Your kid commited suicide, how is that the schools fault?

[Wagner]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayof....ap/index.html

again with another BS lawsuit against a school system. Kids have been bullied since time began, NO you shouldn't be allowed to sue over it. It is not the school systems job to make sure your child is fairing well...that is the parents job.

[StanF18]

Originally Posted by Wagner

It is not the school systems job to make sure your child is fairing well...that is the parents job.

Actually, from both a legal and social standpoint, you are incorrect. When a child is on school grounds, it IS the school's responsibility to provide a safe learning environment. And these days, that includes bullying. To say that the school system has NO liability for what happened is to take an issue that has many shades of gray and paint it in black and white. This is not a black and white issue. Is the school SOLELY to blame for this child's suicide? No. Clearly there are other factors, and I'm sure the school's lawyers will argue that the kid had numerous mental health difficulties that made him less capable of dealing with the bullying.

I understand where you are coming from. There are WAY too many frivolous lawsuits in this country, and there is a clear need for tort reform.
People need to take responsibility for their own actions and stop blaming McDonald's for their clogged arteries and heart attacks. Nobody forces you to eat a Big Mac. Same thing with tobacco companies. Nobody forces you to stick a cancer stick in your mouth,it's your own decision. We need to get back to individual accountability and put a common sense limit on this idea that you can get rich by suing someone on a whim.

However, in this particular case, it looks like a lawsuit would have some merit. Bullying is no longer viewed as a rite of passage that everyone has to go through. In the last ten years parents have demanded more action from school authorities to address this issue. Especially after the 2 bullied kids at Columbine shot up half their school, bullying is no longer viewed as just a minor nuisance. Schools are now legally responsible for instituting anti-bullying programs and for dealing swiftly and harshly with bullying incidents, including suspensions, expulsions, and parent conferences. Your argument that it has been around forever does not mean it's acceptable. Robbery has also been around forever, does that make it acceptable? I would not be surprised if this school winds up settling with the parents for an undisclosed sum before the case even goes to trial.

Just my $0.02.

[Thunder22]

When I was in school, if the US had the same laws pertaining to "bullying" and "harassment" in schools that they have today, half of my classmates would have suffered some sort of serious discipline as a result. (me too btw)

Kids are kids, if they get out of line, you put them back in line, it's that simple, these laws today are nuts.

and who is making these laws? all of the kids that got bullied when they were younger


We've all suffered through bullying in our childhoods and it probably made a majority of us stronger for having dealt with the confrontation, instead of being taught to sue or let the law handle it. We're creating another generation of sue happy americans.

[StanF18]

Originally Posted by gresch

and who is making these laws? all of the kids that got bullied when they were younger


We've all suffered through bullying in our childhoods and it probably made a majority of us stronger for having dealt with the confrontation, instead of being taught to sue or let the law handle it. We're creating another generation of sue happy americans.

Gresch, when you and me were kids, we dealt with it, we stood up for ourselves, we took martial arts, and it made us stronger. But my point was that now the "victims" are taking a more direct approach and bringing 9-millimiters and pipe bombs to school. Columbine was just one example, there have been numerous other school shootings, all resulting from bullying. So the schools have no choice but to deal with it more seriously now. They have a responsibility to parents that their classroooms don't become shooting galleries.

[Thunder22]

Originally Posted by StanF18

Gresch, when you and me were kids, we dealt with it, we stood up for ourselves, we took martial arts, and it made us stronger. But my point was that now the "victims" are taking a more direct approach and bringing 9-millimiters and pipe bombs to school. Columbine was just one example, there have been numerous other school shootings, all resulting from bullying. So the schools have no choice but to deal with it more seriously now. They have a responsibility to parents that their classroooms don't become shooting galleries.

I wasn't disagreeing with you about that type of extreme, I would have to be insane to suggest that.

[NIGHTMAREuki]

the problem is that you can't fight back, and it gets bottled up in you and eventually you bring a gun and shoot away...... if you could defend yourself there would be no bullying, getting suspended and expelled for selfdefence is BS

[Wagner]

Ahhh there is no excuse for school violence, however lawsuits on a school because you kid couldn't handle a bully and killed himself....you'd be hard pressed to prove it was only the school at fault, which is my point.

Man this is a land of POOOONNNTANGS now.

[B-Line]

Originally Posted by Wagner

Man this is a land of POOOONNNTANGS now.

A young dad was just telling me the other day, for kids sports, soccer, baseball, etc, they no longer have, "winners" and "losers".. They have actually taken the "competition" out of the game for kids sports..

Evidently, because the parents of the "loser" kids couldn't handle their kids whinning about the fact that they got beat. So now, EVERYONE IS A WINNER..
-- What a pathetic society we are becoming. Blaming schools on bullies and taking the winners and losers out of sports.

If you're kid is getting bullied at school, he should do what every other kid who gets bullied in school does. Start a chess club, go to Harvard, make a trillion dollars and marry the GF of the high school football player that now washes cars for a living.

B

[Wagner]

Originally Posted by B-Line

A young dad was just telling me the other day, for kids sports, soccer, baseball, etc, they no longer have, "winners" and "losers".. They have actually taken the "competition" out of the game for kids sports..

Evidently, because the parents of the "loser" kids couldn't handle their kids whinning about the fact that they got beat. So now, EVERYONE IS A WINNER..
-- What a pathetic society we are becoming. Blaming schools on bullies and taking the winners and losers out of sports.

If you're kid is getting bullied at school, he should do what every other kid who gets bullied in school does. Start a chess club, go to Harvard, make a trillion dollars and marry the GF of the high school football player that now washes cars for a living.

B

Tell me about it, remember posts a year ago about schools banning 'red ink' because it was offensive to dumb kids

If your kid is bullied, help them grow to stand up for themselves. Yes you should bring the issue up to the school, but this is an issue for the parent. It is an issue of character in your child. The whole world is out there, are you going to sue everyone that is ever mean to your precious little Angel