In case you were wondering NOTHING has changed in the public school system in the last 40 years. Okay, maybe the word nothing isn't fair but despite all focus and reports about bullying in the public schools, they still aren't doing much to deal with bullies. If this were a news headline it would read, "straight kid bullied in school fights back with bat"
I've mentioned before that I was bullied in school. A neighbor boy and his brother were two of the school bullies. At the bus stop, on the bus, in the hallways at school, anyplace he had the opportunity he would act up.
Today, the buried memory surfaced in the middle of a conversation. To my surprise the words just popped out of my mouth, "I've lived through that. When I was about that same age, a bully was picking on me and I had enough! I turned around and let him have it. I don't remember what he was doing or how I reacted. But I do remember being in the principles office and telling my mother it wasn't fair that the bully gets away with picking on me all the time and I'm the one in trouble."
What brought this up was a story that I was sharing with my boyfriend. We had been told about a grade school child that was expelled the last couple days of school. Through out the year, this child has been bullied and the parents have done the "right" thing going to the school principle to deal with it. The child didn't feel like there was a "safe" adult to go to when being bullied because one of the people actually bullying him was the teacher.
All off the situations were reported to the principle. The teacher's inappropriate behavior on several occasions. The students that acted up on the school bus, in the classrooms, in the hallway, the bullies were supposedly "dealt with" but it kept happening.
At a school event, the kids were standing in line. No one will ever know for sure if the bully pushed on purpose or if he tripped. But the bully hit and knocked down the young child that had been bullied all year long. It was the straw that broke the camel's back. Bat still in hand from the softball game, pushing the bully off from on top, the young child came up hitting; bat in hand.
The police were called. The child was expelled for doing what the school would not do; protect the child from the bullies. This child has the biggest heart and will come to the aid of anyone that needs help and is currently terrorized at the concept that the other children may think s/he is the new bully on the block. For a change the bully got what he deserved. Although some bullies are what they are because they come from dysfunctional homes and it is their way of acting out what they are taught from home.
Hey principles out there! It is time to be politically incorrect. Stop those bullies. You will be doing them a favor and the nice kids who finally get pushed too far and turn on them. To be honest, I am totally amazed that there aren't more episodes in schools of excessive violence. Maybe there are? Seeing how much bullying is being covered up maybe there is more that is being hidden from us. In the 40 years since I've stood up to a bully, what do you know; kids are still being bullied to the brink of breaking. Breaks my heart!
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