While it's sad how this situation ended up I completely agree with you.
My wife teaches 7th & 8th graders and it's unreal the amount of crap they get away with these days. It's just as shame that parents can't accept responsibility for their children anymore and think that their kids are the schools problem. That is until the schools try to punish the kids or accuse them of wrong doing and then the parents flip. To take that even further parents want their kid labeled with a disability if they aren't popular, if they don't do well in school, if they are lazy... People often talk about the rise in autism, attention disorders, and the like and use those conditions to let their kids get away with murder when there are kids out there that really are disabled.
Sorry to get off topic there; kids will be kids. It's not easy growing up but those experiences help mold who we are. I sure as hell didn't get along with everyone and got in my share of fights, arguments, heart break, and the like. If I had gone to my mom and said "mom these kids are bullying me" she would have made me handle it and the administration back then (the 90's) was the same way. Kids have many avenues available to them and while I normally chose to fight often times my friends would diffuse the situation before I even knew there was one.
Some people just can't handle the stress and while I know it strikes a nerve hearing that it's the harsh reality. All of us handled things differently. I had friends who if picked on just ignored it, others would throw words back, others would tell on them (bad idea), and others (like me) would attack them physically. I know (again) in this day and age you don't want kids doing that sort of thing, but let's be honest here. The only real way to stop a bully is to shut their big fat mouth. It can be a slippery slope to deal with, but they are valuable lessons because jerks don't stop being jerks once they leave high school.
People say "How could this have been prevented!?" well it couldn't have been. The girl obviously had serious issues and the kids giving her problems were more than likely not even the last straw. Maybe the parents could have been more supportive, maybe the school could have done more, maybe her friends (if she had any) should have stepped in, maybe the kids bulling her needed their butts kicked, or maybe this girl just had deeply rooted problems that we will never understand. Some people are just broken and unfortunately if she had taken her life and no one was treating her badly they would have found something else to blame it on (parents divorce, grandma that died, Alice Cooper, Country music, failing a test, whatever).
Anyways sorry to ramble guys, but honestly laws like this shouldn't exist. There should be more leeway between a kid being called names and being harassed especially since in the real world as an adult you are forced to deal with situations like this on your own. As usual we are working hard to make sure our kids are clueless on how the world works. Too much sheltering of our children results in kids that either lash out as adults, wind up in jail, or worse. These handy labels that they give out these days won't keep your kid out of trouble once they hit 18 and the sooner they learn how the world works the better.
While it's sad how this situation ended up I completely agree with you. My wife teaches 7th & 8th graders and it's unreal the amount of crap they get away with these days. It's just as shame that parents can't accept responsibility for their children anymore and think that their kids are the schools problem. That is until the schools try to punish the kids or accuse them of wrong doing and then the parents flip. To take that even further parents want their kid labeled with a disability if they aren't popular, if they don't do well in school, if they are lazy... People often talk about the rise in autism, attention disorders, and the like and use those conditions to let their kids get away with murder when there are kids out there that really are disabled. Sorry to get off topic there; kids will be kids. It's not easy growing up but those experiences help mold who we are. I sure as hell didn't get along with everyone and got in my share of fights, arguments, heart break, and the like. If I had gone to my mom and said "mom these kids are bullying me" she would have made me handle it and the administration back then (the 90's) was the same way. Kids have many avenues available to them and while I normally chose to fight often times my friends would diffuse the situation before I even knew there was one. Some people just can't handle the stress and while I know it strikes a nerve hearing that it's the harsh reality. All of us handled things differently. I had friends who if picked on just ignored it, others would throw words back, others would tell on them (bad idea), and others (like me) would attack them physically. I know (again) in this day and age you don't want kids doing that sort of thing, but let's be honest here. The only real way to stop a bully is to shut their big fat mouth. It can be a slippery slope to deal with, but they are valuable lessons because jerks don't stop being jerks once they leave high school. People say "How could this have been prevented!?" well it couldn't have been. The girl obviously had serious issues and the kids giving her problems were more than likely not even the last straw. Maybe the parents could have been more supportive, maybe the school could have done more, maybe her friends (if she had any) should have stepped in, maybe the kids bulling her needed their butts kicked, or maybe this girl just had deeply rooted problems that we will never understand. Some people are just broken and unfortunately if she had taken her life and no one was treating her badly they would have found something else to blame it on (parents divorce, grandma that died, Alice Cooper, Country music, failing a test, whatever). Anyways sorry to ramble guys, but honestly laws like this shouldn't exist. There should be more leeway between a kid being called names and being harassed especially since in the real world as an adult you are forced to deal with situations like this on your own. As usual we are working hard to make sure our kids are clueless on how the world works. Too much sheltering of our children results in kids that either lash out as adults, wind up in jail, or worse. These handy labels that they give out these days won't keep your kid out of trouble once they hit 18 and the sooner they learn how the world works the better.