Clearly this is going to be a problem in schools in the USA for a while, though the news won't cover it nearly as much now. I am thinking about this because last night I saw a film called "Elephant" by Gus Van Sandt which was about this very subject.

Do any of you have any thoughts on what the causes of this phenomenon are?

Any thoughts about how it can be prevented?

why is it a phenomonon? the world gets more and more violent everyday and that includes kids. bullying can be somewhat prevented by the scool and staff but if a kid makes it up in his mind that hes going to school to blast somebody then how could he be stopped?

For real, bullying is the reason I wanted to blow up my school in 8th grade. Teachers don't want to waste their time with watching the kids and ****, so they allow the bullying as some form of social darwinism. And when I blow their ****ing heads off, all of a sudden I'm the bad guy. How many people must die before the world understands? The teachers can stop it any time they want, the blood is on their hands.

I think its all about parenting and adult supervision. Without supervision, kids get in trouble, plain and simple. My bro and I stayed home alone since we were in elementary school and we got into all kinds of trouble that I know we wouldnt have gotten into if I had a parent around. Its not enough either to just be around, parents need to be involved with their kids and know what they're into.

Yoko and Asian. It is funny that you guys talk about the 8th Grade. Most shootings were in High Schools. Not middleschools. Granted they got picked on during middleschool, but they didn't act until High School.

well, once you get to highschool is when all the crazy depressing **** of teenage life starts to take off. there were a few kids at my school that got ****ed with enough to easily walk in with a 12guage and start blastin people.

best thing to do is to stay to your self

Whenever somebody tries to tell me that kids are violent because of lack of Jesus or too many video games, I always say:"You must have forgotten what your middle and early high school was like. VIolence in movies doesn't make kids wanna kill their school, SCHOOL makes them wanna kill their school."

A big problem with many teachers is that they act like HIgh School is WAY more important than it actually is. Its only important if you are considering dropping out.

I think it is the aggregate stress which makes these kids go berserk. In high school:
-You are no longer a child but you don't have the rights of an adult.
-YOu are worried whether so and so likes you or not.
-You are told that your grades in highschool determine whether you go to college or not (this is NOT TRUE).
-You live with two middle aged people who in your mind are complete IDIOTS.

That is EVERY DAY stress that EVERY high school student deals with. Now add to that the fact that they get harrassed or picked on.....something has to give.

I knew alot of kids who isolated themselves from their classmates well into their senior year because they got picked on in Jr. High and couldn't get over it.

I think the bitterness begins in Jr. High.

I swear that if not for marijuana and *****, I would have either blown my head off or a ****ing teachers head off. I used to get bullied in elementary school because I was really shy and nerdy, so when I hit high school I went crazy. I was smoking a 50 bag of dro a day, was fighting all the time and just being a public nuisance. When my mom moved me to Sugarland, TX with my aunt to get me away from Jersey City, I was acting up even more. I started doing the same ghetto **** I was doing in Chill Town, only in a preppy white town in Texas. It was when I emotionally crashed and rode a guilt trip for a year or so that I stopped doing all this bull****. I then focused on wanting to kill myself instead of everyone else. I perplexed almost every girl I went outh with by doing all this crazy **** and then crying in her arm because I missed my brothers and sisters that lived with my step dad in Florida and felt I had disappointed God. I was ****ed up in high school.

I knew alot of kids who isolated themselves from their classmates well into their senior year because they got picked on in Jr. High and couldn't get over it.

I think the bitterness begins in Jr. High.

I think your right. If you are a "nerd" or whatever in middle school, it is going to be hard to break out of that role when you move into high school. Your self esteem is already shot by the time you get there and you already have the reputation of being a dork and that is hard to shake. I think this problem is the worst for boys because girls who may be ugly in middle school a lot of times turn hot in high school, then they get accepted into the popular crowd.

When you get bullied, the key is to fight back. Even if you get your ass kicked. Bullies don't look for fights, they look for someone HELPLESS to pound on. If you show that you are not helpless, they want no part of you.

i hated high school as well, and actualy never finished because of it. i dropped out in the tenth grade and as soon as i walked out of those doors for the last time i felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. i did'nt even care about not finishing i was just happy to not have to get up everyday and go be around a bunch of people i hated. i never got picked on cause i was always sad or pissed off, nobody ever really wanted to **** around with me, they could probably already see my hatred for them just by looking at me.

