be a crime.

I was bullied by older girls in school who came over to ours when their Catholic convent school closed. They hated us from the start, and would get one of us in a big circle to shove back and forth, or trip us in class or throw us out of our desks. I was smaller because I'd started a year early, and was a good target. What they didn't know is that I had been fighting and wrestling with eight brothers and sisters nearly from the time I could walk. It took me a few times of being beat up before realizing it was up to me to fight back and stop it. That, and our new teacher from Wales, who for some reason decided to carry me on his shoulders during the day. He'd just scoop me up and away we went down the hall to the library, or lab, or gym ... where he missiled balls at them as they did laps and I hung on for dear life. That drove them crazy. He'd be fired for it now, but lord, I loved that man. Come to think of it, he only lasted a year ...

The cattiness and meanness, though, never stopped. I think the only reason it didn't leave me depressed, is that I have an equal number of good memories of my friends and I kicking their asses in track, playing hockey and ball and watching them look on from the sidelines, and all the good times we had when they weren't around. I saw one of them the other day in her clothing store. She couldn't look me in the eye. What's funny, is that growing up she was one of the biggest, meanest girls. Now, she seems to have shrunk in size and looks like life has treated her badly.

I absolutely despise bullying. I don't hate them anymore personally, but I can understand how those who had it much worse than I did, might. It's soul-destroying.

[Drahthaardogs]

10. I think 80% of the population was bullied

for not being athletic enough, pretty enough, rich enough, or too smart, too tall, too short, etc. The funny thing about bullying is your response to it often (but not always) determines how much and how often it is going to happen. If you totally ignore the people doing the bullying, the fun ends and the next victim is selected. However, I mean totally ignore them. If you so much as tell your friend how much it bothered you, they figured it out. There were always a group of kids that never really cared about the cliques and their ilk, and they never seemed to get bothered by anyone.

[yardwork]

16. I think that your experiences is very different from that of people who are seriously bullied.

There's a big difference between the taunting and teasing that most adolescents inflict on one another and the concerted, focused,vicious bullying that is imposed on some individuals who are singled out. This latter type of bullying - which is actually psychological and physical assault and torture - can't be ignored. It's unhelpful to the victims to say that all they have to do is ignore it and it will go away. This is the type of bullying that leads to deaths.

[seabeyond]

21. agreed. i don't consider myself bullied. but in middle school, there was one girl

who didnt like me and she spent a time terrorizing and threatening me. my brother beat her brother up. i didnt know. it was wrong. it was unfair. i liked that brother. he was my age. the girl was older brother age.

but it stopped.

parents got involved.

that is not bullying or serious....

i have seen one or two kids, in any given grades with sons, that consistently attract the bullying. they are few, i believe. or what i see today with boys.

[Occulus]

36. "all they have to do is ignore it and it will go away"

that was the only advice my parents ever gave me

it only made it worse

[Mariana]

42. That's the most fucked-up advice ever to give to kids

who are the victims of this behavior. It in no way prepares them for life outside of school, because it certainly isn't how adults handle such things. How many of the people who say this to kids would EVER say it to an adult who's been threatened, stalked, sexually harassed, physically assaulted, and/or slandered by another adult? If adults aren't supposed to "ignore it and it will go away", why should children be expected to?

[Fumesucker]

22. Try ignoring having your head shoved in a shit filled toilet..

It's rather difficult, actually.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

11. A group tried with my daughter

Apparently she dissed one of them and did not give them their props (per their parents). Something we had to have translated and explained to us. They attempted an off campus beat down. They all ended up in the emergency room and the school tried to suspend/expel my daughter. Nobody ever messed with her again. Picking on new kids may be easy, but every once in a while there will be a ringer...

[seabeyond]

12. we had an interesting last week in HS. a senior threatening a freshman and my son standing up for

the freshman, challenging the senior.

this was in cross country. the senior has been in a number of fights. the two younger dont fight. the senior is 6'3" or more. the other kids 5'10" or so.

the senior was threatening the freshman because he was not getting his way. my son can't stay out of those situations. i understand, but it also makes life challenging. he told senior to knock it off. senior started threatening son. they have known each other since he got in that school. on and off getting along, depending on this kid's volitile behavior. he is also step son to coach and his mother a big part of this group. i have stayed out of this group for working on three years. i dont like people.

my son told this kid if he did hit him, he was 18 and would end up in jail for assault. my son is more intellectual than anything else. but he was ready to get the shit kicked out of him.

the senior was pulled into principles office with the coach.

the freshman was kicked off the team. (so once again the senior gets away with his behavior)

there was a meet friday and saturday in Albq., a four hour drive. and over night. for the first time, my son told me he wanted me to go to the meet. so i called coach, and said i needed a room, and drove son.

