DaGaffer
Down With That Sorta Thing
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Messages
- 18,635
Headlines suited for everyone!
Because 9 year olds hang themselves every day for no apparent reason? Of course they don't.
Schools have no clue now, they never did in the past either. I'm glad social media wasn't a thing when I was a kid. Some of the stuff I remember from my school days as a 7 to 10 year old:
1. A nice girl was given "why don't you kill yourself" letters. Not sure how many, but the bullying and intimidation had been ongoing for a while, never physical though. She eventually cracked, wouldn't go to school, parents called school, it was discussed, she moved to a different school. We had a talk in our class about it.
2. A boy had a BO problem, so he got the suffix Skunk attached to his name. This went on for at least 2 years of school, teachers cant have been unaware. There was some physical stuff too I think. He had to move school. Nothing was ever said.
3. Another boy had dyslexia. He was picked on relentlessly once the Skunk left. His parents split up. Mom moved to a different part of country to start afresh, took kid with him.
4. Another kid was super skinny. Once the above 2 boys were gone, he was an easy target. His mum had heroically tried to have a word with the worst of the bullies. Mummies boy. Mom had to move for work, he had choice of staying in school and living with dad... no way. He was gone.
5. Another boy was physically bullied as he was the weakest. Didn't fight back hard enough, was given nipple twisters over and over while they tried to make him cry. he never cried. He never told his parents or the teachers, so it got worse and worse. Eventually his mum saw the bruises and blue welts, she was going to call the police unless he said what happened. School got involved, it stopped for a few months.
6. Another boy had a fear of dentists. He literally lost his mind when he had to school dentist. He was tormented about it for years. He lived right next to school, but was tormented outside of school too. Had to go to boarding school to avoid bullies.
7. Another boy joined our class late, I think maybe 4th or 5th year. He was being physically pushed around. He tended to fight back (poorly) and would get his ass kicked. Eventually snapped, went home, broke his kitchen table leg off, came in and tried to batter the bullies. Got sent to boarding school too.
Eventually the main bullies moved on, one switched schools to be closer to his football club, the other was struggling academically, so he went into a work experience program where they focused on vocational skills.
All was well for a year or so, then I moved to England with my folks, and from what I heard, the main bully was back for a year, bullied the girls super hard about their looks, clothes, choice of teenage crush, etc, etc, that he was eventually expelled. Not before 3 or 4 of the girls had moved school.
All of this in a class of maybe 25 kids. I know it was no different in the other classes in my year group. I know in the years above and below me, things got so out of hand the police were involved. The school, supposedly, never had a bullying problem, even though according to the Danish government, at least 1 in 4 kids were bullied at school in the 90's. No wonder Danes are so happy, they are done with secondary education
So it sounds like you had a couple of specific bullies in your class? Never thought of getting together and kicking the shit out of them? It's what we did. This one kid was the only problem I ever had in junior school, and we dealt with it, on the advice of my Dad ("A good big 'un will always beat a good little 'un, so get six little 'uns and don't fight fair" Words to live by). The kid's Dad came around to complain and my Dad laughed in his face, I was never more proud of him.
When I was older at boarding school I was one of smallest in class until I was 14-15 (when I just shot up) so the only strategy was to play the psycho, just be too much trouble and let them think you'd get them back when they weren't looking, which I once did in the lunch line with a well aimed kick in the nuts, right in front of the deputy headmaster. I got the cane, but I never got bullied again.
Now I have little kids of my own I worry about them all the time, but at the moment, the parents seem to be collectively quite tuned in; one kid in my Son's class was a growing problem and the parents went collectively to the mother. She hotly denied her precious angel could do any harm, but interestingly there have been no incidents since.
