Saddened

I was watching an X-Weighted episode this morning about a 13yo boy, already 5'11", and who is a bit overweight. He has always been chubby, apparently, and frequently picked on about it at school.

They were describing the things that have happened to this boy and I am appalled. What happened to him was awful; what is appalling is that our society does absolutely nothing about it. I am saddened by this.

It has become a common thing to hear--I've heard it from my own sister-in-law--that being bullied a bit just makes kids stronger. Are these the excuses we come up with because we don't know how to change an awful situation, so, instead of changing it, we figure out a way for our psyches to accept this abuse? Because, really, let's be clear about it: it. is. abuse.

The boy had become suicidal as a desire to avoid school and avoid the abuse. And yet, parents are typically engrained with the idea that the kids just have to go to school and learn to "deal with it." That is a sickeningly sad response. It's become clear that so many of the anti-bullying programs that they may help, but in the end, we can't really change other people, so they will never be able to fix the situation, which runs very deep. The whole typical school structure and its demands cause part of the problem, the families these kids come from cause part of the problem, media and more.

When are these parents, who are sending their bullied children off to school to be further abused, going to decide that enough is enough and their children deserve better? There are so many more options now: homeschooling, online schooling, etc. When are the schools going to actually put their foot down about this behaviour? Our city as a bullying by-law. It fines parents for their child's behaviour. Do schools actually EVER contact the city about bullying cases? NO! They don't want to cause problems, they want to make sure they keep that student--because every student means more money for the school. Do parents ever contact the city? NO! Again, there's the idea that it will just cause more problems--which it might--but people just try to find other bandaids instead of really changing the situation.

If our children were being treated at home the way some kids are being treated at school, CPS could come and take away our children. How come more parents are not making the decision to take their children away from the schools that aren't protecting them?