Sad to say, bullying is still around in schools

There was a local Facebook post I recently saw pass by, written by a distraught mom, whose young daughter, approximately 8 years old, was getting ready to undergo corrective eye surgery.

The young girl had something akin to a “lazy eye,” where one eye turns outwards at time, not in sync with the other. Anyway, her one eye was “abnormal” in one fashion or another. And her other eye was starting to do the same thing.

But it was the mom’s post that pointed out just how cruel kids can be.

She wrote something like this: “For the past year or so, my daughter would come home sad and upset because the other kids were picking on her, calling her names, laughing at her, calling her weird, making fun of her eye. We explained to her that they didn’t understand about what was going on with her eyes and didn’t mean her any harm.”

Implying, that if these little third–graders understood the medical science behind ophthalmology, they would ease up on their taunts?

I think these kids know what they’re doing — inflicting harm on a fellow human being, and for some perverse reason, they enjoy it, they think it’s funny. Why, I have no clue, and I don’t think it’s true of every culture around the world.

I guess America just happens to be fortunate that way?

Like anything related to kids, though, it all starts and ends inside the home.

Fortunately, this mom and her husband have the resources and/or insurance to afford the necessary eye surgery for their daughter. But if this case involved a lowwage working mom or dad who makes just enough to not qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford insurance, what would the daughter’s fate be? Non-stop taunting all the way through elementary, middle school and high school? No dates? No homecoming dance?

What a fun childhood, adolescence that would be.

Another Bully?

Another school bullying story told to me by a local guy recently: his son has a relatively minor emotional problem. If he is pushed hard enough, picked on hard enough, he will break, and literally start screaming, and it will take an hour or so for him to calm down.

Of course, the little budding sadists at his school know of the problem. So they go out of their way to push this kid’s buttons whenever they have the opportunity. Until he just loses it, loses control of his emotions and starts screaming in uncontrollable fashion. Even in the counselor’s office, the principal’s office, it will take an hour or so for him to regain control of his emotions.

This guy told me that when he talked to the school, he was told, well, you know how kids can be in junior high.

Are you kidding me? In fact, at the heart of most school shootings is some kid who’s been picked on his entire life. The butt of everyone’s ridicule. Ostracized and tormented, mercilessly, until something snaps. And I’m guessing the taunting begins at an early age.

Yet, there are some teachers, administrators out there ignorant enough to actually say, well, you know how kids are in junior high.

Of course, after the school shooting takes place, everyone wrings their hands and asks, why, why did this happen?

How about stopping it at its source: target the school bullies who prey on the weak. Those without a voice. Those with a minor physical or psychological problem, maybe a speech impediment, that makes them ripe for ridicule. Ripe for merciless teasing and taunting until they either act out violently or commit suicide.

Punish the bullies at the campus level, because calling their parents probably won’t help. Try and talk some sense to them. How would you like it if kids picked on you? That sort of thing.

Because, no doubt, they’re becoming bullies by what they witness in their home environment. You know, the place where people outside the immediate family never get a peek inside.

On top of that, for some odd reason, these kids bullied at school often become bullies later in life.

So what’s the answer? Just a guess because I’m not a child psychologist because I can’t even diagnose myself.

Closer monitoring on school campus, I guess, and I’m sure that some good teachers and administrators do try to stop the bullying, but for whatever reason, they have no success.

Probably because the bully’s parents threaten to beat up a principal, a teacher, threaten to sue the district, who knows, if anyone tries to have a serious discussion with them about their child’s behavior.

Joking, kind of, sort of. Last but not least, I think some school districts prioritize school bullying, how to prevent it, stop it, more than others, which are often focused on more important things, like bake sales.

Being a kid, being picked on all the time, by burgeoning sadists, what a life.