High school teen who defended a blind classmate who was being beaten by a bully is SUSPENDED

[Nuclear Unicorn]

High school teen who defended a blind classmate who was being beaten by a bully is SUSPENDED and kicked off football team

A California teenager who rushed to help a blind classmate being beaten up by a bully has been kicked off the football team.

The high school junior was hailed as a hero for intervening after he saw the 'visually impaired' student being repeatedly hit round the head during lunch break at Huntington Beach High School, California on Wednesday.

Footage, filmed by a bystander, shows the teen knocking the bully to the ground with a single punch to stop the attack.

He leaves the boy lying bleeding on the ground while he checks on the visually impaired victim, before turning back to the attacker and asking him: 'You trying to jump a f***ing blind kid, bro? What the f*** is your problem?'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3248409/Teen-comes-defense-blind-classmate-beaten-school-bully-suspended.html

If we want justice we cannot punish people for doing the right thing -- and, yes, physically defending a victim of violence is the right thing (at least, it isn't wrong).




EDITED TO INCLUDE --

don't know how well these things work but this was posted at the end of the article:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/358/010/475/get-cody-pine-back-on-the-football-team-after-defending-a-blind-classmate-against-a-bully/

Petition to reinstate Cody.

Thank-you DU'er OriginalGreek

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Our Grandson had a similiar issue.

He defended a classmate who was being Bullied because of her weight. And was suspended for three days. And this happened in the Denver Schools.

[Recursion]

2. "Zero tolerance" BS

If the teachers aren't going to physically protect the children, they have no business punishing kids who fight back. But it's how it always is...

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Exactly What I Was Thinking!

He threw a punch and the circumstances don't matter in a zero tolerance environment. That way the administrators don't have to think.

[Initech]

78. Zero tolerance policies should be unconstitutional.

;"Zero tolerance BS" is precisely the way to describe it. :grr

[Eleanors38]

92. Zero Tolerance. Brought to you by the WOD.

[Are_grits_groceries]

3. I think this would fall under 'crime of passion'

if it was ever in court. I'd be way pissed too.

[sharp_stick]

4. Zero Tolerance Idiocy

Parents clamored for it a decade or more ago as kids seemed to be skirting the rules and not being punished.

The school may of had no option but to suspend him and kick him off the football team.

Now we're starting to see the unintended consequences of it. Much like mandatory minimum sentencing and three strikes laws this no gray area approach to life is causing a lot more problems than it solves.

[Pacifist Patriot]

40. ZT is more like 30-40 years old and we've been seeing the consequences for 15-20

I remember it creeping in to the vocabulary when I was in high school in the mid to late 1980s. It has done nothing but create a generation of people who have absolutely no judgment or rational decision making skills on a case by case basis, and it's snowballing by the example being given to yet another generation. Where's my soap box? LOL!

Idiocy is right!!!

[marym625]

5. it's legal and morally right

Was kind of a sucker punch but had he done anything else, the blind kid would have been hurt more than he already had

[closeupready]

6. His parents have just hit the lottery. Lawsuit city.

And Huntington Beach school district likely has beaucoup bucks.

[jeff47]

15. No, they really haven't.

There's no grounds to sue.

The school is just following their zero-tolerance policy. Plus the kid has no legal right to be on the football team.

Zero-tolerance policies are utterly fucking moronic and need to be changed. But following them is not violating the kid's rights.

[KittyWampus]

22. zero-tolerance means school is liable for the blind kid getting beaten.

[jeff47]

23. Only if they don't enforce the policy on the bully.

And from the article, it appears they not only enforced the policy on the bully, he's also been charged with a crime.

[yuiyoshida]

53. I wonder if the bully learned his lesson

or will he back for more, Republicans in the making...

[jeff47]

61. I expect he'll be like most bullies, and blame the victim for the bully's actions. (nt)

[sarisataka]

27. Unfortunately you are right

Zero tolerance is about covering the school's backside. By treating victims and aggressors the same, there is no question of favoritism.

