Documents Detail A Girl's Final Days of Bullying

[Luba]

Documents Detail a Girl?s Final Days of Bullying - NYTimes.com

Phoebe Prince, the 15-year-old who killed herself after relentless taunting, spent her final days in fear of girls who had threatened to beat her up, according to the first official accounts released in a case in Massachusetts that gained wide attention last week, when six students were charged with felonies.

------------------------

Seeing Dr. Phil's show about this story as well as stories about other bullied children, as young as eleven, who have taken their own lives because of bullying just is horrible to learn.

What is happening to some of our younger generation that they have become SO mean, nasty, and hurtful? Why are some schools turning a blind eye? What are the solutions to this?

[Vautrin]

The schools are turning a blind eye to it, because making a statement is bad PR.

The only PR they could get that is worse, is when a kid commits suicide. Literally, they are playing roulette with kids' lives.

[Star]

it's horrible and heartbreaking. bullying has always been there but it seems to be getting worse in today's generation. they take it way too far.

parents and schools need to take action on this. most schools say that they have zero tolerance to bullying but they don't act wuick enough to stop it.

i don't understand how tormenting a person daily makes other feel good. the bullies themselves have serious issues.

[Kevin Dass]

It is hard to make a judgement here. One of the reason is the upbringing of the bullies themselves by their parents. Maybe, maybe not as these kids might behave well in front of their parents.

Perhaps more stiffer punishment to the bullies to show that these things are not taken lightly. This is sad, but it is happening.

We should treat Say No To Bullies just like how we Say No To Racism. Everyone must take accountability to make it work.

[Luba]

It is hard to make a judgement here. One of the reason is the upbringing of the bullies themselves by their parents. Maybe, maybe not as these kids might behave well in front of their parents.

You've posted something to really think about, Kevin; how bullies act in front of their parents and how they act with others by bullying. I wonder what defining moment would make a nice kid into a bully?

[Ayla]

I have a younger cousin who is 14, soon to be 15, who deals with bullying and has for years. She's a breathtakingly beautiful young lady, but she has learning disabilities. She has problems with her eyes focusing properly and so she has a hard time reading. Her own problems coupled with a pitiful school system has led to her being nearly 15 and in the 8th grade. And, so she is made fun of. She's constantly being threatened or getting in fights. She's picked on and called names. They've hacked her facebook. They pretend to be her friend just to pull pranks on her. Some of the girls I know their parents so I take screen captures of texts and facebook messages and send them along with a note asking them to address their childrens activities. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. The school is of little good. They talk to the girls in the office but that is the extent of the ramifications.

Every time I see in the news that another child has taken their own life because of bullying I say a little prayer to any powers that be to keep her safe.

[BridgieBridge]

It's very sad.

A bit of an epidemic i think. School's take the backlash no matter what they do.... Me personally i think it's very important to talk with your child about their behaviours with other people. It important to take the time out to teach our children kindness, It's even more important to lead by example. And that's really the problem, the world is getting colder, it's harsh out there......

[IvyRose]

I read that typically, it's the beautiful ones that get bullied the most in school. Others are jealous and will pick out any flaw to harp on to satisfy their jealousy.

I don't know what is a great resolution to the problem, but I have found this type of behavior carries on through adulthood. Personally, I was bullied out of my last job by a woman twice the size of me. She hated that the bosses liked me and co-workers were quick to help me if I was in trouble with deadlines. She threatened me physically everyday.

Over-hearing her conversations about her elementary and high school days, she was a bully then too. Human Resources did little to nothing to help me, so I let her have her territory. Not so easy when you're in school and going to the Administration does more harm than good. It just makes the bullying worse.

I suppose the core problem is jealousy. It's so hard to teach others how to deal with that emotion when most are in denial that they feel it.