Good luck there. I made it through the Surrey school system myself, and my parents still live in the area, so I hear enough to know that nothing has changed since I graduated. I seem to remember someone earlier in the thread making a comment about anyone with a brain larger than an iguana’s being able to help…well, they don’t qualify collectively. The board is controlled by fundies whose entire time is taken up fighting a couple of books (long story, deserves a thread of its own if there hasn’t already been one)
Seriously though, Aslan2, I really hope you can resolve this situation. Raise hell with the principal, threaten to call the media, whatever it takes without sinking to their level. Particularly with all the fuss around here about bullying and students committing suicide, you’d think the school would want to deal with things properly. If all else fails, change schools. Despite my comments about the school board, not all schools in Surrey are hell holes. I actually had a pretty good experience at mine. At least, I’m not too horribly warped, I hope.
Just noticed this. You and the other student should go to the principal together. There were a couple of instances of sexual harassment at my high school while I was there (by teachers in both cases), and they were dealt with very promptly. There are obviously some serious problems with that teacher in terms of her ability to handle the work, and the more people you can get to complain together, the more likely it is that something will be done.
InTheField, that’d be great if you could do that for me. Drop me an email, we can figure out how to go about that.
JulKatBo, if you don’t mind me asking, what schools did you go to? I personally would hate leaving mine. All my friends are here, and two of my most favourite teachers ever work there.
Re: Media Attention: I don’t really want media attention, just my problem fixed. I hate to discredit and smear the reputation of school, it doesn’t need that after what happend two years ago(Their was a death, someone trying to stop some violence that was a result of a drug deal. Both the drug dealer and the buyer were non students and not from surrey. The media made it look like the school was a haven for gangs).
This is a result of the teacher, the counsellors and the principa not doing much. I’m afriad it’ll turn into a media frenzy to discredit my school, and possibly reafirm the belief this is a gang school, rife with violence.
Zachary, I was doing my best to suggest you brush up on your reading comprehension because that is exactly what Zappo spelled out in his post, “what sort of legitimate tort might be prosecutable” and I believe he called it “battery” (among others). You still presumed to try and correct him by saying
I freely admit that I don’t know a whole lot about torts but I highly doubt that the proper legal term for battery is “attractive nusiance”.
PS. Speaking of reading comprehension: Who the fuck is “Maureen”?
JulKatBo, just heard on the radio about the b.c. school board spending millions of dollars on a case for banning three books on homosexuality(because of “poor grammar” and “explicit terms”). Is that the same case you refer to?
Be well Aslan I only absorbed the fact you are in the UK, not the US. Still homeschooling might be a better option in the long run. You could still find a way to be with your friends, without having to deal with the bullies. I think you should try to stand your ground, and get this resolved though, the boost to morale/confidence alone is reason enough, not to mention learning how to resolve problems effectively. Do you have a student’s handbook, outlining what behavior is punished, and what the punishments are? In the US, they hand those out at the beginning of the year, and have an assembly to go over the rules to make sure everyone is told what is expected of them. I’d use that in my case.
Good Luck in whatever you decide to do, please do keep us updated as to what you decide to do about this, ok?
Everyone is suggesting going to the principal or school board or police. To me this sounds like being a “snitch.” I don’t know about now, but back in my day such a thing was likely to make your popularity take a serious nose dive. You will no longer be “That nerdy kid.” You will be “That nerdy kid who can’t take a little fun and has to go running to mommy.” Not what I would call an improved situation.
Not that I have a better solution, but I would think seriously about the consequences of “telling.”
No. If I don’t do anything major now, I’ll be getting shit for the next three years. I can’t take another three years of being depressed, feeling sick at the thought of school, and having the shit beat out of me. People wonder whats wrong with me- I know what’s wrong and that’s not doing anything sooner.
I didn’t go to school this morning, just to let you know. I’m very depressed right now, I can’t deal with getting shitted on all the time. If I don’t do something now, instead of being the “nerdy kid”, I’ll end up being the “Nerdy kid who shot himself”.
The consequences of “telling” are not quite big enough to stop me from complaning to the police or sueing.
Hmmm. . .in the twelve or so years since I attended law school, passed the bar examination and have been continuously engaged in the active practice of law it hasn’t been called an attractive nuisance. I know what I’m talking about here, Zenster.
If you’d like to offer helpful suggestions, the basic rules of this board require that the suggestions are based on correct information. Also, it’s bad form to imply you know better than a particular poster, even if you’re not aware that the poster is commenting on a topic involving his area of professional expertise.