The fact that such policy actually encourages bullying is irrelevant. Bullies only get punished if they get caught. If the victim fights back they get punished by the school. If they report it, the bully says the victim took a swing, thus the victim gets punished as well.

A suit would be a waste of time. Most likely the bully will continue to target his victim with smaller petty abuses, knowing that anyone who stands up to him will face equal, if not greater, punishment.

[closeupready]

31. Oh yes they do - they'll find something to sue on, and win.

This is California we're looking at.

[jeff47]

41. :eyes:

Yeah..."my feelings were hurt!" is totally going to work in a courtroom.

[closeupready]

47. Okay. You aren't here to have a discussion. Got it.

[jeff47]

63. Because claiming any "my feelings got hurt" lawsuit wins in CA

means you want to have a discussion.

Yeah, bullshit.

[Glassunion]

74. California law does not require physical symptoms to be present in either an

intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress suit.

Also, an emotional distress case can be simply reduced to the icky feelings that you suffer from being humiliated.

So, technically in California (and many other states) you can sue for having hurt feelings. You just need a lawyer that can prove damages.

[lpbk2713]

7. Enablers.

Some times school officials act like robots, void of any capacity of good judgment.

[jeff47]

17. No, we force them to be robots.

Lots of "OMG CRIME IS EVERYWHERE PROTECT MY BABY!!!!" parents pushed through zero-tolerance policies. Zero-tolerance means zero judgement calls. School officials have no choice but to act like robots.

[yeoman6987]

97. +1,000,000

[OriginalGeek]

8. don't know how well these things work but

this was posted at the end of the article: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/358/010/475/get-cody-pine-back-on-the-football-team-after-defending-a-blind-classmate-against-a-bully/

Petition to reinstate Cody.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

10. I updated my OP to include your post.

[OriginalGeek]

16. Happy to help

Kids who do good should be encouraged. This kid done good. It's a shame the adults around him are letting him down.

[romanic]

9. Zero tolerance idiocy strikes once again

for the 493th time this school year. The kid is a hero for punching that punk in the face. The school should be ashamed for treating the ableist bully like a victim.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

12. "treating the ableist bully like a victim"

In fairness, the bully was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault while Cody was not arrested.

[niyad]

43. and the bully was promptly released to his parents. I don't see anywhere where it said that

the bully was suspended.

[backscatter712]

58. Ten bucks says this bully grows up to be a police officer... n/t

[niyad]

62. quite likely

[Nuclear Unicorn]

100. No suspension mentioned could just be the reporting.

I think arresting the bully was a good thing. Suspension seems very appropriate. As for the bully being released to his parents, I'm okay with that and would expect as much. As heinous as his offense is I don't want him locked up with real, dangerous criminals. He needs to have what my dad calls, "the requisite fear of God." The parents should dispense that with the state picking up the slack as well as something that helps him build empathy with his victim.

Cody should be reinstated to the football team. A case could be made for sustaining the suspension but allow make up assignments he could turn in to maintain his grades. Maybe during the suspension him and the bully could perform some team building activity.

[niyad]

115. you make excellent points.

[lumberjack_jeff]

13. I don't think the school is right.

But sometimes you gotta do the right thing despite the negative consequences.

[LiberalArkie]

14. I did not read anywhere that the attacker was suspended. He was arrested and then released.

[malthaussen]

18. Well, in third grade I got into a fight with another kid who was bullying the class "retard"

(which is what he was called). I had a nice meaningful visit with the Board of Education soon after (they still had corporal punishment then), but I wasn't suspended.

The simple truth is that our society encourages bullies, whatever individuals may think.

-- Mal

[Glassunion]

19. Won't anyone think of the children!!!?!?!!1!!!

Zero Tolerance = Laziest fucking option.

It's basically the school board saying "We are not going to do anything. Because our hands are tied by our own policies."

[4Q2u2]

20. Had a similar situation

My son stuck up for a smaller classmate that was getting pushed around. I was called to the school and sat down with Principle and Guidance counselor. He had to be suspended for 3 days and they wanted to know what I was going to do. I told them I was going to take him out for Ice Cream, and then we were going fishing. They did not like my answer, I did not care, because I do not like Bullies and have taught my children to stand up for themselves and others.