EVERY parent came to my son and i and told me how much they love my son, what a good kid he is. every kid on the team was extra nice to son.

at the end the mom finally brought up what happened thurs. she blamed all on the freshman. would say son threatening was wrong, ... but but, the freshman is a problem child.

i told her, as much as i would like son to stay out of it, he always stands up to bully.

then she got pissed.

said son not a bully

he threatened the freshman, then my son.

that is always wrong.

she got pissy, downright nasty. i stood there, thinking how to address. and she is just watching, waiting, .... when i did, it was with more grace than she was capable of, and shamed her.

in those three days, there were a lot of things going on with this situation, and a boy that has gotten away with bullying. and what happened with son standing up to it. and the action of the parents.

i am still absorbing and thinking about all the in and outs of it.

3 yrs. my son is well respected. held his own without us parents around. makes responsible choices. respectful behavior. three years and the parent steps in. i really didnt think much about it until it was all happening. i was just giving son a break from these people.

[Odin2005]

14. UGH, the "How dare you accuse my perfect little angel" crap. I HATE THOSE PARENTS.

Fuck, and my generation is called a bunch of narcissists? It's those fucking parents that are the narcissists.

[seabeyond]

18. i did a thread a month ago about son in car with this woman and her hubby, the coach. lol

the hubby takes a back seat to the woman.

in that thread it was about the discussion this woman had with my son. much of her conversation about politics and religion was condescending and yes, bullying. son handled it, but that was a 6 hour drive both ways.

a couple weeks ago was the first time i stepped into all this, and addressed the mom. thru that conversation with her, i heard compliment then jab, an insult at son. he is such a good boy, then talk about him like he is 5. i was really insulted, lol. so pissed. but held back cause son wanted me to leave it alone. the woman brings it up. told son, stay away from her. but she is always there.

bullying. where does her son learn it. ...

[Odin2005]

13. Me.

:grr:

[LiberalEsto]

20. I was a "cootie" in school in the 60s

People refused to sit with me at lunch. There was always a foot stuck out to trip me when I got up to sharpen a pencil or something. I was constantly belittled and mocked and made fun of, called names, pinched, pushed and shunned. Some kids even tried to drown me at the lake when the lifeguards weren't around, and I had to fight for my life. I was about 15.

I grew up with a lot of anger and bitterness. Even after nearly 50 years, I dislike sitting at a table in the middle of a restaurant and always try to sit in a booth of with my back facing a wall. Why? In school I tried to avoid being stared at and mocked while eating, or having someone sneak up behind me to shove something down my collar, etc, and the habit stuck.

I left 17 for college, vowing never to go back. I visited my family there, but otherwise avoided spending time in that hellhole. I daydreamed about going to a reunion with a machinegun, although I would never do that in real life. I actually went to two reunions, and a couple of people actually apologized to me.

Why was I picked on? I was a year younger than my classmates, having skipped a grade. I was intelligent. I was small for my age, and skinny from being too nervous to eat. I wore glasses. I wore hand-me-downs because my family couldn't afford new clothes for me. At first I spoke English with an accent because I didn't start learning to speak it until kindergarten. I was socially and culturally isolated from other kids by my immigrant parents, so I was absolutely clueless about American customs, games, rules, etc. I was terrible at sports and games because I was small and very self-conscious and clumsy, so I was always the last one picked for a team.

And I was "different" in a racist, bigoted homogeneous white upper middle class town with almost no blacks or Asians, hardly anyone Jewish, and no Latinos. The vicious kids picked on one girl because she was Jewish, and picked on me for being a "Jew-lover" because I sometimes walked home for lunch with her. In those days people in some neighborhoods had covenants in their deeds barring the sale of their houses to Jews, blacks or Italians.

The kicker: we were less than 20 miles outside NYC, but you would think this town was on a different planet entirely.

[BlueIris]

30. Right here.

Almost one solid year of torment in sixth grade by multiple parties. Many teachers/administrators knew of the problem kids but did nothing to help. My parents finally intervened, but due to the fact that one of the bullies was a fucking sociopath I had to put up with more crap until my freshman year of high school (he was finally transferred to a school with special ed for the emotionally disturbed--programs which just got axed in my home town's school district.)

[LWolf]

32. As a student,

I was the victim of some mild bullying in middle school; mocked and derided for being smart, and followed home on the bus once because I was an ex-girlfriend, and the new girlfriend wanted to establish territory by attacking me.

