| Monday, November 29, 2004 |
10:55 - Now you are the one who is "it"
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Over the weekend, one of the users on my site—a teenager from Britain—made mention of the fact that over there, either this week or last week was apparently "National Anti-Bullying Week" on school campuses.
He was as surprised to hear that there was no such event here, as I was to hear of its existence.
I mean, what the hell? National Anti-Bullying Week? A week in which, what, all bullies are identified, tied up in the quad, and pelted with eggs? Or is it just a time to hang meaningless banners and feel all self-righteous? What exactly is this supposed to accomplish? What message is it supposed to send? What—it's okay for fifty-one weeks a year to be a bully, but just not this one week? Is this supposed to be some kind of "empowering" thing for non-bully kids—to feel like they have the administration's power on their side for one week out of the year, after which it's back to business as usual?
So much for the "code of the schoolyard". This kind of thing can only give kids the message that all your problems will eventually be solved by Someone With Authority coming in and stopping the big bad booger men. What are these kids going to grow up to think—"Well, my asshole neighbor keeps throwing his trash over into my backyard, but it's okay! One week a year, the State will step in and make him be nice to me!"
The world doesn't work like that. No matter how many rough edges we file off the environment our kids carom around in, all we do is delay and magnify the eventual shock when they have to learn how to stand up for themselves and earn the respect of their peers. I'm speaking as someone who was often the target of "bullies" as a kid, such as they were, and the thing I regret most about those years is never having learned to throw a punch.
Maybe "they" should institute "National Don't Commit Crimes Week" or "International Anti-Iranian-Nukes Day" or "Ukrainian Election Fraud Awareness Week." That'll show 'em.
UPDATE: Naturally, Tim Blair's commenters have gone to town on the subject of precious childhood memories...
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Brian Tiemann
