If you have been following the news, you are aware that two 12 year old boys killed themselves in the past two weeks in separate incidents of bullying. According to an Oprah Winfrey show on the subject, the boys were hit, pushed, and called names, most specifically, they were called gay slurs. According to experts, harassment based on sexuality is the worst kind of torment for middle school students.
I have my own personal history with bullying. It started in the third grade with girls who had previously been friendly becoming distant and cold. In the fourth grade it escalated to outright harassment because one girl decided I thought I was “cute”. It was apparently her job to teach me otherwise. My mother did her best to intervene from talking to the principal to speaking with the parents, but the bullying got to the point where I ended up in a different school the following year. My parents had power in the situation because it was a private school they paid for and there were no rules that I could not transfer to a different private school should the need arise.
For so may public school students, the option of transferring to a new school is out of the question. Districts are drawn and many children are stuck with the same kids from Kindergarten through graduation. A fourth grade disagreement between best friends can easily turn into middle school or high school torment that the bullied child cannot escape.
The problem is that children are finding an escape… the worst kind of escape. They are killing themselves. I think that when parents find themselves trapped in a situation where they cannot get their bullied kids into a different school, then homeschooling is an option that must be considered. Sure you could lose the income of one parent. Sure it will be hard. But, the greater loss is more than any parent will want to imagine.
Recommended Reading:
Why do Children Bully at School?
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