[ProfessorGAC]

24. They Don't Get To Have An Opinion On Your Answer

If your option was to beat your son, then they would have an obligation to prevent it. But, they can't stop you from taking your kid for ice cream and fishing. So, they might not have liked it, but that means nothing. I think you did a good thing.

[4Q2u2]

25. Can never go wrong Fishing your Child

I think they were more on the lines of looking for me to ground him and make him think about what he had done.
Strange that doing the right thing would be looked at sideways. Welcome to our bright future.

[ProfessorGAC]

35. I Get Ya!

I figured that's what you would say they expected. Then they were wrong. Good.

BTW: My wife was a teacher for 3 decades. She did not like these sort of policies at all. She always believed circumstances mattered. I say she's right.

[4Q2u2]

85. Now Now

We cannot tolerate sound independent thought. Specially from a smart and strong Woman. Next you will be telling me that everyone has the right to be married.
Such thought is TREASON I tell you.

[ProfessorGAC]

99. Sorry

Won't happen again. I'll tell my wife you said this and then you'll have some explaining to do!

[Pacifist Patriot]

46. I had a similar situation with a better outcome.

His freshman year, my 6'2" hulk of a son shoved a kid who was bullying an autistic student up against the wall. Issued some sort of threat warning the kid he'd be answering to him if he tried anything like that again. Teacher saw it and was about to send him to the Dean for discipline when another student told her what had happened to start the altercation.

She sent the bully for suspension, sternly told my son that his actions were against school policy, and gave him 10 extra credit points on the quiz they had that day.

[4Q2u2]

83. Both boys were suspended

My son and the other boy were suspended. With zero tolerance both have to be treated as their acts are equal. So sad that people are missing the point of inclusion by so much that we now are at all things are relative when we know they are not.

[KittyWampus]

21. The Administrators should be held accountable for allowing blind kid to get beaten.

Why did no teacher intervene in any way?

The kid who got beaten needs to have his parents sue the school for not protecting his safety.

[HereSince1628]

39. EVERY adult, teacher, janitor, secretary who saw it yet didn't intervene is culpable

But as often happens, the person that -reacts- gets noticed because it happens after people turn their attention because something is up, and -every- adult in the vicinity sees that usually does react.

[cloudbase]

104. And that is why

the people of that community should pack the next school board meeting and let the board members know that one size fits all policies are bullshit.

[HereSince1628]

105. One size fits all also eliminates the need to make judgements

It's application is so easy it's completely free of confounders.

[mnhtnbb]

26. My youngest son is visually impaired--legally blind--the one who is now a grad student

at Yale School of Drama. He sees with his peripheral vision.

His friends in school--grammar, middle, and especially high school--were wonderful towards him.
Very protective and inclusive. I imagine it helped that he was a really funny and smart kid,
but I'm sure there were some cruel kids--because there always are--along the way in school.

But I can tell you, his friends had his back. And the school district supported him when all his
friends were going to one high school and he was supposed to go to another because of where
we lived. He applied for a transfer and the school district granted it.

This wasn't so long ago--2004--in Chapel Hill.

[elehhhhna]

114. THEATRE KID HERE, now mother of THEATRE major.

Love and acceptance abounds in the theatre department. 99.9% liberal- kids and professors. That explains it, imo.

Don't let your schools defund arts education, folks.

[SoapBox]

28. Outrageous.

Some jobs should be lost over this stupidity...

[damnedifIknow]

29. Wow

This kid sees a BLIND kid getting beat up and rushes in to save the day and now he's in trouble for doing so? I just give the hell up.

[magical thyme]

30. No good deed goes unpunished.

[Pacifist Patriot]

48. I'm having that engraved on my urn.

[clarice]

32. That kid can play on my team ANY DAY !!!! nt

[Rex]

33. So did the bully get suspended for beating on a blind kid?

Some school districts suck. Fact.

[cwydro]

34. I'm torn here.

On the one hand, there is a part of me who just said YES! when the bully was punched.

