13 ms·

The one place most people will experience or witness violence at least once in their life is in a school. No one mentions all the people who feel safe at home,

by surge 6y ago

The one place most people will experience or witness violence at least once in their life is in a school. No one mentions all the people who feel safe at home, but suffer abuse and ostracization or ignored by teachers at school. "Socialization", its like arguing people need food and then giving them dog food. Given most modern school schedules, lack of recess, and lunch breaks being barely enough time to eat, I heard even what socialization does take place is being diminished. School isn't the only and definitely not the best option for socialization. At least in home school, they mostly learn socialization by and with adults, excluding extracurricular activities and co-ops.

xwdv 6y ago
Middle school was probably the only really violent time in my life. Several occasions I got the shit beaten thoroughly out of me and I was too scared to tell anyone about it because the fuckers threatened to just show up at my house or bus stop and beat me up even harder. I believed it. I often fantasized about bringing a gun to school and blowing them away, but knew I could never do it. It was fun to think about though as a kid. Don't know whatever happened to those kids, but I hope they're in prison or dead, or just living shitty lives. I doubt they ever got better.
- surge 6y ago
  For me it was late middle, and first two years of high school. I actually had a guy wait in the hallways for me to pass by to terrorize me for one particular class. Another one I had to deal with on the bus when it got to be too much and I guess the bus driver observed enough of the constant abuse by this other kid that when the fight was over (I won), they didn't turn me in. But I saw fights that were much worse, fights that ended in bleeding, cracked ribs and concussions, thankfully there was hospital across the road. This was in a rural region high school, in the 90s, I can only imagine what its like in places with actual gangs, today, etc. The worse part about it is, you tell the teachers, they do nothing substantial, then you're a snitch. If you do the one thing likely to solve the problem, which is fight back, you're punished, and now the cops are called and you're likely arrested. Some kids eventually snap, and parents wonder why school shootings are a thing.
- ponker 6y ago
  Don’t look them up. I remember hearing about someone who basically had their life thrown into crisis when they looked up their main bully and found out that he was rich, married to a beautiful woman, had three perfect-seeming children, etc.
  - eeZah7Ux 6y ago
    What on earth is a "perfect-seeming" person?
    - ponker 6y ago
      A kid who is smiling and well behaved in a Facebook photo. Basically, the guy worked at a grocery store, was single, wasn’t an unhappy guy, but always thought karma had caught up to his bully. When he discovered that karma doesn’t exist it sent him into depression and rage.
primrose 6y ago
"Public schools are literal prisons for children and the only time many people will ever encounter physical violence in their lives." ~Michael Malice
- surge 6y ago
  https://mobile.edweek.org/c.jsp?cid=25919951&bcid=25919951&rssid=25919941&item=http%3a%2f%2fapi.edweek.org%2fv1%2few%2f%3fuuid%3d8805A088-82E5-11E9-B21E-B4F258D98AAA https://mobile.edweek.org/c.jsp?cid=25919951&bcid=25919951&r... https://nypost.com/2018/01/30/teen-suspended-for-inciting-violence-with-anti-bullying-video/ https://nypost.com/2018/01/30/teen-suspended-for-inciting-vi... https://reason.com/2020/09/07/zoom-nerf-gun-school-cops-kid-isaiah-elliott/ https://reason.com/2020/09/07/zoom-nerf-gun-school-cops-kid-... They treat their students like it.
  - primrose 6y ago
    Give everyone vouchers and education will be 10 times better.
    - natch 6y ago
      That will just splinter society further into divisive religious and other ideological tribes who can’t understand each other or even get along. We have some of this now but vouchers make it worse and drain the budgets of public schools. The money has to come from somewhere and it ends up coming from taxpayers. So then less taxpayer money is available to do actual helpful things.
      - primrose 6y ago
        Denmark ties education funds to each student, not the school district. They seem to be doing fine.
        dragonwriter 6y ago
        > Denmark ties education funds to each student, not the school district. They seem to be doing fine. Lots of places don't, and are also doing fine. That's because that particular feature is orthogonal to any real issue.
pnw_hazor 6y ago
I still remember my first fight, it was at school in 2d grade in Seattle. I was a new kid, a jerk jumped me right in class for touching his chair. Luckily it was harmless. I was not bullied after probably because I was not small or completely friendless even though I was shy and quiet. The next time was in 5th grade in Texas (new kid again -- I was the weirdo from Seattle). Also harmless. We didn't even get suspended or put on detention in those days. The next time was in the Army defending someone who was being bullied by a racist. That was scary for me because I was so angry I could have really hurt someone. Luckily, cooler heads intervened. Growing up, I heard stories from cousins that went to public school in the Chicago area. Major fights everyday. Though they managed to stay out of harms way. Back in Seattle, my son got suspended for play fighting in middle school (zero tolerance) but otherwise he made it out without getting into any fights -- it helped that he was/is very tall and a popular athlete. Onetime when I picked him up after a dance there was a horrible fight where a large girl was beating the shit out of a smaller girl with 100s of kids whooping it up around them. Crazy time. Plenty of more stories from his time in bad schools in South Seattle. Scenes out of a movie bad. Most people can't imagine the out-control violent environment that exists in some US public schools. Even in cities like Seattle. I can't imagine how bad it could be for kids forced to go to bad schools in big cities like Baltimore, Philly, Chicago, LA, DC, and such.
surge 6y ago
Want to tack this on. "In Finland, where substantial physical activity is part of the school day, rates of ADHD are also very low. Meanwhile, in the U.S. children are asked to sit still for the majority of the day. Elementary school students often get only 15-20 minutes of recess a day, a far cry from the 60-90 minutes their parents had. Coincidentally, ADHD rates in the U.S. have gone up over the last 15 years. " https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisonescalante/2020/08/11/researchers-doubt-that-certain-mental-disorders-are-disorders-at-all/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisonescalante/2020/08/11/rese...