I think your right. If you are a "nerd" or whatever in middle school, it is going to be hard to break out of that role when you move into high school. Your self esteem is already shot by the time you get there and you already have the reputation of being a dork and that is hard to shake. I think this problem is the worst for boys because girls who may be ugly in middle school a lot of times turn hot in high school, then they get accepted into the popular crowd.

In middleschool I got picked on ALL the time. I mean, I thought about killing myself alot of times. But by the time I was a Junior in High School, it just didn't happen. The immaturity that caused kids to pick on others in Jr. High is gone. I ended up being good friends with those I felt were mortal enemies in middle school.

However, I know there were kids who had it WORSE than me. I know ALOT of those kids were driven INSANE by what happened to them. They are still that way 4 years after graduation. They still actually live what happened in Middle School.

When you get bullied, the key is to fight back. Even if you get your ass kicked. Bullies don't look for fights, they look for someone HELPLESS to pound on. If you show that you are not helpless, they want no part of you.

True. No matter if your going to get your ass kicked or not, just by hitting someone in the face once usually makes them leave you alone for good. People need to know how to defend themselves.

What do you think of this culture of pussiness that's being brewed in the public school system nowadays? Like no dodge ball, dont fight back if you get hit and all that ****. I think its dangerous. Im sure as hell going to teach my kids how to protect themselves from bullies.

I got over the bully problem by not being a target, but instead targeting people. I moved to Jersey City, got with the craziest crew of troubled teens, started trouble, jumped the people I couldn't take by myself, intimidated the ones who used to pick on me and got over my bullying problem. It's not who you are sometimes, it's who you know.

Isn't middle school sort of like the stereotypical prison? That you should beat the **** out of somebody the first day and nobody will **** with you?

If I have kids and I am sending mine to middleschool, I am going to tell him: "If somebody tries to push you around, don't take it. Break their nose. It doesn't matter how big they are, don't take it."

What do you think of this culture of pussiness that's being brewed in the public school system nowadays? Like no dodge ball, dont fight back if you get hit and all that ****. I think its dangerous. Im sure as hell going to teach my kids how to protect themselves from bullies.

I think that is a HUGE part of it. Thinking that you are going to stifle aggression in young people is not living with REALITY. Kids are going to fight and there is NOTHING you can do to change it. Every boy is going to be in at least ONE fight in middle school. The only difference you can make is whether he fights with his fists or with a gun.

It is because NO kid in Middle school learns to defend himself that the BIGGEST kids are the ones who are able to rule.

I think Boxing Clubs should be brought to middle schools. TEACH kids to use their fists so they don't feel they need a weapon.

Must say, when I started this topic I wasn't sure how it would be recieved. Glad to see that ya'll are interested.

you cant let a damn thing slide. the first time someone ****s around the slighest bit you need to make a statement, even if its as stupind as someone throwing a piece of paper. stand up, tell them to **** off and let them know from the begining your not one to be ****ed with. its just like prison. :D if you let someone take your food the first day in the pen then you have to give it to them everyday, you gotta stand up and fight them the first time or you'll never get to eat.

Has anyone been in health class? Ya know, the one where the teacher tells you that bullies want attention and that if you ignore them they will go away? That is almost CRIMINAL for a teacher to give a middle school student who IS being bullied this information.

i dont think it matters if you teach every kid in a school how to fight. some people are just not fighters, the nerds are usualy the most peaceful people in the world which is why they get ****ed with by the more mean personalities.

Isn't middle school sort of like the stereotypical prison? That you should beat the **** out of somebody the first day and nobody will **** with you?

If I have kids and I am sending mine to middleschool, I am going to tell him: "If somebody tries to push you around, don't take it. Break their nose. It doesn't matter how big they are, don't take it."

I remember the first day of 6th grade at my school. This big 8th grader was picking on this little 6th grader in the hall on the first morning. The little 6th grader beat the 8th graders ass in front of everyone that morning and no one would **** with him after that. It was pretty cool.

At my school thay had this weird thing that separated the kids for eachother. We had 2 lawns. One was the 8th grade lawn and the other was for everyone. You seriosly could not go on the 8th grade lawn. You would get in trouble by the school. If 8th graders caught you on the lawn they would kick your ass. What kind of **** is that? School sponsored segragation?

