response 76 of 241:

Aug 18 20:42 UTC 2003

I don't think a support network would result. You build a support 
network when you and other people facing the same adversity get 
together to help fight issues, in this case bullies. If you're in a 
special school, there's less reason, if any at all, to actually form a 
support network.

And relying on a support network to get you through life is 
unrealistic. Networking is important, I agree, but not the sole 
solution to life's problems

response 78 of 241:

Aug 18 21:29 UTC 2003

All girl and all boy schools seem to get supported.
I wonder why, and I wonder how many of those same
reasons wouldn't apply to homosexual children.

Maybe the issue, the real issue folks have, is
they don't want to endorse any offical support
for homosexuality.

response 80 of 241:

Aug 18 21:45 UTC 2003

Being harassed for being homosexual would qualify as a distraction from
scholastic activities, I'd think.  Maybe even a more intense distraction
than being a blonde 14 year old dealing with little boys staring at
your size C breasts.

response 84 of 241:

Aug 19 01:16 UTC 2003

I am sure some people don't want to see homosexuality endorsed, and 
oppose a school for homosexuals on those grounds.  I'm sure others are 
all for a gay school in order to get the homosexuals away from their 
(they hope) heterosexual kids, "so they don't go giving ideas to *my* 
kids".

There'll be some parents who force their kids to go to the gay 
school.  Some will hope their kids *will* be gay.  Others will want to 
keep their kids away from kids they might have sex with.  Some will 
probably send their kids there to have them preach against the immoral 
gays.  I wonder how the New York Public School System would deal with 
that one?

None of these possibilities, nor the one mentioned in resp:80, cancel 
out any of the arguments for or against a gay school.  There are 
probably good reasons to have one, and good reasons to oppose having 
one.

response 86 of 241:

Aug 19 14:44 UTC 2003

Re #74: I don't know if I agree with that.  My experience was that
bullying was worst in junior high, tapered off in high school, and I can
only think of one instance in college of what I'd call "bullying".  I'm
not sure that being exposed to bullying in school does anything to
prepare people for the real world, because unless you're talking about
prison or redneck bars the real world just isn't like junior high
school.  For me I think it actually made the real world harder for me to
deal with; it caused me to develop some social anxieties I'm still
trying to overcome.

response 90 of 241:

Aug 19 23:26 UTC 2003

People who say "kids should just get used to it" DON'T GET IT.

School isn't like work, or life, or anything else.  There are legal
protections for workers, and almost everyone has the option of getting
a new  job if they don't care for the environment.  In real life, you
can leave; work is a reasonably natural environment in that respect.

Schools are the exact opposite:  students are trapped by mandatory
attendance laws and appear to have next to no legal or institutional
protections at all against harassment by peers.  They are caged up
like animals and sometimes not treated much better.  Today's schools
are like prisons in more ways than just their architecture.

At the extreme, the option is to drop out.  However, dropping out
of school is very prejudicial.  Failing to get a good GPA makes
it very difficult to get into college, and having only a GED is
a serious black mark.  Dropping out to get relief from chronic
harassment is close to educational suicide.  It shouldn't surprise
anyone that teen suicide is a serious problem; it surprises me
that it is as low as it is, and that cornered-animal backlashes
like Columbine are not monthly events.

One thing I do know:  until students are treated like real people,
with similar responsibilities *and rights*, this problem is only
going to get worse.

response 92 of 241:

Aug 20 12:02 UTC 2003

School bullying is a serious issue. I was harassed for a long time in school.
It didn't stop till I pulled a gun on someone. I didn't use it, but if that
kid had taken another step towards me, I would have. No, I wasn't a gang
member or a drug dealer. Just someone who finally got fed up. You want real
life, you got it. The poster who said that people in authority don't care
about what is fair is totally correct. They don't. You have to look after
yourself, even if it means using deadly force. 

response 94 of 241:

Aug 20 17:49 UTC 2003

r92:  what she said.

/laughs and shove you into gym locker

response 96 of 241:

Aug 21 01:25 UTC 2003

you forgot to call him a dork.

response 98 of 241:

Aug 21 15:18 UTC 2003

True, bullying is a serious issue in schools, but having a separate 
school for every category of students is not the answer. Where is it 
going to end? A separate school for the fatties, a separate school for 
geeks, a separate school for freaks, a separate school for jocks?

Solve bullying at the core, don't create hide-outs for it