Is there a "Billy" in your community?
By speakeasy
@speakeasy (4171)
United States
March 24, 2008 6:29pm CST
Billy is a young boy - age 15, who has been repeatedly beaten and battered for several years now. Not by parents, guardians or any relative; but, by other children; both at school, on the bus, and in the community.
He is the repeated victim of bullies; suffering repeated beatings; some of which were severe enough to render him unconscious.
Some of these incidents have even been recorded by school officials and by the bullies who were beating him.
here is a link to his story - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/us/24land.html?th&emc=th
How can a student learn when they live in fear?
How long before a beating goes too far and Billy is killed?
Why haven't authorities taken action on this?
Why do his parents keep him in a school system which allows this to go on and on and on?
How long before Billy "snaps" and takes a gun to school?
If Billy were to move away; would these bullies simply pick another "target"?
How many of us have a "Billy" in our community and aren't even aware of it? With as many schools as there are around the globe; I cannot believe that Billy is the only child in this type of a situation. We would all like to believe that it "couldn't happen in our town/city"; but, the facts are that it could already be happening. Maybe if more people were aware of this and became involved in the community; this type of situation could be "nipped in the bud" before anyone else has to suffer like Billy.
1 person likes this
1 response
@lilaclady (28207)
• Australia
24 Mar 08
This is so sad, I can't remember any of this going on when i was at school, but i do remember how much I hated school so i could imagine how much they must hate school when they have the added displeasure of having to live in fear, why is this sort of thing happening now, there must be something that can be done, i feel so much for any kid who has to go through life in fear....
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
25 Mar 08
I grew up in a small town and our K-12 school had fewer than 400 students. There were "bullies" but it rarely got physical. It was usually teasing and name calling.
My son went to larger schools and we did have one instance where a single student singled him out and was contantly teasing him; hiding his things at school, and getting "in his face". We reported this to the school and they threatened the father of the other boy with a legal restraining order if his son did not stop harassing him. That was all that it took; because with a restraining order against his son; he would have been inconvenienced and had to arrange for a different school and the additional expense and transportation arrangements, etc. to comply with the order. But, we never heard of any other child being physically beaten.
However, I can see how it could happen if steps are not taken promptly to stop bullying when it first starts.
If children are allowed to continue bullying behavior; htey are likely to take it to further extremes; because they have not been shown that it will not be tolerated. By ignoring it, this school has been condoning the behavior.
Ignoring it is the "easy way out" for school officials; but it is not easy for any child that has to put up with this type of treatment on a daily basis. Seeing other children get away with being bullies; encourages younger children to imitate that same type of behavior and the cycle continues.