Its mad why Kids wanna kill each other for silly reasons.

In England with have major Knife problems, guns aint as easy to get in England because of the hand gun ban but Knife are just as nasty.

Kids bring meat clevers, swords, machetes and big hunting knifes in school and stab each other, its ****ed up! it not just stabbing in the stomach but in the heart, face and neck!

There was a TV show showing 14/15 year olds kid hacking at people with tools like this.

http://www.rudyfoto.com/machete.jpg

elveiel

At least they are not using guns.

Columbine could not have happened if the kids had machetes.

Has anyone been in health class? Ya know, the one where the teacher tells you that bullies want attention and that if you ignore them they will go away? That is almost CRIMINAL for a teacher to give a middle school student who IS being bullied this information.

alot of bullies do just want attention, but your right, ignoring them never makes them stop.

i dont think it matters if you teach every kid in a school how to fight. some people are just not fighters, the nerds are usualy the most peaceful people in the world which is why they get ****ed with by the more mean personalities.

I doubt even the biggest nerd would not want to know what to do if someone is ****ing with them.

The bullies don't want attention. They want to feel powerful. So they pick on the weakest kid. Bullies are almost ALWAYS physically abused by parents or a sibling. That happens at home, so they hope to feel powerful in school.

Great discussion ya'll. I gotta get to class.

ONe thing you might want to talk about is anti depressants parents put their kids on and how that causes kids to be suicidal.

Lates.

I encourage school violence because kids are getting picked on constantly, leading to the epidemic that is teen depression. If the bullies see what can happen to them if they don't stop ****ing with you, they will be hesitant to not **** with people. Believe me, I was on a watchlist at my high school for drugs and suicide, these problems won't go away.

hehehe it has been my experience that a lot of people in HS carried, had access, or at one point or another brought a gun to school. I guess the problem really happen when the guns all of a sudden end up in some un-healthy mind's hands.

High school children killed each other all the time, but it really seems like it became an issue when they did it for no reason at all at a school, and just against everybody.

hehehe it has been my experience that a lot of people in HS carried, had access, or at one point or another brought a gun to school. I guess the problem really happen when the guns all of a sudden end up in some un-healthy mind's hands.

High school children killed each other all the time, but it really seems like it became an issue when they did it for no reason at all at a school, and just against everybody.
I did some ****ed up **** in my day, but never carried a gun to school. Only people in my school who carried guns were the police officers and crack dealers.

I did some ****ed up **** in my day, but never carried a gun to school. Only people in my school who carried guns were the police officers and crack dealers.

Well lets just say my school was, special ;)

Well lets just say my school was, special ;)
I've been in 5 different special ed schools and if anything, the sped schools are safer than the regular high schools. I went to Snyder in Jersey City, where crack dealers used to pull kids out of class to get their money. Its some crazy ass **** in regular high school. Drug dealing is the most rampant in high schools.

I've been in 5 different special ed schools and if anything, the sped schools are safer than the regular high schools. I went to Snyder in Jersey City, where crack dealers used to pull kids out of class to get their money. Its some crazy ass **** in regular high school. Drug dealing is the most rampant in high schools.

Yeah mine was a Regular high school, I remember the fear in the eyes of the new kids on first day of school.

It was pretty funny i had gone to the Middle school accross the street which is from where most of the students go from to that high school. And i still remember telling one of my friends last year of elementary that i was going to that middle school.

His reply was, "dude why dont u go to Kennedy (which happened to be 3 miles further) dont u know they fight like everyday at that school ur going to, all the bad kids go to that school etc." Which i found out to be true but it was a kick ass experience, made lots of friends. And found out it was a lot like my elementary only in a way a little easier, you only had to fight 1 "name having kid" and you would be alright for the rest of the year and no one would mess with you.

When I went to High school most of the kids were the same and so the respect/reputation/fames almost just transfered over and only needed to be renewed like nearly at the end.

But yeah i imagine for someone who never went to a tough school my high school was probably a nightmare but to me it seemed pretty fun time of my life. I will say though it wasnt rare to hear the intercome come on to say that another kid had been killed.

