Lord of the Flies
by David Atkins
Via ABL at Balloon Juice, this story makes me want to hurl large objects out a skyscraper window:
Victim One, the first known alleged victim of abuse by former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky, had to leave his school in the middle of his senior year because of bullying, his counselor said Sunday.
Officials at Central Mountain High School in Clinton County weren’t providing guidance for fellow students, who were reacting badly about Joe Paterno’s firing and blaming the 17-year-old, said Mike Gillum, the psychologist helping his family. Those officials were unavailable for comment this weekend.
The name-calling and verbal threats were just too much, he said.
Other alleged victims are turning to each other for support, since they fear others will out them and cause a media swarm. The only encouragement for Victim One, Gillum said, is watching other alleged victims come forward because they felt empowered by his courage.
“He feels good about that,” Gillum said. “That’s the one good that’s come of all this.”
I took some heat for my post some time back defending progressive homeschooling/unschooling. But this is a perfect encapsulation of what is wrong with the school system, aside of course from a chronic lack of funding.
The culture in most schools, from the most destitute public schools to the most elite private schools, is dominated by children rather than adults. Principals and teachers tend to be too busy, and too afraid of parents of abusive kids and of the kids themselves to take any significant action against peer pressure and pervasive bullying.
Any kid that said a word cross-wise to Victim #1 should have been faced with immediate expulsion, and their parents should have been called up and berated by the principal. That sort of appalling behavior will extend into adulthood, and if it’s not being corrected by a parent (who is probably just as asinine as their offspring), then it should be corrected by whatever adults are in charge on campus. That’s how it would work in a just society. Instead, this poor soul is now being subjected to another round of victimization by his peers and forced to leave his school and his few friends. And nobody is doing a damn thing about it.
.