But on the other hand, the guy could have just pulled him off the other kid and shoved him to the side. And still told him what he would do if he caught him bullying again.

Still, kicked off the team seems wrong.

[dbackjon]

44. I bet this is not the first time this has happened

[cwydro]

55. I agree.

I'm sad to say that the punch was probably the best response to that bully

[dbackjon]

56. Agreed - but with some people talking does nothing

He probably has gotten away with it for so long he felt the worst that would ever happen is someone yelling at him.


From the looks of the video, I can't imagine this is the first time he ever bullied anyone.

[cwydro]

66. I was bullied as a child.

I'm sure it wasn't the first time.

I'm a grown woman now who can stand up for herself, but I still hate bullying.

What's so sad is you wonder why? I mean why does this idiot feel good picking on a blind kid? Or anyone weaker (as he supposes) than him? Why?

It just makes me sad all over.

[dbackjon]

69. Possible he has been bullied himself

Crap runs downhill, so he may be picking on someone he thought he could get away with it.


Bullies always pick on people they think are weaker than themselves.

[cwydro]

71. That's my thought also.

When you see him on the ground at the end of the video, it looks like he's been in that position before.

Very sad.

[glowing]

45. Shoving him to the side would be a form of violence; glad the bully got to feel the pain he was

causing if the same result would happen to the "rescuer" no matter if it was a push or a punch... These days just pretending to do cops and robbers on the play ground and using a fake hand gun will result in expulsion... I suppose its a dumb game to emulate, but I played it and I still see the neighborhood kids playing it now, except they are using nerf guns instead.

[uppityperson]

90. Indeed, that is my take also.

[cwydro]

91. It all makes me so sad.

Truly.

I feel our world is just sinking fast.

[MannyGoldstein]

36. Unfair zero-tolerance crap. Back when I was a kid...

I ruined the days of a few school bullies, although never so spectacularly. On at least two occasions, I was congratulated by school staff, once by my junior high school's dean! "Good job, son", I still remember it. Occasional detentions, never suspended.

On the other hand, there seems to be so much less fighting in schools (and bars) these days, which is good!

[riderinthestorm]

37. Hmm, will he get a White House invite? Microsoft swag?

Rhetorical questions....

But here we have another instance of school admins being quick to suspend students. I recognize the variables in Ahmed's case v this one, but the larger issue remains that too many kids are getting arrested and suspended for extremely trivial, if not outright wrong, reasons. And this has major repercussions for their lives.

[TNNurse]

38. Zero tolerance

is essentially saying that the people who have been hired to run the school cannot be trusted to discern right from wrong.

How very sad.

[Demeter]

54. Unfortunately, given the quality of the people they hire, it's not a bad assessment

The days of sanity are over, for the duration. The rules are crazy, the people are crazy, and I don't know how to fix it, and most of the1% don't want to, anyway.

If you don't have the money and the power, you are nothing...not even a citizen, since you have no Freedom of $peech.

[niyad]

42. I don't see where the bully who was beating up on the visually disabled kid was suspended.

only that he had been arrested and then released to his parents. does anybody know if HE got suspended?

[Rex]

49. IF not, then the school is showing favoritism under a zero tolerance rule.

I can't find any information on the bully.

[Dont call me Shirley]

50. Many School Districts while having anti-bullying policies, do not enforce them and often punish

the bullied. The bullies are in charge.

[backscatter712]

51. Zero tolerance garbage.

I can't believe that school districts still think it's a good idea to use such garbage policy.

[backscatter712]

52. Some shitheads just need a savage beating. Nothing else gets through to them.

Kudos to that kid for standing up to that bully.

[dbackjon]

57. [phone]

[radicalliberal]

64. I agree. Absolutely! n/t

[Initech]

79. +100000000000000000000000

I've been bullied and spoken out about it on this board, glad for kids like Cody and it sucks that zero tolerance bullshit ruins it for everyone.

