Posted on 10/08/2010 12:42:51 PM PDT by Mind Freed
Sladjana Vidovic's body lay in an open casket, dressed in the sparkly pink dress she had planned to wear to the prom. Days earlier, she had tied one end of a rope around her neck and the other around a bed post before jumping out her bedroom window.
The 16-year-old's last words, scribbled in English and her native Croatian, told of her daily torment at Mentor High School, where students mocked her accent, taunted her with insults like "Slutty Jana" and threw food at her.
It was the fourth time in little more than two years that a bullied high school student in this small Cleveland suburb on Lake Erie died at his or her own hand — three suicides, one overdose of antidepressants. One was bullied for being gay, another for having a learning disability, another for being a boy who happened to like wearing pink.
Now two families — including the Vidovics — are suing the school district, claiming their children were bullied to death and the school did nothing to stop it. The lawsuits come after a national spate of high-profile suicides by gay teens and others, and during a time of national soul-searching about what can be done to stop it.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Saw my principal (RIP) at my 30 year reunion (11 years ago, man I’m old). I thanked him for his stern “leadership” with the paddle. He replied “We did it because we loved you.” He included all the other teachers in his statement.
I was 4 foot nothing for like forever. Broke one nose with one punch.
No bully problems ever again, and I got detention for one day. Worth it.
“Pull hair? Why not teach her how to throw a good punch? “
I believe she has the right to self defense, of course.
But I wouldn’t promote the good punch as the first solution.
The first solution, just like if someone grabbed you in the crotch at the office, is, for the crotch grabber to be expelled.
If our children have to go to a school where the profane, the hitters, the spitters, the food throwers, the beaters, are left to roam the halls rather than expelled -
I think we should pull them out.
Not expect them to throw food back and hit and punch and etc.
Would you throw food, hit, punch, pull hair, kick at work if the bullies at your work weren’t fired?
No, you’d quit. And probably file a lawsuit with the Employment Commission, and rightly so.
It really burns me up that we expect kids to just fight bullies when we don’t expect adults to do so. Adults are far better protected at the workplace than kids are at schools.
There is going to be some bullying. The bullies need to be immediately removed. Our daughters should not have to brace to return assault every day as their only defense.
It certainly worked in “A Christmas Story” when Ralphie finally beat up Scut Farkus.
Facts? We don’t need no stinkin’ facts!
You arnt allowed to fight back anymore. Everyone is being taught that “violence isnt the answer.” And if the victim breaks a bully’s nose, the bully’s parents will sue the victim’s parents for the medical bills. I’VE SEEN THAT HAPPEN!
In most of these cases, the bully’s parents are even more rotten than the kids. Remember the one mother that pretended to be a teen boy on MySpace and cyberbullied a teen girl into suicide?
A few weeks ago near where I live, a mother of a bully was instigating a fight between her daughter and another girl.
Parents of these bullies are the ones that need to be decked in the face.
The family watched . . . as the girls who had tormented Sladjana for months walked up to the casket — and laughed. "They were laughing at the way she looked," Suzana says, crying. "Even though she died."
What kind of monsters are people breeding?
The comments coming from FReepers blaming her and her parents makes me just sick. I don't hear ONE WORD about the savages who did the bullying. It's the old condemn the victim and remain silent about the bullies. The blame is being placed on the wrong person.
And then people wonder why bullying takes place.
Certainly another reason to homeschool.
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What the ?????????? This is so wrong.
Victims of bullying have to decide not to be a victim. This doesn’t release the bully from being held accountable for their actions, but it is important teach children at a young age not to be pacifists toward any form of tyrant.
When it comes down to it you can only be bullied if you allow it. This either comes down to fight or flight. Those four chose to flee from this world because they felt helpless and had no one to turn to for help.
What about all of those people who knew but sat back and didn’t do anything to stop it? If any of those others had a heart and mind they would have stepped in to help some one who couldn’t help them self.
I agree that kids should learn to fight back. I taught my kids to do that. But not everyone has the strength of character to resist bullies and not all bullies are created equal.
When all I see is blame for the victim and silence on the behavior of the bullies, something is seriously wrong. Blaming the victim is just more bullying.
This is the fourth student.
To me that indicates that these kids are more than just your garden variety bully, as further evidenced by the students who came to her viewing and still bullied her when she was dead.
So do I.
Parents who love their children, teach them self-defense.
And parents are also not teaching their children to stand up for others.
When you look at the children who are doing the bullying you have to look at the parents, also. Children are a reflection of the parents.
I think the school (admin and teachers), the parents of the bullies, and the children who did the tyrannizing should be held accountable for what they did and did not do.
This event should used as as an example for why we should irrationally and violently oppose all tyrants who bully us and others. Think of how easy it could have been for the large number of students who stood by and did nothing to help if they had joined together and jumped the bullies and beat them to within an inch of the bullies’ lives. Those bullies would have learned to treat others with more respect quite quickly.
It seems like the bullies are worse these days. I don't recall anything remotely like the incidents described on this thread happening in school. Our bullies were mostly big mouths who tried to skim lunch money or who blocked you on the sidewalk.
The true crime shows on TV are full of evil kids who kill other kids, parents, grandparents and siblings, giving stupid reasons. A recent court trial on TV displayed a teen aged girl fighting with another girl over a reprobate boyfriend, and one girl stabbed the other in the heart, killing her. Absolutely mind boggling.
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I agree with everything Persevero said. Teaching kids to fight back is not the only way to deal with this. Of course we should teach our children to stand up for themselves, but one kid against a gang of bullies who repeatedly torment others is expecting too much from kids who might be much smaller, weaker or vulnerable. We should also teach kids to stand up for others - aren't we taught to be each others' keepers? To help and care about others? Which brings me to my other point.
Every religion in the world teaches some version of "Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You." Children must be taught basic moral values - they do not come up with them on their own. This is the result of children not taught moral principles, and most likely their parents are rotten examples themselves.
Rejecting God and the basic human decency and moral codes founded on religious principles and teachings is destroying our country. Absolutely destroying it. God must be allowed back in to our country or the level of crime, hatefulness, cruelty, dishonesty, slutdom and feral children will get worse and worse.
Liberaltarians love to say "You can't legislate morality". Yes, no law will turn a bad man into a good man. But laws can take the bad man out of circulation through shame, punishment, held up as a bad example and make wannabees think twice.
Teachers cannot even disciple students, parents get their kids taken away for a spanking, and yet child abuse is common. When people reject God and moral absolutes, they can't even think straight or rationally, they have no reasonable judgement, and they cannot discriminate properly.
Unfortunately, he’d be suspended and probably charged with a crime. There is more to blame here than parents.
Bullies in school serve the same informally authorized function as rapists in prison — breaking spirits, humiliating the inmates, enforcing the desired sense of passivity and impotence. Bullies are an integral part of the system — and the sooner public education goes away, the happier the world will be.
“You and I would not continue going to work while being assaulted. And we are adults. Our bosses should fire whoever throws food at us. But if they don’t we quit. And our kids should be allowed to quit, too, not forced into that hideous environment every day.”
We have a winner! That government schools tolerate behavior such as is found in prisons speaks volumes.
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