by surge 6y ago

xwdv 6y ago

Middle school was probably the only really violent time in my life. Several occasions I got the shit beaten thoroughly out of me and I was too scared to tell anyone about it because the fuckers threatened to just show up at my house or bus stop and beat me up even harder. I believed it. I often fantasized about bringing a gun to school and blowing them away, but knew I could never do it. It was fun to think about though as a kid. Don't know whatever happened to those kids, but I hope they're in prison or dead, or just living shitty lives. I doubt they ever got better.

surge 6y ago
For me it was late middle, and first two years of high school. I actually had a guy wait in the hallways for me to pass by to terrorize me for one particular class. Another one I had to deal with on the bus when it got to be too much and I guess the bus driver observed enough of the constant abuse by this other kid that when the fight was over (I won), they didn't turn me in. But I saw fights that were much worse, fights that ended in bleeding, cracked ribs and concussions, thankfully there was hospital across the road. This was in a rural region high school, in the 90s, I can only imagine what its like in places with actual gangs, today, etc. The worse part about it is, you tell the teachers, they do nothing substantial, then you're a snitch. If you do the one thing likely to solve the problem, which is fight back, you're punished, and now the cops are called and you're likely arrested. Some kids eventually snap, and parents wonder why school shootings are a thing.
ponker 6y ago
Don’t look them up. I remember hearing about someone who basically had their life thrown into crisis when they looked up their main bully and found out that he was rich, married to a beautiful woman, had three perfect-seeming children, etc.
- eeZah7Ux 6y ago
  What on earth is a "perfect-seeming" person?
  - ponker 6y ago
    A kid who is smiling and well behaved in a Facebook photo. Basically, the guy worked at a grocery store, was single, wasn’t an unhappy guy, but always thought karma had caught up to his bully. When he discovered that karma doesn’t exist it sent him into depression and rage.

primrose 6y ago

"Public schools are literal prisons for children and the only time many people will ever encounter physical violence in their lives." ~Michael Malice

surge 6y ago
https://mobile.edweek.org/c.jsp?cid=25919951&bcid=25919951&rssid=25919941&item=http%3a%2f%2fapi.edweek.org%2fv1%2few%2f%3fuuid%3d8805A088-82E5-11E9-B21E-B4F258D98AAA https://mobile.edweek.org/c.jsp?cid=25919951&bcid=25919951&r... https://nypost.com/2018/01/30/teen-suspended-for-inciting-violence-with-anti-bullying-video/ https://nypost.com/2018/01/30/teen-suspended-for-inciting-vi... https://reason.com/2020/09/07/zoom-nerf-gun-school-cops-kid-isaiah-elliott/ https://reason.com/2020/09/07/zoom-nerf-gun-school-cops-kid-... They treat their students like it.
- primrose 6y ago
  Give everyone vouchers and education will be 10 times better.
  - natch 6y ago
    That will just splinter society further into divisive religious and other ideological tribes who can’t understand each other or even get along. We have some of this now but vouchers make it worse and drain the budgets of public schools. The money has to come from somewhere and it ends up coming from taxpayers. So then less taxpayer money is available to do actual helpful things.
    - primrose 6y ago
      Denmark ties education funds to each student, not the school district. They seem to be doing fine.
      - dragonwriter 6y ago
        > Denmark ties education funds to each student, not the school district. They seem to be doing fine. Lots of places don't, and are also doing fine. That's because that particular feature is orthogonal to any real issue.

pnw_hazor 6y ago

I still remember my first fight, it was at school in 2d grade in Seattle. I was a new kid, a jerk jumped me right in class for touching his chair. Luckily it was harmless. I was not bullied after probably because I was not small or completely friendless even though I was shy and quiet. The next time was in 5th grade in Texas (new kid again -- I was the weirdo from Seattle). Also harmless. We didn't even get suspended or put on detention in those days. The next time was in the Army defending someone who was being bullied by a racist. That was scary for me because I was so angry I could have really hurt someone. Luckily, cooler heads intervened. Growing up, I heard stories from cousins that went to public school in the Chicago area. Major fights everyday. Though they managed to stay out of harms way. Back in Seattle, my son got suspended for play fighting in middle school (zero tolerance) but otherwise he made it out without getting into any fights -- it helped that he was/is very tall and a popular athlete. Onetime when I picked him up after a dance there was a horrible fight where a large girl was beating the shit out of a smaller girl with 100s of kids whooping it up around them. Crazy time. Plenty of more stories from his time in bad schools in South Seattle. Scenes out of a movie bad. Most people can't imagine the out-control violent environment that exists in some US public schools. Even in cities like Seattle. I can't imagine how bad it could be for kids forced to go to bad schools in big cities like Baltimore, Philly, Chicago, LA, DC, and such.

surge 6y ago

Want to tack this on. "In Finland, where substantial physical activity is part of the school day, rates of ADHD are also very low. Meanwhile, in the U.S. children are asked to sit still for the majority of the day. Elementary school students often get only 15-20 minutes of recess a day, a far cry from the 60-90 minutes their parents had. Coincidentally, ADHD rates in the U.S. have gone up over the last 15 years. " https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisonescalante/2020/08/11/researchers-doubt-that-certain-mental-disorders-are-disorders-at-all/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisonescalante/2020/08/11/rese...