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Sorry to hear that. I wonder what a parent can do in this situation. And would they know if the kid is just suffering typical school harassment (which shouldn't

Sorry to hear that. I wonder what a parent can do in this situation. And would they know if the kid is just suffering typical school harassment (which shouldn't be allowed, but happens all the time) or if the kid is experiencing something more severe. I know teachers are sometimes well aware of some regular abuse that is going on. Typical stuff, like verbal assault, theft, battery, threats of violence. All criminal offenses in the real world. But in school it's just a detention or a request to curb the behaviour. I think it's difficult to judge the difference between a situation where the victim needs to learn to toughen up, vs a situation where the offender needs to learn that society doesn't allow these behaviours and there are serious consequences.

kayodelycaon 5y ago
In my case? Nothing. But I'm an outlier. (Brief horror story follows.) They had to move me to a private school because school thought I was the problem. The school had started publicly pulling me out of class in front of everyone for "therapy" from a "licensed child psychologist". (This was the last in a steadily escalating series of public humiliations and punishments by teachers and staff over 4 years.) It quickly became clear I wasn't the problem because I did very well in a small religious school that was willing to make minor adjustments for a child with ADD. This whole thing is absolutely bizarre to me because the school was basically your Midwest standard American suburb in the 1990s. There was no religious or political motivation that would explain it.
- thewebcount 5y ago
  Yeah, I had a similar issue in 2nd grade. Teacher was abusive. Parents sent me to another school for the rest of the year. I returned the following year and didn't really have that sort of problem again. The teacher in question continued bullying, and eventually switched to teaching special education, which just chills me to the bone. This was late 70s. Really bizarre. Anyway, glad things improved for you. One thing I learned from this is that parents are often a terrible judge of the situation, often don't believe their own children when they say something is wrong, and often are afraid to do their damn job and protect their child from harm. In my opinion, they should have sued the school or at least made a much bigger stink about it and gotten other parents involved (as I wasn't the only one being bullied by the teacher), but they didn't. C'est la vie.

kayodelycaon 5y ago

In my case? Nothing. But I'm an outlier. (Brief horror story follows.) They had to move me to a private school because school thought I was the problem. The school had started publicly pulling me out of class in front of everyone for "therapy" from a "licensed child psychologist". (This was the last in a steadily escalating series of public humiliations and punishments by teachers and staff over 4 years.) It quickly became clear I wasn't the problem because I did very well in a small religious school that was willing to make minor adjustments for a child with ADD. This whole thing is absolutely bizarre to me because the school was basically your Midwest standard American suburb in the 1990s. There was no religious or political motivation that would explain it.

thewebcount 5y ago
Yeah, I had a similar issue in 2nd grade. Teacher was abusive. Parents sent me to another school for the rest of the year. I returned the following year and didn't really have that sort of problem again. The teacher in question continued bullying, and eventually switched to teaching special education, which just chills me to the bone. This was late 70s. Really bizarre. Anyway, glad things improved for you. One thing I learned from this is that parents are often a terrible judge of the situation, often don't believe their own children when they say something is wrong, and often are afraid to do their damn job and protect their child from harm. In my opinion, they should have sued the school or at least made a much bigger stink about it and gotten other parents involved (as I wasn't the only one being bullied by the teacher), but they didn't. C'est la vie.