Comment Re:Get rid of zero tolerance for violence (Score 1) 684
I hate hearing that bullshit.
In elementary school, the routine was that the bullies would stand in a circle around their victim, and the leader would start hitting the victim. If the victim just curled up in a fetal position and hid his face, then only one bully would hit him. If the victim tried to resist -- say, by pushing the bully away -- then the entire pack would close in, and together beat up the victim, to "teach him a lesson". The yard duty teachers would ignore this, usually, despite the fact it usually happened in the middle of the playground, in plain sight. A few times I was called in to talk to teachers or administrators, who asked me what I was doing to provoke bullies and how I thought I could change my behavior to stop provoking them. My mother insisted I was effeminate and disgusting and deserved to be bullied; my father was more sympathetic.
That was my experience at two elementary schools in wealthy suburbs. Later, we moved to a poor rural area, where there was considerably less bullying. At that school, teachers tended to respond promptly and intervene in bullying and fights to break them up. Zero tolerance for violence? Please, more of that.
I've long wondered if the behavior of kids in wealthy suburbs was the result of their being trained to be sociopaths, to suit their future social roles as managers and professionals.