Parents say ‘relentless bullying,’ Facebook posts, led to 14-year-old’s suicide
78 replies, posted
[QUOTE=wauterboi;50215148]My aunt got us into a way better magnet school by threatening to sue and threatening to take stuff to the news ASAP, which worked.[/QUOTE]
If the school ignores the problem, it usually helps threatening to sue and/or taking it to the news.
It has also been my impression that; the more diverse the class is, the less bullying happens.
I don't think I speak for myself when I say: "Thank god my school days are over".
[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;50214656][url]http://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/suicide-statistics.html[/url]
Looking at all these statistics is just absolutely disgusting
Do schools even give a shit about mental illness? Do the governments even give a shit?[/QUOTE]
with the amount of school related shootings do you have to ask that question?
I seriously cannot understand how people in the Western world have it backwards. In my russian school in Tallinn, Estonia, when our class was bullying a single outcast (I admit, me included, however I've never went to the extremes), we got so much scolding from headmaster and other staff administration, as well as our grades got lowered and strong advice for psychology councelling. One guy was on the fence of expulsion.
[editline]28th April 2016[/editline]
[QUOTE=RenegadeCop;50215154]I would have vandalized that school so hard, spray painting "This school ignores bullying" on the side or something[/QUOTE]
At this point its just telling your parents to simply go to the news with this story, so school gets bad rep.
I think I lost count how many times I got into fights in school, and then I also lost all morale and things just got worse with pox flu's,headaches and other similar shit and repeated days of skipping dropped all my grades over the wall and then I forgot that there's also high school and the "oh hey wanna fight" and shittalking behind my back just got worse until I snapped and quit all together.
Now I'm sitting on my pc 24/7 until whatever.....:tinfoil:
[QUOTE=Sableye;50215322]with the amount of school related shootings do you have to ask that question?[/QUOTE]
They see it as a gun issue instead of a mental health issue.
[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;50215546]They see it as a gun issue instead of a mental health issue.[/QUOTE]
This is one of the perfect times to use "Guns don't kill people, mentally insane people with guns kill people"
I remember getting bullied all the way through middle school, thankfully it ended before high school started and I got by without much trouble.
In middle school it got to the point I had started to bully others and looking back I'm disgusted by myself for having fallen that low.
Sometimes I think the ideal solution is to just get rid of compulsory schooling so the people who want to learn actually go to school and maybe just send the troublemakers off to a holding center or something until school hours are up.
why would schools try to resolve bullying when they have a football team to cater to?
[QUOTE=RenegadeCop;50215688]Or reorganize the priorities of a national school system?
Fuck sports, honestly.[/QUOTE]
I don't have a problem with sports until it starts using school resources. And it does.
Sports are certainly a part of the problem. Not so much the sport itself, but the district's dedication - time and budget-wise - to athletics.
Lots of programs that use STEAM principles get cut, especially more creative programs that involve art and music that's unrelated to the band in favor of funding towards athletics. It's no accident that solving common problems such as mental health issues and bullying issues get pushed aside in favor of the money making scheme/reputation game that is high school /college sports.
[QUOTE=RenegadeCop;50215688]Or reorganize the priorities of a national school system?
Fuck sports, honestly.[/QUOTE]
My old highschool was built in 1969. It's tiny, overcrowded (the max population is ~1500 and the actual population was about ~1800 when I was a senior). Walking through the halls is like walking through a mosh pit, we were cramming kids into trailers outside of the building to fit them, parking cost $200/year because of how limited spaces were. A lot of teachers were crap (thanks, union).
So one year we get a little bit of money from the county. Do we give teachers a raise? Do we put it into some kind of academic club? (clubs barely existed at my school) Do we buy new textbooks?
Nope, we bought vending machines with it. Which are turned off during the day. Also we bought flat screen TVs to put in the cafeteria. To play the morning announcements slideshow. Oh and they're also off most of the day.
And then last year we got a lot of money! Thankfully, they DID start construction on a new building to alleviate the overcrowdedness. However, they also spent a huge chunk of money building new bleachers and putting in fucking [B]turf[/B] for our last place football team (which costs about $100k/year)
FUUUUCK sports.
There's no reason why sports can't be external from the school.
Also, according to VHSL rules, coaches of competitive teams have to be actual teachers. So, we hire straight out of college history majors to teach humanities classes so they can be our football coaches. These teachers also suck. I had a government teacher who, instead of teaching us government, spent the entire year telling us about the sick parties he used to go to at the University of Pittsburgh.
Football coaches also get paid enormous salaries in favor of the ACTUAL teachers.
The coaches here in Texas certainly get paid anywhere between $60-90k a year.
I swear to god if I ever become a billionaire I'm going to pay it back to my highschool and donate some huge ass sum of money for them to renovate, but with the express stipulation that any money going to extra-curriculars go ONLY towards STEM programs, which didn't exist at my school.
(Alberta, Canada here) I was bullied in my grade 10 for being lanky, skinny, and absolutely uncoordinated. Self confidence was in the shitter, and being new for grade 10 I didnt have many friends to turn to.
