Hmmm, in no way am I defending Harrison or advocating some of his over-the-top comments, but it sounds like he is getting grief for things he has said in the past more than what he has said in this thread. He and Yaegar are actually making some of the best points in the thread.
One problem with everyone here is they are talking about different forms of bullying. For guys, getting bullied by another guy is a pretty easy situation to handle; if someone hits you, hit them back 10x harder... that is THE best way to handle male/male bullying. You must become Casey "The Punisher Haynes".
Girl vs girl bullying is much more of the torment variety and for that I have no real perspective, but in general you also need to find a way to "hit" back 10x harder.
I have talked with Kaushi before many times and she was bullied by boys. That is completely different, and in my opinion, is the only real bullying that schools should have zero tolerance for.
However, the basic premise that Harrison and yaegar are advocating is that at some point, in life, at your job, in elementary school, you will be either physically (predominantly guy/guy) or emotionally (predominantly girl/girl) and you MUST learn to stand up for yourself. That's it. It may be hard, but there is always a way. Bullying becomes less severe as we grow older ONLY because the majority of adults learn how to deal with it or snuff it out themselves sometime as children. However, zero tolerance type policies will only create more kids who take longer to mature into confident and strong adults.
Getting rid of dodgeball is BAD... banning "picking teams" in gym is bad. Gym class, schoolyard scuffles, being teased/made fun of are part of growing up. The more we as adults try to stamp them out, as a society, the more physically, mentally, and emotionally weak we will become in the future.
The world can chew you up and spit you out... you gotta learn resilience at some point, and the younger the better. The whole "kids being kids" thing is funny too, because as yaegar said, kids are not stupid and we do them a disservice by pampering them. Kids also who stand up to bullies often become friends with them. Watch children and they are like a walking and breathing depiction of the wild. You must earn respect, and this whole "you should just respect people" like it is an innate right is something very bizarre. You should all go read Lord of the Flies again. I used to work with children in a sleepaway summer camp setting, and the main thing is that they all wanna hang out and have a good time, sometimes there are displays of dominance and feather ruffling, but in the end kids really DO want to like eachother, but drawing lines in the sand can be counterproductive. Kids are way smarter than we give them credit for, sometimes just watching what is happening, stepping in when it gets REALLY ridiculous is ok... but let the kids be kids.
-Ghwerig
TANK SHAMAN!
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