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No, I’m not happy in the least. You’re assuming there is no chance the people eating the adulterated chocolates aren’t allergic to Ex-Lax, don’t take medications which would interact with Ex-Lax, and wouldn’t have some sort of sensitivity to the adulterant that would severely harm or kill them in a circumstance that would leave an ordinary person unscathed. In legal terms, that’s called the “eggshell skull rule.”
Even if you disavowed the actual suggestion, the continued hypothetical discussion of this situation is still proceeding along a track supported by faulty logic and ignorance of the law. Witness:
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Speaking as a person who’s seen what juries actually convict people on, you’re all wet. Your conception of what constitutes self-defense is way off the mark. While I might agree with you about the poetic justice of giving bullies a case of the trots, it’s clear that you don’t have a conception of the consequences that could arise from undertaking the course of action you suggested and then repudiated.
But another way of looking at it, is that no matter what the law may say, certain actions are morally correct.
Need I go through the litany of injust laws that have been applied through the centuries?
One of course has to make the choice about whether one will be happier, sticking up for oneself and the cause of justice and having freedom constrained by law, or living free but knowing that you failed to do so.
After all, if the kids who do this are allowed to grow up unchecked, they will be the ones administering the law.
This post should not be construed as a suggestion on appropriate actions in any particular situation.
If you have an issue that is not directly related to the OP, can I request that you take it to a new thread?
I’d like to also restate something again like the above: Since I won’t be doing it, their is no need to discuss the legality of it or if it’s morally correct behaviour.
tdn, maybe it’s just the fact that I’m an old codger (21), but “a little fun” is not a phrase I would use to describe physical and verbal harassment. YMMV.
And if it does, you need to check your definition of “fun” with that of, y’know, people who know what it means.
There are not enough rolleyes for a response to this.
To spell it out for the hard of reading, here’s what I meant: I do not consider physical and verbal harassment to be “a little fun”, but those inflicting it often do. They often don’t comprehend the damage that they are doing. To them it’s just goofing around. Note that when I posted that, the phrase was enclosed in quotation marks, as if it were being said by someone other than me.
Funny, even when I did rise to the level of bullies (and for those few times when I’d have categorized myself as one), it wasn’t anything I’d call fun. So you can take those rolleyes smilies you’d been collecting and do one of two things with them:
Stick them up your ass. It surely won’t notice a few more, as your own seem to be inobtrusive as of yet.
Aslan2 you are a very mature individual, I admire your level-headedness. I sympathise as well, I was in a similar situation in high school, in band though. My teacher had no control over, and no respect from the class. I really enjoyed band, but I realised that I was not going to be able to learn anything, so I signed up for private lessons outside of school. After I stopped trying in music, I got along much better with the goof-offs, wasn’t like I was accomplishing anything anyway.
OK, let’s pull back on the hostility. This is about to get out of hand.
Here’s a little story: When I was 12, I was hanging out in a park with a couple of friends. We’d met up with some older kids (maybe 15 or 16) who decided they were going to make us their slaves. They held us captive, under pain of beatings, for about 3 hours. When they tired of us, they let us go.
Following that, they would meet us every day after school and subject us to various beatings and humiliations. Spanking was common, often with a stick about an inch thick. One guy was punched in the face hard enough to make his nose bleed. He was also forced to get the imprint of a bicycle tire down his face.
This continued for probably a month. Every day. Then one day I was hanging out with the brother of one of these assholes, and he (the asshole) said “We were just having fun with you. Don’t worry about it.” On another occasion my sister, who was dating another one of the assholes, mentioned that it was all in good fun.
So I’d say yeah, for them it was just a good time. And I was told so directly by them.
Aslan2, I went to Earl Marriott, and yes, that’s the book case I was referring to. I was somewhat short on sleep when I wrote my last posts, so any inconsistencies, etc. can be blamed on that. As for calling the media, I suspect that most schools wouldn’t want that kind of publicity, so just threatening to call the Sun or BCTV or whoever might work.
I can understand your reluctance to change schools, I wouldn’t have wanted to even if there had been major problems where I was. Are there any other art teachers at your school? If there are, do your best to get into a class with the other teacher instead. I know my school had a couple of days just before classes started where we could change our schedules if we didn’t like them, hopefully you can do the same.
Hang in there. The school year’s almost over, and with any luck you can get classes away from those losers next year.