I got picked on in football too, told my mom I wanted to quit but she insisted I stay in and the peer pressure from the other kids from leaving would have made the bullying/outcast situation worse. In grade 11 I decided to start lifting weights, there was a small group of 5 or so seniors who would stay after school to work out in the school weightroom.
They encouraged me to be there and provided help when I needed it, they became my role models because even though they weren't the most popular kids in the school, they were respected and admired.
They became some of my best friends and motivators, the weight room gave me a place where I felt like I belonged and a group of friends who supported me so long as I was willing to improve myself. I remember one kid specifically, I was doing curls and he said "you'll never be big". That got burned into my head and I turned it around as fuel to motivate myself.
I worked out all summer with them, then come grade 12 I was on my own, but back stronger than before. People noticed, they wanted to be around me, and for the first time in my life girls were actually interested in talking to me. I went from 165lbs to 210, from a deadweight on the football team to a scholarship player, through relentless determination I was the biggest kid in the school. And that kid who said I would never be big...
I found him later and he ate his words.
(I didnt beat him up to clarify that)
I had two kids who picked on me specifically, one had lost his mom and was as a result always bitter, angry, and critical of everybody. He went down a bad path of drugs but has since gotten out of them, not too long ago after graduating he apologized for everything. The other kid was just a flat out dick, he didnt stop until he found out I got big and that I solely wanted to kick his ass, it took his girlfriend dying of cancer to really understand how to treat people.
I dont really know where else to go with this, that was my experience in highschool
On topic of sports, it wasnt until grade 12 where I really benefited from them. I was looked up to by the younger players and through blood sweat and balling our eyes out at the last game, they really became a second family.
[QUOTE=Pascall;50215743]Football coaches also get paid enormous salaries in favor of the ACTUAL teachers.
The coaches here in Texas certainly get paid anywhere between $60-90k a year.[/QUOTE]
High school football in Texas is in a league of its own, probably not the best or most applicable example
Doesn't change the fact that it's an issue.
Texas is a huge state and that's hundreds of schools that are being shafted by sports. Not worth alienating them just because Texas stands out.
[QUOTE=proboardslol;50214128]Also, I think that cyber bullying probably coincides with real life bullying.
The difference, I think, is that to victims, School is a bad place you have to go everyday. When I was a kid, I dreaded going to school because I wasn't... treated very nicely. Going home and getting online was my escape, and online was supposed to be the "safe space" (can't believe I used that word nonironically). But when the people at school follow you online, and therefore follow you home, you feel trapped. Like you can't escape it anywhere, and that everybody in the world, including these stranger you met online hate you, just like the kids at school hate you, just like your family hates you.
Thank god I never really got into social media like facebook (or myspace when it was popular), because I feel like my view of the internet would be completely different.[/QUOTE]
See I thank god the internet became a thing so i could escape the bullshit of daily life back in the early/mid 00's, it played a large part in keeping me sane, having a completely separate 'life' where I could just kick back and shoot some Nazis in Berlin with a bunch of other people from all over the world, it was fucking great to just be the guy who was good at the game and people wanted to be on my side and enjoyed my company. I still think that exists today, in fact i know it does because my online life is a completely separate entity to my real one and with no social media to connect the 2 it means i always have an out when the real world pisses on my bonfire.
But god damn it must be hard for a kid to take that option now, no one was online when i was younger it was piss easy to live a second life with no pressure of ever connecting the 2, but now i feel as though kids fear being cast aside further because they want to remain outside of the group when online.
I'm not much of a fan of the athletics department but the problem with cutting that is that in the future generation, you're going to get a lot more unfit children depending on how much of it you cut. You're also going to anger a lot of parents, because you effectively removed 1 potential career choice and a reason for their kids to fuck off somewhere else.
You don't really have to cut athletics entirely. But it's a matter of not spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on unnecessary equipment, brand new, super expensive uniforms, and other things that don't need to be bought.
[QUOTE=Fr3ddi3;50215832]See I thank god the internet became a thing so i could escape the bullshit of daily life back in the early/mid 00's, it played a large part in keeping me sane, having a completely separate 'life' where I could just kick back and shoot some Nazis in Berlin with a bunch of other people from all over the world, it was fucking great to just be the guy who was good at the game and people wanted to be on my side and enjoyed my company. I still think that exists today, in fact i know it does because my online life is a completely separate entity to my real one and with no social media to connect the 2 it means i always have an out when the real world pisses on my bonfire.
But god damn it must be hard for a kid to take that option now, no one was online when i was younger it was piss easy to live a second life with no pressure of ever connecting the 2, but now i feel as though kids fear being cast aside further because they want to remain outside of the group when online.[/QUOTE]
From 2008-2010, Facepunch was my escape from school and my... not so great home life
[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;50215849]I'm not much of a fan of the athletics department but the problem with cutting that is that in the future generation, you're going to get a lot more unfit children depending on how much of it you cut. You're also going to anger a lot of parents, because you effectively removed 1 potential career choice and a reason for their kids to fuck off somewhere else.[/QUOTE]
What career choice is that? Statistically making it into professional sports is slim.