[LostOne4Ever]

59. More zero tolerance lunacy

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]Hopefully the petition get the kid reinstated.[/font]

[radicalliberal]

60. If I were the principal of that school, I would have given Cody a medal.

If he were my son, I would be extremely proud of him. Even to the point of tears.

This is absolutely outrageous! Cody should be reinstated immediately.

Zero tolerance policies discourage "bystander" students from defending victims of bullying.

I have a friend who played football in high school in the early 1960s. On the first day of his freshman year, he saw a school thug bullying another student. Instead of doing nothing, he intervened and almost suffered a severe injury as he struggled with the bully. He would have been in deep trouble if other students hadn't told the school officials what they had seen. They happened to be reasonable; so, my friend wasn't punished for doing a very good deed.

That was years before zero tolerance policies. This is nothing but bully enabling. Of course, even today many people (especially conservatives, it seems) defend bullying in the schools.

[Orrex]

65. That'll teach him not to intervene on behalf of a blind kid being bullied.

Well done, school!

[hfojvt]

67. defense is NOT the same as counter-attack

What he did was blind-side an apparently much smaller kid.

Which is kind of ironic.

Apparently it is bad to attack a blind kid, because they cannot see to defend themselves.

It is okay to hit a sighted kid when he isn't looking because, uhm, er, ah

he had it coming?

Presumably HE also thought the blind kid had it coming.

[Rex]

76. What nonsense, so YOU would let a blind kid get beat up to stay out of trouble.

Good to know that about your character.

[hfojvt]

101. actually I have broken up a fight

simply by stepping between the two antagonists, they moved and I stayed in between them.

Seen a very large guy do that too. He shoved them apart and said "take it outside".

It's like in hockey. Defenders defend the goal. Once they cross the center line, they have switched to offense, and sometimes they get called outside. I'm not all that clear on the rules of hockey.

[Red Mountain]

111. Not as much of a game as hockey. Events like these are important in people's lives.

As some of the personal testimonial in this thread shows.

We all hope the bully doesn't do it again.

What is the best lesson?

Getting knocked down or having someone intervene?

My guess is that intervention teaches the bully little. Maybe he'll pick his victims and their circumstances more carefully. Makes him think a way around any defender.

Getting knocked down scares him. Makes him think twice about doing it at all.

In my experience if you want to stop a bully you confront them directly and in the body language they understand.

[Disinterested Party]

82. Hmmm....

So, how's that cut on your ear healing up?

[Glassunion]

88. Your logic does not follow...

First of all, a counter-attack is defined (Oxford Dictionary) as an attack made in response. A defense (again Oxford) is defined as the action of defending from or resisting attack.

A counter attack as defined is something that is done after the fact, and a defense is something that is done during the fact. In the video, you can clearly see the kid getting laid out as he was winding up for another punch. He was in the process of actively attacking the visually impaired kid, when that blow was landed by the third kid, thus stopping the attack. This is a textbook example of a successful defense.

As far as the disparities... The kid who laid out the attacker, was meeting force with the exact same force. There was no escalation of force used in the defense. Meaning, he defended the kid, using the exact same force (punching), that was was being used on the visually impaired kid. Ironically the attacker was blind sided by a punch, while he was literally blind siding his victim.

P.S. Go Jets... I'm going to the game this weekend against the Eagles.

[hfojvt]

103. if you take a swing at me

there are many ways to "defend".

I can block, I can duck, I can otherwise move out of the way.

If I, instead, swing back, then I have switched from defense to counter-attack. You could say I am counter-attacking IN defense, but clearly I have gone beyond defense.

Pretty clearly the force was not the same. The punches thrown by the first guy were not having very much effect. The blind guy was able to partially deflect them and also keep his opponent at a distance with his arms.

The second attacker scored at least a TKO.

Again, the logic of violence is. The person attacking feels justified in attacking somebody.

Person A felt justified in punching a blind guy.
Person B felt justified in blind-siding person A.

There appears to have been a fairly large strength disparity between Person B and Person A, considering he laid him out with one punch. Person B was no more able to defend themselves than the blind kid was. Apparently even less so.

Is it okay then, for large people to beat up on small people under SOME circumstances? Even to knock them out?

