Bully

One thing that makes zero sense in schools is a zero tolerance policy on anything. Zero tolerance drug rules force draconian suspensions and even arrests onto children who share cough drops, make a gun gesture with their hands, and other nonsense.

This week a young girl committed suicide. A male student raped her, then a gang of students harassed and persecuted her over the incident until she ended her own life. School authorities knew on some level that the bullying was taking place but did nothing to punish the children until the victim killed herself. The story is in the link below:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/mar/29/9-charged-bullying-girl-who-killed-self/

Now students face prosecution under anti-bullying legislation.

Here is the problem. School officials have the responsibility to keep order within the school. In this circumstance they definitely failed to do their job. Of course overcrowded schools and classrooms do not help matters such as this. Teachers and administrators can obviously do their jobs better in smaller community based schools. However this was unconscionable. They failed this student miserably and ought to face suspensions and firing.

What of the students? Certainly the rapist needs to be sent to jail for a long time. What of the students who merely harassed her? Honestly, bad as it sounds, how can one be criminally prosecuted for what they say when the words carry no direct threat? Statements are subjective, subject to widely differing interpretations. Few people on this earth are as sensitive as middle schoolers to slights real and imagined. Bullying could also take the form of reporting an innocent for bullying and brining the weight of rules and laws down upon them. Perhaps some cases are clear, but others are not. Yes, suspend them and punish them via school rules. However prosecution for calling someone names, even relentlessly, opens up a free speech issue. Zero tolerance laws regarding non physical bullying require authorities to try and function as thought police.

Our schools around the country started to degenerate after mass consolidations starting a few decades ago. Consolidation did not help education progress, but regress. Large schools need to be divided into manageable student populations so we can restore sanity and education to the process.

Finally, parents need to step in. If they get any inkling of bullying on this level, they need to remove their children and homeschool them. Many schools will not protect them. If they will not do their job, someone else must step in. That someone else ultimately must be the parents.