A case of bullying has been taken to court here in Rio de Janeiro. At the top private school Colégio de São Bento, a 14 year old student bullied a 6 year old student and only received 1 day suspension as punishment.
Márcia Moraes, the Mother of the 6 year old, took matters into her own hands when the school called the situation playing. On the contrary, the 6 yr old came home with marks all over his forehead from hitting it on the ground after being pushed down repeatedly. On top of that, he was called Fat and a Pig and was also treated aggressively by a teacher.
When the school did nothing about it, the Mother did what any kick ass Mother should, she took it to court! Now it has become news and was even featured in the Brazilian magazine Veja.
This week there was a breakthrough when Valeria Aragon of the Child and Adolescent Protection Unit in Rio de Janeiro said that bullying and aggression are crimes, not mere disciplinary infractions.
I know age makes no difference in bullying, bullying is bullying, but I am horrified at how a 14 year old was picking on a 6 yr old! That is crazy! The Mother of the 14 year old even had the audacity to come forward to say that her 14 year old has both his Mother and Father.
What?! FYI, children with two parents can still be assholes. My guess is, by the quote, he gets it from said parents. Personally, if it were my 14 year old child, he would be apologizing to the other student in front of an all-school assembly. I don't know what I would do after that but his punishment would be far from over.
I am finding that bullying is quite present here in Brazil. Mr. Rant and his friends used to swear that it was nothing like it is in the US. Guess what, it's time to start talking about it and realizing that is not only happening here but is happening all over the world.
On a side note, I hope the court charges the 14 year old's parents with a hefty fee! When you are as closed minded and oblivious as they are, the best place to hit them is in the pocketbook.
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Last Day to Vote!!
I have been very fortunate so far that neither of my children have been victims of this behavior. But if they ever are, you can be sure my ass will be up at the school so fast they won't have time to call the cops. And if I have to, since I'm in the U.S., I'll sue EVERYONE if I have to! Not to mention, I'll go freaking redneck on the kid AND the parents of the other child. Oh gosh. I pray I don't have to act like a redneck...LOL
ReplyDeleteI don't know what i would do if mine was the one being bullying. I surely would expect the school to stand up for him!
ReplyDeleteRachel,
ReplyDeleteI think Mr. Rant have a point, I mean, to be under the impression that there is less bullying in his childhood.
I witnessed very little bullying growing up, Gil witnessed a lot of bullying in one school and when his parents moved to a different part of the city and a different school, no bullying what so ever, I think some schools allow the bullying to thrive and get out of hand.
I did witnessed bullying in the high school I went to in Oklahoma and that was something new to me. However the bullying happened a lot among people of different races or cultural/ethnic backgrounds, so the "white" kids would pick on the "Native American" kids, the "native American" kids picked on the "Mexican" kids and so forth.
I totally think it is the school's responsibility to prevent bullying and have zero tolerance when it comes to bullying.
Most schools in New England, principally Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and Rhode Island have mandatory training for teachers and school staff to prevent bullying and respect kids of different backgrounds and different families, many kids are from Gay families once Gay marriage is legal in all of these states ( except RI ), but there is zero tolerance for bullying kids in general and the only way to curb bullying is by putting the responsibility on the schools and school staff, because they are the only adults around who are capable and have the access to prevent the bullying and punish bullies when they act on it and prevent further bullying in the future.
Ray
What the he** does having both parents have to do with it? It's obvious that having two you would think two sets of brains. EPIC fail on their part.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of strange to me that I never seen/experienced bullying growing up. Where at the daughters school (private) I see quite a bit of it. In fact a younger, but much bigger boy was picking on her. He tried to hit her on the head, but she ended up swinging her arm and busting his lip. Of course we got called regarding this issue. I told the principal that if someone puts their hands on my child she has every right to defend herself, and that I thought it was ridiculous since we pay such good money for her to go there and this was not the first issue with this boy.
I don't condone aggressive behavior, but needless to say, he doesn't bother her anymore.