A strike to the arm would have stopped the action, and so would a punch to the gut or a shove.

No, he went way over the top, and I agree with the suspension. He acted no to defend the blind kid, but primarily to punish the other kid who was attacking him.

[HughBeaumont]

68. And we wonder why this happens later in life:

People know all too well that no good deed goes unpunished.

On June 16, 2008, on a country road outside Turlock, California, friends, family and strangers, including a volunteer fire chief, stood by as Sergio Aguiar methodically stomped his two-year-old son Axel Casian to death,[33] explaining in a calm voice that he "had to get the demons out" of the boy. He stopped at one point to turn on the hazard lights on his truck. No one moved to take the child or attack Aguiar. Witnesses said they were all afraid to intervene because Aguiar "might have something in his pocket", although some people looked for rocks or boards hoping to find something to subdue him. The fire chief's fiancee called 911.[34] Police officer Jerry Ramar arrived by helicopter and told Aguiar to stop. Aguiar gave Ramar the finger and Ramar shot him in the head.[35] Police officers and psychologists later explained that the inaction of the crowd was justified in that "ordinary people aren't going to tackle a psychotic," that they were not "psychologically prepared" to intervene, and that being frozen in indecision and fear is a normal reaction.[34]

snip

In October 2011, a 2-year-old girl, Wang Yue, was hit by a small, white van in the city of Foshan, China, then run over by a large truck when she was not moved by bystanders. A total of 18 people ignored her, some going so far as to walk around the blood. The girl was left for seven minutes before a recycler, Chen Xianmei, picked up the toddler and called for help. The child died eight days later

[Prism]

70. I hope there's a gofundme

Doing the right thing and protecting those who cannot protect themselves should be rewarded.

[LittleBlue]

72. If a student had to step in to stop a public assault on a disabled child

It means, to me, that the school district is unable to protect its most vulnerable children.

The voters of that school district ought to rethink their leadership.

[bluestateguy]

73. Self-defense HAS to be part of any any-bullying strategy

Kids can't be suspended by brain-dead school administrators for defending themselves or a classmate from a bully.

I had a middle school friend who was suspended for physically defending himself from a bully (his father took the day off and took him to the pizza parlor and the arcade to play video games during his suspension day).

Anyway, it's all fine and good to demand that bullies be disciplined by the school. I'm for that. I'm also for holding accountable and demand that administrators put bullying to a stop and take proactive measures. I'm for that too.

But when a kid is being physically assaulted by a bully, he has the right as a human being, to defend himself with his fists.

Sometimes a bloody nose is the best lesson a bully can get.

[abelenkpe]

75. Wouldn't zero tolerance rules just lead to people standing by not intervening when a crime occurs?

Is that really a good thing?

[Rex]

77. Yes, it is a dumb as shit policy but the authoritarian/control freaks love it.

Horrible idea that punishes the victims of violence.

[Lancero]

80. Zero tolerance for people who dare to stand up for the disabled.

Really shows how caring of a country we are.

[hollysmom]

81. Is there another source?

Some one in the comments section is questioning the facts. I.e. if the kid was thrown off the team or had quit before.

[taught_me_patience]

84. A nice vacation for him

He'll probably come back rested, tanned, and relaxed.

[Glassunion]

95. Yeah... And kicked off the football team, and a suspension in his acedemic record.

[lunatica]

86. that happened to my son in grade school

When I had to go get him he got in the car and declared, "I don't care that they suspended me. I'm glad I did it!"

The bully was pushing another kid around while they were in line and my son just pulled him off the kid and slammed him up against the wall. Evidently all the other kids cheered!

I was proud of him that day and I told him so.

[get the red out]

87. Of course he was

How could it be otherwise?

[uppityperson]

89. The big question is could he, and others, intervened without hitting the bully?

The problem was not "defending" but how it was done. Was there another way to defend the kid from the bully? I am sure Cody will get back into school, and I hope the school uses this as a "don't bully" and "how to intervene" lesson as well as a wake up call to LISTEN to kids about them being bullied.