I attended 10 schools K-12; I didn't get bullied much, but by the time I hit middle school I was so used to being the new kid who wouldn't be there very long that I didn't bother to make many, sometimes any, social connections. I was good at avoiding people. I also didn't show the kind of intimidation that loners usually show; I was used to being on my own, and by the time I hit high school nobody bothered me.

In 8th grade I attended DeAnza Jr. High in Ventura; it was pretty rough. Girls fought every day. I never saw the guys fighting, but the girls were terrorists. Other than the girlfriend who followed me home, and she found her efforts unproductive, I was left alone. Because the biggest bully on the block didn't mess with me. She could have, but we had something in common. We met in the locker room, and both had "Double Ds" or better. She was the first person my age I'd ever met with BIGGER breasts than I. For some reason, she saw me as a fellow victim of sexual harassment, and she left me alone. I did see her, though, bullying others. She reigned as queen of the restroom in one block; she skipped class and hung out there frequently. Nobody got into that bathroom that she didn't approve of. She could be brutal.

My own kids? They didn't have any problem with bullying until they started high school. Then it was bad. Administration turned a blind eye and did not respond to parent requests for action, so my boys learned to travel in groups for protection. My younger son learned to fight pretty viciously; they caught him alone a couple of times. He did enough damage that they kept sending larger groups after him and he had to develop some pretty sophisticated avoidance techniques.

My grandson...we've had to work with him as a boy with potential to BE the bully; he has ODD, which includes an obsessive determination to "get his way," no matter what. He's made great progress, but has a way to go. He's been in middle school for a month, and has already been in trouble. Why? He snapped a towel at a kid in the locker room. He thought it was "funny," was "playing around," but the kid didn't. He chased my grandson down and gave him a thorough pounding. They were both suspended.

As a TEACHER? There has been some bullying among my students, but not much. We're a small school, and our structure makes it really hard for bullies to thrive. They get caught early and dealt with aggressively in terms of both consequences and opportunities to change. A new student who just started last month has been suspended 3 times already, we've had 3 long meetings with parents, student, admin, teachers, and counselor, and have been in contact with his therapist; he has a behavior contract with specific goals, teacher notations, and frequent check-ins with the counselor to see how he's doing.

It's much more difficult to intervene in larger populations.

[RebelOne]

33. Yes, the son of a friend of mine killed himself

at 15 years old because he was bullied because of his weight.

He took his father's gun to school. He stood up in class and said, "I am not going to take it anymore." He then shot himself in the head. This happened many years ago in Cherokee County, Georgia.

His parents appeared on many television shows, including Oprah, crusading against bullying.

[Fire Walk With Me]

34. Me.

[Douglas Carpenter]

35. my 7th grade was one long living hell for which absolutely no one helped me through - I was truly

all alone in the world. For some reason things started to improve the following year. I suspect in part because a known tough kid from a "bad family" befriended me. I once asked him why he stuck up for me. He answered, "because you are my friend." He has since passed away. I will always be eternally grateful to him. I always wanted to thank him. But hell I turned out normal :crazy:

But seriously, in my young adult years I guess I probably was suicidal at times largely due to periods of self-loathing rooted I suspect in a most unhappy childhood. Somewhere by the age of forty or so - life turned around and life got better.

But if there is something to the notion that life is for learning - I think this experience has given me the ability to experience empathy on a level that I would not otherwise have been able to experience. I almost instinctively side with the underdog whether politically or personally. It has given me the ability to look at almost anyone no matter how wretched, decrepit or depraved and say to myself, "there but for fortune.....".

[Zorra]

39. In HS I got called queer and told the "popular guy" who called me that to

fuck off. I was then beaten up in the school cafeteria. This was when I was a freshman in high school. I got punched in the temple, by a "popular guy", and was knocked out on the floor for about 20 seconds while his brave friends, both male and female, cheered him on. I was a new kid in my first week at a new school in a new area.

That was just before I started a wild rapid growth spurt and began training to become Amazon Jockette.

No one ever bothered me again after that.

A few years later I kicked popular guy's ass in one on one basketball.:-)

[Romulox]

40. I was physically abused by students AND teachers through about 8th grade.

After that, I grew large enough to put a stop to it.

[Madam Mossfern]

43. My daughter was bullied from 1st grade

She and this other little girl transferred to a new elementary school. They were both very pretty, blond curls and all, but the difference was that my daughter preferred to wear overalls an t-shirt and to read. Somehow, this other child had developed a strong hate for my daughter and started to threaten the other children with isolation if they were friendly with my daughter.

