That's true.
I told my son it is better to go to the office and get punished than to be seen by other kids as a wimp ...
That's a judgment call which could work out okay for him, or not. Either way, he should not have to be in the position to decide, and it's the adults' responsibility to see that he doesn't.
Where else, except for prison, does a person have to decide whether to fight physically against harassment, or live with it undefended? Not in any free workplace - it's economically indefensible, and the person has the choice of leaving the environment. Only schoolchildren and prisoners can't leave.
There's no legitimate reason for evil behavior by minors to be tolerated by the adults in charge.
If the government school system can’t prevent this crap, it should be abolished, period.
Public education = Epic FAIL. They first FORCE kids into a multi-cultural stew, then fail to monitor behavior. Kids are understandably insecure in such a setting and settle into clanish behavior for protection. You're either 'cool' or 'uncool' ie. a 'dork' or whatever names they use today.
Woe to the kid who is a loner, has anything physically different, dresses 'funny', etc. I recall at my high school, one boy with cerebral palsey was ostracized just for this reason alone, another girl whose mother dressed her in old fashioned long dresses was a pariah. Too smart, too dumb, too ugly - all vulnerable. And teachers are neither trained nor paid to act as referees. And why should they? In today's climate, even the exceptional teacher who cares enough and has the forceful personality to intervene would probably face disciplinary action. And that's just in the 'good' schools. In schools dominated by gangs, teachers regularly get assaulted if they are too hard on the rowdy students.
At my HS alma mater, an Hispanic honor student, who was captain of the baseball team, was the object of jealousy by some black students. The result? He was shot dead, in the back one day, while walking home from school. It was at an intersection I must have crossed 1,000 times in my school days, about 30 years prior.
We had our known bullies, they even attacked kids who were highly respected, just to prove how tough they were. Lots of fist fights. But no murders. Today it's all gangs and a (expletive) dangerous place to send your kid. Especially if he or she excels. In my considered opinion, the fundamental thing that needs to be done to de-liberalize this country is to