The story of bullying victim Lindsay Hyde really infuriates me. (H/T: To Sandy Crux for keeping on top of the story.)
Perhaps it's time to make good behaviour obligatory BEFORE you show up in class.
And if you can't behave: stay home.
No really. As in-- if you're caught harrassing fellow school mates anywhere, anytime, you cannot come to school until you've PROVEN that you've reformed.
It's not a punishment per se. Some kids will love being expelled.
It's a safety measure.
If you cannot behave, then you need remedial behaviour education more than you need Math and English.
If we make school attendance so obligatory that even bullies must attend, they will never reform. They will just find more targets.
If they behave like bullies in the real world, they will get arrested.
We do not expect enough of students and their parents.
Who are the parents of these bullies?
If my kid bullied another kid, I would hang my head in shame. I would be profusely apologizing to the victims and I would do everything in my power to keep my kid from the victim.
That would be the honourable thing to do.
But no. Everyone has an excuse as to why this girl must put up with this behaviour. The parents can't control the kid. The school can't. The board can't.
What kind of message is this sending? If you have so little self-respect, and you have no conscience about what people in authority think, you can get away with anything as an adolescent.
Somebody must put their foot down. Somebody must tell these bullies where they get off.
