Bullying at school - child dead in De Kalb Illinois (Iraq, deaths)
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First of all, there is no excuse for bullying. Period.
That said, the unfortunate reality is that bullying has been around for as long as there have been people. The majority of us got bullied at some point when we were growing up - though obviously not to the point this boy was.
But I'm pretty sure there's more to this story than is initially being reported. There's more to this boy's home life than we're seeing.
Also, when I was that boy's age (obviously, MANY years ago), I don't think I had even heard of suicide. So that part is just odd to me as well.
But mostly, I'll repeat that there's no excuse for bullying.
The article cites the school's 'exemplary' anti-bullying program. I wonder about the program - did the district simply buy an anti-bullying curriculum, do a couple of activities from it and call it a day? For such a program to work, the school has to take it seriously, really understand it, and respond when needed. If it is true that there were multiple complaints filed on behalf of this little boy, then it speaks very poorly of the district's implementation of their policy, and makes you wonder if they only bought the curriculum as a CYA maneuver.
I'll agree that there may be more to the story than we are hearing here, but there are so few taboos in our world that it is not all surprising for an 11 year old to know about suicide.
I'll agree that there may be more to the story than we are hearing here, but there are so few taboos in our world that it is not all surprising for an 11 year old to know about suicide.
Yeah, that's true. I guess I didn't spend much time sitting in front of the TV, and when I did it wasn't very satisfying anyway - stupid black & white TV with horizontal lines jiggling through it.
By the way, the title of this thread is slightly incorrect. It's DeKalb County Georgia, not Illinois.
The kids responsible should be lined up and beaten to a pulp in front of their parents.
The administrators if guilty should be fired.
It's sad some kid thought he had to kill himself over this. It's sad his mother didn't do something to help him. Complaining a few times isn't enough if you know your kid is being bullied. You have to go in and make a huge nuisance of yourself and if that doesn't do anything, then you put your kid in another school.
As far as the administrators being fired, do you expect schools to put an adult on each child and listen to every word they say every day? It's impossible. It's a fact of life that kids are mean to each other, and harrass and bully each other. It's an unhappy part of growing up and learning how to cope with adversity, and learning where your place is in the social order. Most kids figure out how to deal with it without killing themselves.
This is a sad time for his family, but there's culpability on all sides.
What am I to draw from this? That bullying is OK until somebody gets killed, but that's going too far?
If deaths from bullying are so rare, that they are covered by CNN, Im led to believe that the risk of death is not a factor in the public attitude toward bullying. So throw that out immediately. The child was much much more likely to have been struck by lightning or falling aircraft parts, and if bullying had been abolished as vigororously and absolutely as cannibalism, it would have saved one life.
Why, oh why, are social aberrations allowed to continue for centuries, only to be addressed when there is a singular tragedy that can be associated with the practice?
Yes, ocean, I agree with you. Beating a child to a pulp would be a lot of fun. But I doubt if they will let you do it, even if it hurt you more than it hurt the child. Somebody might get the wrong idea and think you are a bully, just on the flimsy premise that you think children ought to be beaten to a pulp.
And every administrator of every school ought to be fired the minute there is suicide among their pupils. That would be about 3,000 school administators per year being summarily fired.
Here's an idea that will put a stop to this behavior forever, guaranteed. Chance the name of the Virgin Islands to the Dude Islands. Leaving the name as it is is an open invitation to bullies to force children to hang themselves.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death among children 5-14. They were all called names, at least, and probably even taunted. Some might have even had fingers pointed at them. I will not rest until every single child who has ever taunted a kid is beaten to a pulp. Pre-emptive action. Don 't wait for the victim to hang himself.
According To UNICEF:
Over 25,000 children die every day around the world.
That is equivalent to:
1 child dying every 3.5 seconds
17-18 children dying every minute
A 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring almost every 1.5 weeks
An Iraq-scale death toll every 16–38 days
Over 9 million children dying every year
Some 70 million children dying between 2000 and 2007
The silent killers are poverty, hunger, easily preventable diseases and illnesses, and other related causes. In spite of the scale of this daily/ongoing catastrophe, it rarely manages to achieve, much less sustain, prime-time, headline coverage.
According To UNICEF:
Over 25,000 children die every day around the world.
That is equivalent to:
1 child dying every 3.5 seconds
17-18 children dying every minute
A 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring almost every 1.5 weeks
An Iraq-scale death toll every 16–38 days
Over 9 million children dying every year
Some 70 million children dying between 2000 and 2007
The silent killers are poverty, hunger, easily preventable diseases and illnesses, and other related causes. In spite of the scale of this daily/ongoing catastrophe, it rarely manages to achieve, much less sustain, prime-time, headline coverage.
The Death of 25,000 is just a statistic...
So what are you saying? ********** kid? That in the greater scheme of things this kids life was meaningless?
It's sad some kid thought he had to kill himself over this. It's sad his mother didn't do something to help him. Complaining a few times isn't enough if you know your kid is being bullied. You have to go in and make a huge nuisance of yourself and if that doesn't do anything, then you put your kid in another school.
As far as the administrators being fired, do you expect schools to put an adult on each child and listen to every word they say every day? It's impossible. It's a fact of life that kids are mean to each other, and harrass and bully each other. It's an unhappy part of growing up and learning how to cope with adversity, and learning where your place is in the social order. Most kids figure out how to deal with it without killing themselves.
This is a sad time for his family, but there's culpability on all sides.
BBM
Where your place is in the social order? What, whether you're a bully or a target of a bully?
Maybe if the bullies had been taught to treat others the way they want to be treated, this little boy would not have been forced to *deal with it.*
Where your place is in the social order? What, whether you're a bully or a target of a bully?
Maybe if the bullies had been taught to treat others the way they want to be treated, this little boy would not have been forced to *deal with it.*
Oh, good solution. Start teaching children the Golden Rule. Let's teach them all to be surgeons, too, which is the simple solution to social welfare.
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