They used to make fun of her and call her names and even followed her to the girls room and stand on adjacent toilets to peek over the dividers when she had to go. My daughter did have a problem of developing OCD, but it wasn't apparent in school (except for excusing herself to wash her hands.) One child who was the daughter of the high school custodian did befriend her but told her it had to be secret or she would incur the wrath of this other child.

My daughter was brilliant and in third grade went on a homework strike. She got all 100's on her tests and couldn't reconcile doing work she already knew at home again. Some kids liked her for that and she would help the other kids with understanding their work - at least the teacher was wise; but this one girl and her gang were relentless. Finally I called the girl's mother who told me that she was aware of the bullying but 'just didn't know what to do about it.' Really! I spoke with another child's mother who said she would sit her daughter down with the instigator and have a talk with them. They did back off for a while, but in middle school started in again. Seriously, we couldn't figure out what the problem was.

My daughter is now 30 years old, she graduated valedictorian of her high school was a national merit scholar and has a fellowship working on her doctorate (done this year we hope)

She has had problems with relationships and I think its because of her incredibly low self esteem as a result of the bullying in her young years. We still talk about it and wonder where the girl is now that started it all. We hear rumors, but don't know for sure.

I don't think my daughter or I will ever totally get over her experience.


When I was an early teen I went through an extremely awkward period with bad skin and braces and the whole bit. I was 'jokingly' called the ugly one by my friends (girls can be mean) and when I was in summer camp some boys used to tease me about how I looked calling me horrid names and shouting out to me from afar with them and saying things like "I hope you can cook." I cried myself to sleep almost every night.

Thank goodness I grew out of that adolescent awkwardness, but the shame and self loathing never really left me. I had a very active social life from college on and my husband thinks I'm beautiful. When I tell people that I think I'm plain looking, they are puzzled. No matter how I look, those few years took an incredible toll on me. I can only imaging how much more pain my daughter has.

I'm glad that there are anti-bullying programs in school now, it's a serious issue that has been taken too lightly for too long.

[babydollhead]

44. my daughter in 9th grade...five girls took her down

they made a plan...befriend her, get her to dye her hair brown, "you'll look so pretty" after she did they told her how stupid she looked. Then at homecoming, they all came up to her and told her they had only pretended to be her friend. Then they started rumors that she was selling pot, including texting her Dad's phone with"LMFAO, now here parents will hate her too" They had a "bully box" at school for kids to put in peoples names of people who were bullying them, they filled the box with her name. They spread hate and rumors and ugliness about her throughout the school. They had a large boy throw her down the stairs. We went to the principal, the counselors, the parents of the kids. "My mom is going to shoot your mom now" They taunted her in the hall, shoved her and would never have quit. Thank God High school is over for her! The next year in 10th grade, all five of the girls were in her homeroom. every single morning she had to sit there and pretend they hadn't wrecked her. They should have special scholarships to college for kids who've been bullied and lost interest in school during High School. Needless to say, her grades suffered. She once told me, "They best part of my day is going to bed at night and the worst part is waking up"

[bluestateguy]

46. Self-defense must be allowed

Just as we must demand that overpaid school administrator bureaucrats do their job and punish bullies (including expulsion), we must allow put an end to the "zero tolerance" bullshit and allow children who can, the ability to defend themselves when they are attacked, without the fear of punishment.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

48. Our school went after our daughter for an off campus incident

Claiming non existent long arm authority. Upset the counselor to no end when she lost that one.

[barbtries]

47. i was bullied.

i really wasn't the same as everyone else. when i was 12 or 13 a girl from across the street decided to make me her victim. it didn't end until my brother beat the crap out of her one day. yeah it hurt. and i think my self esteem was so low that i almost thought i deserved it. there's so much shame in being the victim.

who can be more cruel than a kid? it makes me so sad especially knowing the toll it's been taking the past few years with the rise in suicide in young people bullied to death. i think it's at least in part explained by the 8 years of bush. how do you tell your children to be nice when your country is bullying the world? i believe in the sanctity of every human life. unlike my country which i can scarcely claim is "mine" anymore.

the occupiers, right now, they give me hope.

[ThatsMyBarack]

49. Me, too!

Back then, people would say, "Just ignore it!"

Either that or, "You brought it on yourself!"

[HughBeaumont]

50. Yep, usually from the adults who are supposed to be protecting you. Like your parents.

Teachers didn't help, parents didn't help. What are you supposed to do?

[nadinbrzezinski]

51. Let's put it this way

I don't live in the same country those assholes live at.