A Thirteen Year Bullied Out of School
Four-Minute Video Below
"Be relentless and don't let go."
-C.J. Westerberg
by C.J. WesterbergFour-Minute Video Below
"Be relentless and don't let go."
-C.J. Westerberg
A story that has become way too common place. I hear it regularly from parents of children attending Norman Rockwell-esque schools, private or public, and from less-fortunate-circumstance school parents, both anecdotally and research-wise. No school is immune, folks. The tony Connecticut prep school, Choate Rosemary Hall, is apparently the latest to reveal yet another scandal.
One wonders if the bullying kids have any real interests and outlets beyond Facebook socializing. The case in video below doesn't even appear to be about a conflict with the young student. Is this just a random act "fueled" by boredom (read: needing digital "anything" to fill up time and space within one's brain) because time to reflect or process is not understood to be of value? Or, is it because most school infantilize the decision-making capacity of students, rendering them to act according to such low expectations? Or, is the fuel really the lack of our youth's capacity and understanding how real the digital world is in terms of responsibility, implications and consequences?
Blame has already been attributed to schools, parental values and the culture. . . indeed, all factors that play into this horror. Are schools, parents and our culture playing bullying as an outlier story and not a mainstream reality so in their own actions are not "owning up" to the urgency of the responsibility, implication and consequences that bullying deserves?
Is this a case of the academic-bureaucratic disease, paralysis through analysis?
What do you think?
Check out the 1:50 mark to hear how the school "resolved" the issue initially - another all too familiar scenario - set my teeth on edge.
Good tips for parents in the conclusion, especially "leave a paper trail". However, the tone for suggestions was a bit too civilized from our view - think we would be much more of a pit bull variety. Be relentless and don't let go.
Related Stories from The Daily Riff:
How To Turn Your Kid Into a Bully
Bullying and the Brain: Tips for Parents
Thugs in the Locker Room: Listen to the "Culture Of Silence"
"Pretty" Blown Away: Not just for the parents of girls
The Jersey-Shore-ization of American Society
Video via Huffington Post
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