But yeah i imagine for someone who never went to a tough school my high school was probably a nightmare but to me it seemed pretty fun time of my life. I will say though it wasnt rare to hear the intercome come on to say that another kid had been killed.
Kids died at my school all the time. Usually from drunk driving or suicide, you pour a little brew on the sidewalk for your homies, and move on. Life is like that. Once in a blue moon someone was murdered.

School violence needs to be guided (get em to use fists instead of guns) not stifled.

i was bullied in middle school and it sucked balls but i no what started it. when someone bigger than you starts to try and play some little like slapping game or something you get the feeling like its going to escalade and become more than just a game and thats when you have to stop it because you cant control another person especially one thats bigger than you. the best thing to do like you guys have been saying is to just stop it where it starts.

bullies are born at home, i think its the parents fault their children are going to scool bullying other kids

..kids will be kids.

Clearly this is going to be a problem in schools in the USA for a while, though the news won't cover it nearly as much now. I am thinking about this because last night I saw a film called "Elephant" by Gus Van Sandt which was about this very subject.

Do any of you have any thoughts on what the causes of this phenomenon are?

Any thoughts about how it can be prevented?

There's maybe one school shooting every couple years. The media loves to cover it, but it's way more dangerous to stand on a street corner in a rough neighborhood than attend school. School shootings are rare; they're really not a problem. We just associate schools as places where shooting shouldn't occur. You're a lot more likely to get killed in the workplace through a violent act.

There's maybe one school shooting every couple years. The media loves to cover it, but it's way more dangerous to stand on a street corner in a rough neighborhood than attend school. School shootings are rare; they're really not a problem. We just associate schools as places where shooting shouldn't occur. You're a lot more likely to get killed in the workplace through a violent act.

This is like saying that terrorism isnt a problem because your probably not going to be in the next plane that gets hijacked.

I agree with you that the media blows it out of proportion like it does everything else. School shootings are not that common, but the question is "why do they happen and how can they be prevented?" What is it that drives kids to resorting to shooting someone who maybe picked on them or made fun of them. It seems like school shootings are very preventable, so what can be done to prevent them? Its a complicated situation IMO.

This is like saying that terrorism isnt a problem because your probably not going to be in the next plane that gets hijacked.

I agree with you that the media blows it out of proportion like it does everything else. School shootings are not that common, but the question is "why do they happen and how can they be prevented?" What is it that drives kids to resorting to shooting someone who maybe picked on them or made fun of them. It seems like school shootings are very preventable, so what can be done to prevent them? Its a complicated situation IMO.

We've got bigger fish to fry. Prioritize...

I think its all about parenting and adult supervision. Without supervision, kids get in trouble, plain and simple. My bro and I stayed home alone since we were in elementary school and we got into all kinds of trouble that I know we wouldnt have gotten into if I had a parent around. Its not enough either to just be around, parents need to be involved with their kids and know what they're into.

that is so true

what a bunch of weaklings. no offense guys but seriously, i was picked on for the longest time. it started in the 1st grade. it lasted til i "went with" the new girl in the 6th grade. she was hot as ****. everyone wanted her. but hell i didn't need all those clowns. not before she came along and made me popular. hell, thats when all the trouble started. i was fine when i was picked on. i knew who i was. i was me and i loved me. thats the way i was raised. my parents, church and going to catholic school. i'm not saying that it works for everyone but i didn't care what everyone else thought about me when i was younger. it was once someone actually liked me that made things wierd. then i started kicking peoples asses for picking on me. i had o prove that i wasn't a wimp to my new found love. i was bigger than most kids my age. i was 5'9 and 150lbs in the 6th grade. i wrestled since 3rd grade. i was all muscle. but she didn't last forever and after she and i broke up i went with a seventh grader. feeling. by the time i was in the 7th grade me and my two friends were the most popular guys in the school including the 8th graders. i never picked on anyone. ever. i never forgot. then high school hit. oh my lord have mercy. it all started over again. i was right back where i started. i went to a whole different school than all my old classmates. i was poor. in a rich kids catholic school. **** sucked. but i never once felt like killing anyone or myself. i won state 9th, 10th, and 11th grade in wrestling, i was proud of myself. my family was proud of me. gimmea break guys. its weakness that causes that ****. and its the parents fault.