At Ohio School, 4 Bullied Teens Lost to Suicide

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Is from North Ohio, I had relatives who went to Mentor High, this doesn't really shock me much..I remember the people from their school...very snobby, thought they were better then everyone else. Lol, you couldn't pay me any amount to go back to a school, i quit it at 16, where i live now, you could legally go at 16 without parents involvement.....and i hit that door running...like getting out of prison, sad part is i committed no crime, but still dealt with that punishment for 10 damn years. Teachers out there, not doing anything about the bullying, such as every single teacher i had....sit there and listen to it in YOUR classroom..and do NOTHING..yeah..you'll get yours.....i love Karma.....same goes to those who do the bullying..yes you ARE old enough to KNOW EXACTLY what you are doing...this 'kids being cruel' crap...pathetic excuses as to why kids do this...being a kid does not excuse you from knowing right and wrong....... sad..just really sad

SOCIAL CRUELTY IS NEVER GOOD FUN. It should never, ever be acceptable for one human being to advance his or her social status at the destruction of another human being. Social cruelty is an age old behavior pattern that tweens and teens use in a misguided attempt to elevate pecking order hierarchy and offset their own insecurities and inferiority complexes. However, in today's global, digital society, the social cruelty has taken on a more powerful and destructive tenor. As a result, cruelty is intensely vivid inside the culture of teenagers in which moving images, sound and graphics, become indelible impressions on the psyche. Today, teens feel shame and humiliation in more dramatic ways -- consider what it would be like to have your family and friends see embarrassing footage of you, as an adult, splashed all over the world wide web. That is what it is like for teens, except that their emotions are all the MORE VOLATILE AND CAREENING as they work to find a balance in their development. I have been ostracized as an adult by cruel mothers at various schools that both my son and daughter attended because I am not a conformist, nor am I petty or comfortable lining up against other parents. And, I was bullied by packs of girls in elementary school in a timber town where sensitivity, intelligence and broad mindedness was not the mainstay of any social group. Today, as a parent, a teacher, educator and graduate student studying compassionate reconciliation and non-violent problem solving in society. . .I do believe that the adults: both the parents and the school staff who did not intervene effectively, are enablers to this dysfunction. If students were truly punished: expelled, handed loss of privileges at school -- if their "packs," were divided and conquered by being sent to other schools, then the "good fun" of bullying would no longer carry emotional satisfaction. In other words: if the backlash against social cruelty is actually more painful for the bully than sickly gratifying -- you would see social cruelty fade away. The fact that the consequence dealt by parents and school staff are not painful enough, is one reason why bullying exists in a so-called "enlightened" age. Some consequences that I believe would be helpful include: being forced to do community service with socially challenged kids for a long period of time, being assigned a public service campaign THEY HAVE TO DEVELOP AND ADMINISTER to teach other students a non-bullying approach and therapy that is actually effective and lengthy . .are just some ideas. The other thing I would force: the students having to apologize to the victim and his or her parents in a public setting, which shows their responsibility to others. Holding parents financially and legally accountable is very effective and yes, suing school districts is equally effective. Normally, I don't adhere to the litigious nature of our society: and yet, it is the action that forces administrators and school boards to take equal action against those who are destroying others. It is unacceptable that such behaviors still exist in a post-modern society where intellectuals, psychological professionals and educators who know better. . .are not taking the proper steps to stamp it out. Social cruelty is NEVER GOOD FUN. It is initially wounding and eternally scarring. And, it is unacceptable in a school where adults are charged with keeping students safe. Thank you for listening. Leslie Shore Olympia WA

BULLYING AND SOCIAL CRUELTY are age old problems that speak to the inferiority and insecurity complexes of most tweens and teens. As kids become more aware of their place in the society of their culture, they also become more sophisticated in trying to vie for placement, control and superiority. Social cruelty has NEVER BEEN ALL IN GOOD FUN. It is never sport to hurt someone to advance your status. Today's teens do have more pressure socially, are exposed to more horrifying/bleak/dramatic images and, given very little direction to handle hurtful situations compared to the largesse of the issue in today's electronic world. We live in a global society where ANYTHING can become fuel on FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE, or ANY NETWORKING SITE. and therefore, the cruelty has taken on new epidemic proportions because with the click of a key, that student's privacy is NO LONGER PROTECTED. And, a student can be humiliated, shamed, ostracized in more intense and vicious ways and have NO RECOURSE to protect himself or herself. If anything, these networking sites need to be monitored more heavily. Also, students who treat people with cruelty need to be held accountable and stopped with severe and swift consequence. As a parent who works with teens, as a journalist who has covered tons of criminal stories and as a student whose graduate school study is on reconciliation and non-violence -- I can truthfully say that having been ostracized as a child -- I never found bullying "good fun," it wounds deeply and scars a person eternally. The student bullies in Mentor (and the other colleges and schools where cruelty claimed victims) need to be seriously dealt with in a compelling way. Walking by a dead student that they helped kill and LAUGHING is not good fun. Those kids are sick and need serious, impressive consequences. Being expelled and separated from their partners in crime, sent to other schools so that their "pack" cannot "hunt" the innocent would be a first step. After that: mandatory counseling for 3-6 months. After that, required to volunteer with teens who are socially challenged. And, after that: they should be forced to speak out against social cruelty in public. MOSTLY: teachers and counselors need to stop being mamby-pamby about it all. The idea that people can just suck up being hurt emotionally is regressive and fuzzy headed. When teachers intensely disapprove and when counselors don't just "talk" to students who are mean, but actually hold them accountable for actions by taking away one privilege after another, and when administrators make the parents pay for crimes against other students. . .you will see social cruelty diminish. When it hurts more to hurt others, than to gain status, it will be stopped. Until then, dealing with these students gently is just one more reason why they get away with it. Thank you for listening. Leslie Shore Olympia WA