Remember how I told you about Jero's fucked-up family?

[Rose Swan]

Nyerp. I feel so sheltered.

In my part of the school (I'm mostly segregated off from the in-zone kids) where the Academy part lurks, bullying rarely comes up as an issue. Guns, knives, weapons in general isn't that major of an issue because we're the goody-goody law academy. The only issue we really have now is cheating, demonstrated a few weeks ago when we took a hard test in Chemistry and my friend saw this one guy who took most of the class cheating on it by using his phone. Some kids copy and paste English assignments from Sparknotes, and they get caught pretty quickly because they're too stupid to change the font.

But there are fights in my school, there is drama, there are assholes, and we've had many a gun threat.

[The Australian]

I got into fights regularly at school.

[Kill Bones]

I neither defend nor condone the actions of individuals as they are largely personal choices. I do not pity them either or excuse their actions they knew to be wrong. In most regards I am neutral and seek to understand a situation from numerous perspectives rather than just my own.

I know. What I was said basically translates to "She wasn't giving a reason for it being okay, rather simply the reason it exists."

At least I think it does.

You people got me reminiscing about high school.

So now I'm going to make an ass out of myself with things I think I remember I learned maybe.

[Esper]

As you should, my dear.

Then I thank you for the kind words.

[Jorick]

Nyerp. I feel so sheltered.

In my part of the school (I'm mostly segregated off from the in-zone kids) where the Academy part lurks, bullying rarely comes up as an issue. Guns, knives, weapons in general isn't that major of an issue because we're the goody-goody law academy. The only issue we really have now is cheating, demonstrated a few weeks ago when we took a hard test in Chemistry and my friend saw this one guy who took most of the class cheating on it by using his phone. Some kids copy and paste English assignments from Sparknotes, and they get caught pretty quickly because they're too stupid to change the font.

But there are fights in my school, there is drama, there are assholes, and we've had many a gun threat.

If you think changing the font is all that's required to trip up plagiarism detection I highly suggest you never try to cheat that way because you'll be caught so fucking easily it's not even funny.

[BlueRose]

If you think changing the font is all that's required to trip up plagiarism detection I highly suggest you never try to cheat that way because you'll be caught so fucking easily it's not even funny.

A lot of my teachers use a site called turnitin.com which checks the work for plagiarism. It's hard to get a 0% on it )_)

[Esper]

A lot of my teachers use a site called turnitin.com which checks the work for plagiarism. It's hard to get a 0% on it )_)

You don't have to have 0% as one of my English teachers said. It's a tool for reference that makes it obvious if you're cheating. Many of my essay topics had between 15-20% of the material similar. This was largely due to quotes from authoritative sources from various essays.

[Jorick]

A lot of my teachers use a site called turnitin.com which checks the work for plagiarism. It's hard to get a 0% on it )_)

Yup, they check the actual stuff written rather than the formatting you use. Changing the font and such doesn't change the words that make up the essay, so it's easy to check for plagiarism. Hell, you can even throw the full text into a Google search and probably find the site that it was pulled from. A special plagiarism checker site is even better.

[Caelum]

Funny story.

At my old school, some kid threatened to kill me, so, in an act of desperation, I took an art tool, a sharp one, and hid it in my backpack, just in case. I was called into the office for tagging (Which is odd, because I'm whiter then bleach), and got expelled from school and unable to enroll in any other schools. Also, I'm now on terrorist watch.

'muricuh

[Goldmarble]

No, but the security in less than nice neighborhoods let some things go that they wouldn't in a nice neighborhood. Even had a security guard selling weed to students during lunch.

Well, that isn't generalizing anything... I'd be willing to bet that lax security and tight security vs bad/nice neighbourhoods could differentiate between different sections of a city, let alone different states/provinces (Are there school in Canada with Security guards?!)

Though I do agree with you that getting rid of bullies would solve a lot of problems; but the question is, of course, "How."?

All of our conventional means have amounted to sweet fuck all in the aspect of "removing bullies" from the equation. Why? Because we try to treat the symptom of the cause, not the cause of the symptom. Because we live in a society that glamorizes "rebellious nature", and undermines the child-parent bond. We live in a society where it now takes, on average, two parents working full time jobs just to raise one to two children above the poverty line, leaving the children to be raised by strangers, the Television, and not the internet. We live in a society where family doesn't always come first. This society where the minority are screaming to be heard, and the majority stay stoically silent. A system of blaming others for your mistakes has become profitable, instead of you being held responsible for your own ignorance, your own actions, and your own choices. We have an education system designed to weed out individualism and critical thought, and instilling complacency, accepting authority without question, that memorization is more important than imagination, and to never stand up for yourself; someone else should take care of it. Our media glamorizes, and over-saturates us with violent news, gives attention to the criminals, not the victims, and over sensationalizes everything. Frequently they make crucial mistakes in the interest of getting "the first coverage."

How do you stop bullying? Change society.

All of this "ban the weapon" shit is just a knee jerk reaction, a want for a quick fix that won't solve the core problem. It's a band-aid over a cut artery. These damaged, mentally ill people will not stop just because firearms are off the table. You can make chemical weapons from off the shelf cleaning supplies. You can take a kitchen knife and stab 22 people. A car can plow through dozens; a stolen heavy truck could drive through a building.

The problem is society. To begin fixing it, we need to be aware of it. To think. To express how we feel to one another assertively, not aggressively. To be taught that it is alright to stand up for yourself, more than that: That we should stand up for ourselves. If needs must, fight for ourselves. We need to remember what honour and respect are.

Course...this is just what I believe.