Bullied Australian teen gets income for life

[TechBear_Seattle]

Bullied Australian teen gets income for life

SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian teenager was awarded record damages including a lifetime income Monday after a court found that his life had been ruined by bullying at primary school.

Benjamin Cox, now 18, was aged six when he was regularly bullied by an older, disturbed pupil at Woodberry Public School north of Sydney, the New South Wales state Supreme Court heard.

Judge Carolyn Simpson said the state had "grossly failed" in its duty of care to Cox, who now suffers from a severe psychiatric condition.

The boy's mother Angela Cox told the court her son became "absolutely petrified" of going to school, particularly after his tormentor tried to strangle him in February 1995.

When she complained about the school's inaction, she said a Department of Education officer told her that "bullying builds character".

The article continues at http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070514/ts_afp/australiaschool_070514130717

[shenmue]

1. That Dep. of Ed. official needs to be fired

I can't believe he would say something like that. Disgusting. :grr:

[SheilaT]

2. The sad thing,

maybe criminal thing is that over and over again school officials refuse to acknowledge bullying, saying such things as: boys will be boys. I know, girls also bully, but the kind they're more likely to do isn't physical, which is what this piece is about.

One way to think about bullying, whatever form it takes, is to ask if that behavior would be acceptable in the workplace. Usually the answer is no.

We once put a stop to our son being bullied (relatively mild) by my husband going over to the kid's house and discussing with him and the parents what had happened. He assured the parents that he knew they would not want their kid to pick on our kid, and that they of course had raised their kid better than that. They were suitably horrified to learn of the incident in question, and as he was leaving, my husband turned to the kid and, smiling, told him he didn't want to hear that our son suffered repercussions from this conversation. It worked.

Nip it in the bud, I say.

[bluestateguy]

3. We need tough anti-bullying laws

And bullying needs to be made a criminal offense.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Isn't that a form of bullying?

Criminalizing playground bullying, that is?

[Tyler Durden]

7. Don't see how standing up for the weak could be considered bullying.

Wish they'd had it on MY playground. I might have a few less scars (physical AND emotional).

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. Involving law enforcement...

for a primary age school kid pushing another kid at recess is an excessive use of force, i.e. bullying.

[Tyler Durden]

16. PUSHING, yes, that's excessive.

Two children Pinioning a child while others abuse that child...NOPE. Not excessive in the least. All laws have a matter of degree.

[Iris]

9. you've got to be kidding.

Perhaps you could see it as helping the bullies b/c in most cases they have issues of their own that are being ignored by parents and other adults.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. Not at all.

This zero tolerance shit is just adults bullying children.

[Iris]

12. That's ridiculous. When I was a kid and we bullied or were bullied, adults intevened.

Since all adults seem to be cowards these days, perhaps policies are the only way to help kids through this stage of life.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. Adult intervention is perfectly fine.

Zero tolerance is cowardly.

[Iris]

14. But my point is, adults aren't intervening.

They're all buying into the bullshit that this sort of anti-social behavior builds character.

So, when adults shirk their duty, then perhaps the answer is law enforcement.

[Ikonoklast]

23. Cowardly? Not hardly.

My second oldest son was bullied when riding the bus in grade school by the boy next door that was four years older than him. My son was punched, kicked, spit on, had his school books thrown out the bus window (which I had to pay for), had his clothing torn, hats and gloves stolen, lunch stolen and eaten, or just spit on his food. All this in the first two months of his second-grade school year.

I complained to the parents of the child about his behavior, who called me a liar, the head of bus transportation, the school principals involved, the school district, the board of education, and the superintendent of schools. They all more or less just passed the buck, pooh-poohed it, and just hoped that it would go away by itself. I resorted to sending registered mail on the matter, just to get it on record.

My child was being sent to a private parochial school. All the taxes I paid to the local school district, all my kids got was a bus ride.

My son's school and teachers tried everything that they could to help make it stop, but the public school administrators couldn't see any problem.

They said I was being 'over-protective', or 'exaggerating the circumstances'. Me, a single father raising three little kids. Of course I was going to protect them. That's what a parent does.

It didn't go away. My son was terrified to ride the bus to school. He would get so upset that he would vomit every morning just thinking about what would happen to him that day. His pediatrician advised me to seek mental health counseling for him.

I finally lost it. Big time.

That school board meeting was a hoot. I almost got arrested. A lot of people were angry that the school district stood by and did nothing.

Needless to say, after all the lawsuits were settled, and the punk kid was not only thrown off the bus, but was restrained from being within 100 yds. of my son, the parents of the child had their homeowners insurance filed upon for medical claims for my son( don't ask me how that worked, but my attorney is a good one, and he works pro bono, he's my brother), the school district and administration admonished by the court for being completely lax in the matter and not having a written policy concerning bullying, then things changed.

But only after they got creamed in a court of law.

