My day today was perfectly fine--until I got home and discovered that my little brother got assaulted on the bus ramp of his school. And no, this isn't the regular fist fight beat down--he was stabbed with...a compass? A Pencil? Who knows! In any case, my brother was stabbed at school. In the neck. And near his temple. Thank the God I don't really believe in that it wasn't any deeper or in slightly another place. I am talking about--potentially fatal places. Near a big artery, one can imagine, and near his temple. That kid is lucky we have no idea where he is. Jenna would kill him, I would bring him back to life and make his life a living hell. This boy and my brother don't like each other. I don't know how it started but my brother hit his backpack--which isn't even the kid's body--and he goes and stabs my brother--this is not your usual middle school violence. Well, this kid, I will make sure, gets expelled. My dad is considering pressing legal charges. Ugh! Not cool! Schools are supposed to be safe! They aren't supposed to be places where kids have to look behind their backs? What is more is that is happened withing ten feet of an adult! How could something of this severity happen so close to supervision? How can a kid, a middle schooler, have the mindset to get so angry to physically want to stab someone?
We home teach our children because the school ignored my youngest son been bullied and they ignored the fact that he asked for help. My wife went to see him one dinner time and witness some kids take his glasses off his head and throw them around not letting him have them. The thing that appalled her the most was when she witnessed the dinner lady tell my son Sebastian off for been loud. Christ sake he was crying and shout at the bullying little ****s to get his glasses back.
I've been there Raven. For five years I was pretty much bullied by my school. I think the education system is a complete joke. The probem is that bullies can't be properly punished any more.
Thats appalling. But my kids will not step foot in a school that does nothing then tells them off. Bullying is appalling and the schools should do much more to prevent it.
Yes the education problem is gettign really bad in the US, i don't know about the UK. When I was in the ninth grade a kid was kicking the soccer around the bus and the bus driver took it from him. He had asked the student to stop and the student refused. This kid was on the wrestling team and in my opinion had to be on steriods to be as agressive and big as he was. As soon as the bus driver, a 70 year old man, took the ball this kid just attacked him and threw him to the ground. It took three other students to pull him off the old guy and what happens? The bus driver is fired! Just last year we had several amjor problems and the administration completely ignored them. Its a serious problem and I find few teachers or principles who take the initiative to stop it. The onyl way I was able to stop people from bullyign me was by getting into fights (Whidh worked but got me suspended and frankly a teacher should have resolved the conflict before it degraded to such a level.)
My friends and I always talk about how we could make everything better... so many damned problems. We had a substitute (though it occurred another school) who asked a student to go get weed from his car, or something like that.
I'd be happy if they did anything to prevent it. But there was one incident, where I'd had trouble with a bully, and gone to the school in the proper procedure, and then they just put me into a confrontational situation with said bully, with no regard for me at all. I still have to fight the urge to burn that building to the ground. And I'm actually not exaggerating there
A parent homeschooling their child seems like a recipe for disaster. It seems like it would greatly encourage brainwashing: ignorant parents confining their children to some isolated influences without regard for the child's intellectual or social development, all in the name of safety.
I simply don't think that the administration has enough power or doesn't want to deal with it. I really don't know. There was also a fight yesterday at my school on the bus ramp involving six-seven people but it was dispersed quickly. What is worth is, at my school, even if you did not lay a hand on the other person, just because you are IN a fight you automatically get suspension. No ifs, ands, or buts. I like my school but things like this should not happen. My brother was also, I recently found out, stabbed in his ear. He was lucky--it didn't hit his ear drum but he is bleeding in his inner ear.
I think its a mix of the schools not wanting to do anything and the schools lacking the power. Some of the kids in schools these days are scary as crap. Teachers don't want to cross them. Then we have problems where school rules don't account for certain issues and teachers refusing to take action without evidence of bullying. Then when evidence arrives they still do nothing. I think some problems occasionally lie with the parents. One fight I got into was started because one student jsut wouldn't quite with the pranks no matter how much I asked and the teachers I spoke to about it did nothing literally. Eventaully I hit the kid in the face and we were sent to the office. The kid's mom came in and demanded I be suspended and refused to believe that her perfect little boy had been tormenting me for the past several months. I got suspended for five days he got suspended for ONE. What did that teach him?
Schools need that power to discipline kids or else the school is not safe. This place we call America nowadays---it seems like everything big is taken too lightly while things small are taken too literally. Like the whole Santa affair. I agree though, I do think its both.