[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;50215849]I'm not much of a fan of the athletics department but the problem with cutting that is that in the future generation, you're going to get a lot more unfit children depending on how much of it you cut. You're also going to anger a lot of parents, because you effectively removed 1 potential career choice and a reason for their kids to fuck off somewhere else.[/QUOTE]
There can still be private leagues. And fitness should belong to the Health/PE department, not extra curricular activities
[QUOTE=RenegadeCop;50215947]1. Sports do not curb obesity, they only let the more athletic kids get more athletic. Fat kids will not be playing sports.[/QUOTE]
So much this. I don't get how anyone thinks this could help; from personal experience as a skinny little weirdo with a mild fear of being hit by balls due to my incredibly bad luck and clumsiness, all it does is open those unfit kids to feeling super inadequate and, hey look, more bullying, and push them even further from any physical activity.
I should've specified that those last two reasons are from a parent's perspective.
Most parents will bitch and moan about the defunding of sports programs, there are probably a shitton of groups that will also bitch at the government citing that sports programs help youth in some shape or form.
If sports programs were so easy to defund, then they would've done it already.
[QUOTE=ROFLBURGER;50215998]I should've specified that those last two reasons are from a parent's perspective.
Most parents will bitch and moan about the defunding of sports programs, there are probably a shitton of groups that will also bitch at the government citing that sports programs help youth in some shape or form.
If sports programs were so easy to defund, then they would've done it already.[/QUOTE]
sports programs are so popular because they have a habit of bringing in a lot of money to the schools if they're good (which are put into the sports programs)
[QUOTE=DELL;50215095]
Holy fuck I've never heard of that happening.[/QUOTE]
People hate paperwork. Seriously, staff in the UK will do anything to avoid the shitstorm of dealing with bullying.
I once got threatened with expulsion because I defended myself instead of "just taking it and then reporting it." Dealing with bullying was easier when I was younger because most people weren't technically minded and the only social media was Bebo an MSN messenger, however once I got near the end of Secondary and everyone and their cat had a smartphone, things went to shit, it was all psychological bullying and not something you could actively fight against.
The problem now is that kids are getting really tech-savvy in comparison to kids 10 years ago. Everyone knows kids are assholes but social media and the internet open up this huge gateway to ways you can fuck with someone. Schools are still playing catch-up, they don't know how to approach dealing with this. That and the total lack of actual social education. Their should be a whole module throughout the whole of Secondary school dedicated to learning about mental health, social development and relationships.
Also Alberta here. I've dealt with bullying since middle school. While my story might not be as indepth as Valon Kyre's I'll try to explain my side of the story. So It's grade 9. I've always been belittled by a lot of people around me, I never toke it personally because of the things i've done in the past, But i wanted to change myself for the better, So i started speaking to people... Sadly this is where things go wrong. Eventually people started to push me away and gossip on my sudden shift of attitude. Days after hearing about it. a bunch of guys got on my house and started talking crap and telling me to "kill myself" and that i should "Probably vanish from that school for even speaking"
I told them to get out of my front yard and such. And they did, So the weekend is over and get back at school and i find out that i was banned from a few clubs for half assed reasons.
After finding out about that, I got extremely depraved of any "heart" I started just vanishing from everyone. even my own family... but i didn't give up. While things are the same for me in high school currently (Graduating) I don't think i'll be seeing those assholes ever again and i'm glad about that.
TL;DR Don't ever give up being friendly. People find it annoying. But i like to use it as a tool of heart. [sp]And i learned how to fuck with people in the shadows[/sp]
[QUOTE=proboardslol;50215724]My old highschool was built in 1969. It's tiny, overcrowded (the max population is ~1500 and the actual population was about ~1800 when I was a senior). Walking through the halls is like walking through a mosh pit, we were cramming kids into trailers outside of the building to fit them, parking cost $200/year because of how limited spaces were. A lot of teachers were crap ([B]thanks, union[/B]).
So one year we get a little bit of money from the county. Do we give teachers a raise? Do we put it into some kind of academic club? (clubs barely existed at my school) Do we buy new textbooks?
Nope, we bought vending machines with it. Which are turned off during the day. Also we bought flat screen TVs to put in the cafeteria. To play the morning announcements slideshow. Oh and they're also off most of the day.
And then last year we got a lot of money! Thankfully, they DID start construction on a new building to alleviate the overcrowdedness. However, they also spent a huge chunk of money building new bleachers and putting in fucking turf for our last place football team (which costs about $100k/year)
FUUUUCK sports.[/QUOTE]
Let me dispel the myth that unions are the ones that keep shitty teachers in schools. The thing about unions is that they are made up of both employed and unemployed teachers. Why the fuck would an unemployed teacher want to keep another one employed? Hell why would another employed teacher care about that other employed teacher? This is just another myth made up from a few minor cases so that anti-union lobbyists could have ground to stand on.
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