Speaking of back-to-school…

Cross posted from AngryBlackBitch.com.

A bitch read this article about bully proofing your chil’ren and it reminded me that bullying is one of many reasons some youth don’t look forward to the end of summer.

When this bitch was a wee bitch I was bullied relentlessly. It started when I walked into my kindergarten class and continued through my grade school years. As a result, a bitch couldn’t stand going to school and used to search desperately for ways to get out of it.

Unfortunately, my grades reflected the hell out of the shit…big time.

Blink.

Anti-bullying measures like those discussed in the CNN.com article are a good start, but they are only as good as the system’s understanding of what bullying is. Here in Missouri we have anti-bullying mandates for schools that do not have enumerated categories…and we also have some educators who think calling a fellow student a faggot isn’t bullying.

What we need to do is remember that adults need education too. Parents need to be brought up to speed on the cost of bullying to the victim and the bully…on their child’s rights as students and their rights as tax paying investors in public education…and communities need to raise the bar on expectations for students, schools and educators.

This bitch remembers hearing a teacher talk about one of my bullies and her parents. It was around teacher-parent conference time and I guess the bully’s parents had already been in. I was listening in because I knew my ass wasn’t going to have a good conference…sigh…and a bitch was hoping to get the teacher’s take on my performance prior to the drama-filled event to come. Instead I heard the teacher venting about the mean as hell foul ass attitude of my bully’s parents. And I remember being shocked as the teacher talked of having to defend my bully from the verbal taunts of her parents.

I was even more shocked to find myself feeling sorry for my bully…right up until recess when she plowed her fist into my stomach.

Sigh.

Looking back, it makes sense that bullying is sometimes learned at home. Not always, but sometimes.

Just as it makes sense that communities dealing with bullies in their schools may not be equipped to identify and address the problem of bullying.

Organizations like PROMO are working to get specificity added to Missouri’s anti-bullying legislation so that communities, schools, educators, students and parents will have to tools to identify and address bullying.

So yes, its time for back-to-school preparedness, y’all.

This bitch thinks that now is a good time to ask your local school how they identify and deal with bullying and what you can do to help...