It taught him, with enough leverage and enough people not caring, you can get away having done many things and only get a light punishment. Just like in the real world.
I've never been bullied. In Australia, the problems not really all that bad. At bus stops or "ramps" as you call them, I've had my fair share of fights. But that's not a result of being bullied, thats a result of two groups of people not liking each other and fighting it out. The key to not getting bullied is to just be yourself, but do you things within reason... if you're going to bring yu-gi-oh cards to school, your asking for trouble. if you bring hand held game consoles, it's a death wish. Note: I take back what I said about it not being bad. In the schools I've been to, it's not been bad.
Frost, bus ramps and bus stops are two totally different things. The bus picks the kids up at the bus stops--they school bus drops them up at the bus ramp in front of the school. Which is why it amazes me that this event happens. And yeah it is asking for trouble for those things...but even so, a pencil stabbing? That's a bit extreme, don't you think? My brother is pretty lucky he isn't deaf in one ear.
Oh yeah, it's extreme no doubt. The kid who did the stabbing has clearly got some sort of issue that needs addressing there. I got stabbed with a compass once, in a fight with some of the kids from one of the local public schools. nothing against public schools, but this particular kid was a head case. Luckily for me, he stabbed me in the leg, and not very deep. It bled a bit, but that's it.
Schools have gotten so much worse. You could find yourself down on the ground, looking up at a circle of hateful 6th graders with cigarettes dangling from their lips and switchblades in their hands, feeling like it could be the last day of your life... Oh wait. That was a little over 40 years ago, in upstate New York,,, You could say that the weapons change, and you would be right. But switchblades can kill too, and even back then, guns were in the schools too. There weren't any metal detectors either. I'm not disagreeing with you though. It was as unacceptable then as it is now.
I forgot, we had some supposedly epic fight, which was fueled by our crappy local media. They turned it into a race battle. What happened was that, in order to avoid security breaking up their fight, several confrontations occurred at different parts of the campus simultaneously. I'm not sure if there was any gang involvement, but I don't believe there was. Our newspaper said it was a fight between Asians and Blacks - and some girl the asked to comment on the fights said that it was a fight between althetes and smart kids... or something like that. The whole thing was stupid and led to many people leaving the school. Before that, there was another incident by the bus stops. I'm not sure how it started, but two people were in a fight and one got knocked down. Apparently, they had friends around, because an aramada approached and an individual began stomping on the fallen person.
Yikes! wow! Awful to hear your brother was stabbed with an object. Sounds crazy. Do you mind me asking what age group this was? Schools are very scarey these days, it is hard to put your trust in them. Keep us updated on how it plays out.
Shirinai-san, it is damned scary. I'm glad your brother will be ok - physically. I wish the shadow of fear could be lifted as esily as the stab wounds will heal.
Back in school my sister was attacked with scissors, my brother bullied something fierce by a guy my age and in most of my classes. My brother was two years younger. I had people try bully me all the time but simply didn't give a damn in the end. I was happy with who I was and it was their problem not mine. Bullies are simply there as they have issues going on in their lives and take it out on the people that won't stand up for themselves for many reasons. So they victimise them as much as possible. It is sad and pethetic, but it happens all the time, even out of school. Bullying is a major issue in many areas and I've known someone who had a knife pulled on her when she tried to defend someone who was being bullied. When I was bullied as such, I gave back as good as I received. I was bad for retaliating and ended up in the office a lot for it. I've seen a lot of bullying and can see the effect it has on people for the rest of their lives. It is a low cowardly act and it is all for a power trip...they feed off of people getting hurt and upset and eventually these people are the ones that are locked up in jail and living a crudd life cause they just don't know any better. it is sad how they can victimise though and how at times it is let slide. As for your case definately press charges, they must learn now or next time it could be a life they are taking!!!
I'm sorry, but I have to ask. Do you have any children of your own? You make safety sound so petty. Don't judge other people's decisions unless you've been in the same situation.
I am sorry to hear what happened to your brother and I hope he is ok. However, it is not the schools fault. they cannot predict that will happen so unfortunatly it is not about the safety of the school, more about the child himself. Hope your brother is fine anyways Heather
What's under complaint isn't the school preventing it, but rather the school adequately responding to it. Punishing the victim is quite simply not good enough.
The two are at least somewhat connected. How the school responds is surely a factor in how much a deterrent exists against future incidents, just as this incident might have not taken place had there been stronger deterrents from past events.