[Glassunion]

94. Personally I feel the response was appropriate.

We are sitting here, in front of our keyboards, watching a video, and having ample time to speculate on all of the possible courses of action that could possibly have taken place with the comfort of hindsight.

That video was very short, and very confusing. But after reading other comments, and watching the video several times, it makes it difficult to put yourself in those shoes, because you have had the time to analyze the situation from an outside perspective.

The kid reacted immediately to his visually impaired friend being attacked. From the moment he witnessed the attack to the moment he stopped it was probably less than 3 seconds. When someone is being actively attacked, and you have decided to intervene, there is not much time to weigh and balance all of the possible reactions.

I would not fault this kid if he pulled him off and tossed him to the ground, punched him in the head, or roundhouse kicked him in the groin. Most likely, he saw his friend being attacked, and his only, all encompassing thought was simply "Do something". There is not room for much else once you are in that state of mind.

[Eleanors38]

96. Good question. I doubt anyone at that (or most) schools are versed in how...

To stop attacks in a non-violent manner. It is a touchy business since a situation can escalate: bullies look for signs of weakness, and someone following a non-violent procedure may be the next target. But the question is worth pursuing.

[Eleanors38]

93. Nice hit -- down like a sack of oranges.

[oneshooter]

98. Zero tolerance started in 1995 by the Feds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_tolerance_%28schools%29

[knightmaar]

102. Nothing has ever changed

It has always been like this, and I'm speaking as a someone who did elementary school in the 80s.

1. Bully beats up little kid -> "Well, boys will be boys. We don't want to do anything drastic."
2. Bully beats up little kids again -> ditto.
3-100. Same thing

101. Little kid fights back -> "Oh, my god! A FIGHT, in our school! Suspend him!"

Nothing has changed. The people who run systems are jerks and they design the systems to benefit others like themselves.

Do you know how rare it is to get a non-psychopath in a position to make the rules?

[libodem]

106. He is a stand up kid

Good for him! He is the kind of person who would not be one of the bad apples at Abugrab.

[d_legendary1]

107. I'm surprised they didn't suspend the blind kid as well

Zero tolerance policies punish both attacker and victim since administrators can't tell who started fight (and frankly don't care about such details).

[dembotoz]

108. years ago my then 5th grader took on the school bully defending a smaller classmate

lunch hour, playground...took a couple teachers to break it up.

anyway i heard about it a day or so later at hockey practice when several other parents came up to me and told me
how proud they were of what my kid did. his team mates told their parents.... I had heard nothing of it. My son was convinced he would be grounded for life if we found out he was fighting at school....i still think he can not believe he did not get grounded.

still proud of him

on the downside he took to defending teammates on the rink and spent a fair amount of time in the penalty box

[Glassunion]

109. Time spent in the penalty box is not all bad.

Badge of honor in some circles.

[mrdmk]

110. The matter of the student being suspended at Huntington Beach High School has changed

UPDATE NO. 4, SEPT. 25, 2:21 P.M.: Cody Pines was not suspended from school after stopping a 16-year-old boy from beating a visually impaired classmate, according to Alyssa Griffiths, Huntington Beach Union High School District's public information coordinator.

Her statement:

In the Education Code it is a school district's responsibility to protect student records, as well as to be of personal support to their families. We want to thank the family of the student who came to the aid of his fellow classmate, as they have granted us permission to share the following information:

Their student has not been suspended over past two school days. He has been eligible to attend school with all privileges both Thursday and Friday of this week, and this eligibility will continue.

link: http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2015/09/huntington_beach_high_school_blind_bully.php


Thank goodness!

[PersonNumber503602]

112. Is there anyone who actually supports zero-tolerance?

Nearly everyone says they dislike it. It seems like everyone on here have a negative opinion of it. When school administrators and teachers are asked, many seem to say they don't like it but only do it because parents actions demand it. Most parents I know seem to hate it. So why is it still a thing?

[davidn3600]

113. I support public schools, but many are run by fucking idiots with no common sense

It's the truth.

And this is why bullies today have a free reign of terror.