They could have handled it the easy way. They could have nipped the problems in the bud, with a sit-down with the other parents and myself. They could have saved the local school district an enormous amount of embarrassment and money, but they just decided that if they ignored the problem, it would either resolve itself magically, or just go away on its' own.

They pissed on the wrong kid.

Zero tolerance would have stopped all this on the VERY FIRST DAY IT HAPPENED.

[Tyler Durden]

17. This "Zero Tolerance Shit" would have saved me much abuse.

Sure in this day and age there is less tolerance for "boys will be boys" than in the 60's, but it's still not enough.

If you punch someone on the street, it's called "ASSAULT AND BATTERY." While I don't believe in the cops being involved unless something truly horrific happens (sort of like what happened to ME) I completely believe in SUSPENSION and an ankle locator for house arrest at the parents expense would be good.

[mudesi]

20. I wouldn't go that far

A child bully is usually the product of a bad home environment, whether it be verbal abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or simple neglect.

Teachers need to be given more powers to punish and report bullies, but putting only the bullies through the justice system is surely not the answer. In many cases, the parents of the bullies need to be put through mandatory parenting classes and possibly marriage counseling and/or psychiatric help.

Also, poverty plays a factor. A bully usually has neglectful parents because his/her parents are working multiple jobs and have no time to raise their children.

All in all, it always comes down to the non existence of any sort of social safety net in America.

[LibertyLover]

5. Bullying

Just last week my husband and I went to orientation for our daughter's kindergarten. After the propaganda about how the school and teachers loved children and were really happy we had chosen to send our children to public school and wanted the best for them, they opened the floor for questions. A few parents asked some very soft questions, like when did school start. Then I raised my hand and asked how they handled bullying on the school bus and in school. I am concerned because my daughter is adopted from China and doesn't look like the rest of the blond haired, blue eyed children in the school and she has been bullyed in her pre-school. The teacher has stepped in and stopped it, but still it's happened. The principal gave some inane answer about they taught the children to respect one another and that he thought if it happened on a bus, the bullyer eventually lost bus privileges. Forgive me if I'm not impressed and will have to keep an eye on this.

[bleedingheart]

6. does your bus have cameras?

ours does...if you are bad..you lose the privilege of riding...

[LibertyLover]

15. I don't know if the buses have cameras

This is my first (and only) kidlet who will be riding them. I think I'll poke around on the county's school webpage and see. Thank you very much for the suggestion.

[MissB]

18. When my youngest was in 1st grade

(which was just last year), he was bullied on the bus by two girls in Kindergarten. Throwing aside all possible jokes from that scenario, the K teacher saw what took place (because the bus driver called her back to the bus), and the teacher removed both girls from the bus and kept them off for an entire week. Our school takes it seriously.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

8. Our whole society is based on bullying. And getting worse.

We are tormented in school when we are kids. We are tormented by our co-workers and bosses when we grow up and work. Often times we are bullied by our marital or dating partners. Even if nobody hits us.

I'm glad that people are becoming aware of it. Usually, the only way to get a school's attention is to sue the school district, unfortunately.

And sometimes the lawsuit comes after the tormented child has killed himself or herself. So incredibly tragic.

Every time we have a school shooting by a lonesome boy, they blame it on the guns, not on the bullying, shunning and abusing the different kids by the jocks, who get special privileges for their athletic ability.

Same situation with "going postal" at work. Impossible to please bosses are common. Remember, the "going postal" scenario started in the Reagan years, when they started destroying the middle class.

The guy who was an engineer at NASA Mission Control who recently shot his boss in the chest and held a woman hostage taped to a chair, told his boss that he was tired of being called stupid. The boss offered him a transfer, and he said no. So he killed the boss.

When are people going to learn about harmful speech versus right speech?

Check out this website:
http://www.wordscanheal.com

"Words Can Heal is a national campaign to end verbal violence, curb gossip and promote the healing power of words to enhance relationships at every level."

[HughBeaumont]

22. Bullying has been around for eons . . .

. . . but it was really in vogue, encouraged and practiced even by adults who were supposed to be helping you during Reagan's jock-and-beauty-friendly America. That's when I experienced the majority of my bullshit and it continued unabated. A lot of people had it worse than I did.

[Nikki Stone1]

19. This isn't just bullying: this is attempted murder (the guy tried to strangle him)

How does attempted murder build character?

[HughBeaumont]

21. Bullying builds character?

Yeah, by "building character", he must mean suicidal/homicidal thoughts, rage and frustration, paranoia, a disdain for learning and school, destroyed self-esteem, misanthropy, misogyny and depression. I guess in that sense, a sub-human assplow continuing the sensible act of threatening, teasing and assaulting someone smaller than them only because they can builds a whole FUCKload of "character". Sons of bitches.

Don't put me in charge of schools. I'd institute "Zero Tolerance" and wouldn't lose a second night's sleep about it. You want to be a headcase, do it in another district. School is for learning, not for acting out your unresolved anger management issues on someone who doesn't deserve it.