School Bans Boy From Wearing ‘My Little Pony’ Backpack, Claims It’s A ‘Trigger F

[DriftingCrow]

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/03/17/3414231/school-bans-boy-from-wearing-my-little-pony-backpack-claims-its-a-trigger-for-bullying/
Judd Legum; Think Progress via ABC

A [young boy] was bullied — punched, pushed and called names — for bringing a My Little Pony lunch sack to school. The school has responded by telling the boy, Grayson Bruce, to leave the sack at home, calling it a "trigger for bullying." (emphasis added by LH)

The school said they were looking into the conduct of the bullies but have, to date, taken no public action.

[Mom objected because] "saying a lunchbox is a trigger for bullying, is like saying a short skirt is a trigger for rape. It's flawed logic, it doesn't make any sense."

--------------------------------------------------------
Yep, punish the victim.

[MadeleineG]

Some people have no business running schools.

[suzifrommd]

This appears to have been removed from the thinkprogress site. I wonder if it was unverifiable. Frustrating. I really wanted to read the story.

[dalebert]

We talked about this on the show last night (done editing). Here's the link I was using.

http://iacknowledge.net/school-bans-bullied-boy-from-wearing-his-my-little-pony-bag-this-is-victim-blaming/

[suzifrommd]

If school officials want to address all bullying, why don't they start with their own?

[Hikari]

If this is true this is exactly the sort of thing I was war it about with that article where they refused to let students display American flags to protect those students... Taken  broadly that judgement would say that school administrators can use safety as an excuse to regulate anything a student does or expresses.

I am very worried that it is legal to deny a student the right to wear a dress even if gender discrimination is banned because the judges even said that saftey outweighs the first amendment so surely it outweighs a state law.

[Xhianil]

Schools are like this sadly, this particular case just got a bit of publicity. There are way too many administraters that believe themselves god compared to the students, and do whatever they want, like how they don't want to help that student.

[Miss_Bungle1991]

Schools are like this sadly, this particular case just got a bit of publicity. There are way too many administraters that believe themselves god compared to the students, and do whatever they want, like how they don't want to help that student.

Or they are so consumed by the moronic fantasy that their school is some friggin utopia, that they will sweep anything and everything under the rug. Bullies suck.

[Vicky]

This appears to have been removed from the thinkprogress site. I wonder if it was unverifiable. Frustrating. I really wanted to read the story.

It's back there now Suzi. 

[MadeleineG]

http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el200303_inlay.pdf

[JamesG]

OTOH- Bullying is a persistent problem that is very hard to stop. Adults can't be everywhere, all the time. And punishing the abusers they do catch has limited effect.   But preventing one instance where it was obviously going to get the kid repeatedly beat-up doesn't seem like that oppressive to me.  It used to be called "guidance" (ie: "Get a haircut you darn hippy!").  Yeah sucks,  everyone should be free to do what they want without being hassled, but we (and those school officials) live in the real world.

[suzifrommd]

OTOH- Bullying is a persistent problem that is very hard to stop. Adults can't be everywhere, all the time. And punishing the abusers they do catch has limited effect.   But preventing one instance where it was obviously going to get the kid repeatedly beat-up doesn't seem like that oppressive to me.  It used to be called "guidance" (ie: "Get a haircut you darn hippy!").  Yeah sucks,  everyone should be free to do what they want without being hassled, but we (and those school officials) live in the real world.

Aren't you just a wee bit concerned that the bullies will feel it vindicates them in some small way, since it seems like the school administrators are agreeing with them about the inappropriateness of the MLP lunchbag?

[alabamagirl]

Aren't you just a wee bit concerned that the bullies will feel it vindicates them in some small way, since it seems like the school administrators are agreeing with them about the inappropriateness of the MLP lunchbag?

Not to mention, if I were that kid, it would make me feel like the school administrators were on the bullies' side. I certainly do not agree with their response at all.

[JamesG]

Aren't you just a wee bit concerned that the bullies will feel it vindicates them in some small way, since it seems like the school administrators are agreeing with them about the inappropriateness of the MLP lunchbag?

Well, no one likes Bronies. 

I'M KIDDING!!!

Yes, you are right. And it depends on how they react/treat the bullies.  Ideally they come down on them like a ton of bricks, or... as much of a ton of bricks that a school principle can on punkass jerks (maybe one or two bricks gently tossed?).

And their intent wasn't to agree with the inappropriateness of the item.  It really wasn't even the issue. the kid would get bullied with or without the backpack.  They just chose the simplest, quickest remedy of the situation. ("Dr. it hurts when I do this."  "Then don't do that!").

I'm not saying I agree with the decision, only that I understand why they did it (and I'm feeling contrarian today  ).

[Miss_Bungle1991]

Not to mention, if I were that kid, it would make me feel like the school administrators were on the bullies' side. I certainly do not agree with their response at all.

Exactly!

I've been in those situations as a child. I remember having many instances where the bastards that were screwing with me were able to manipulate the douches and I was the one that had the problem.

If I had a child, there is no way in hell I would subject them to the public school system. The first time that she or he was being bullied by the pricks and the administrative scumbags, people would be losing more than a few teeth.

No matter what it would take, I would make sure they were home schooled.

[Hikari]

You cannot blame the victim for bullying! It is up to the schools to try and prevent it and stop it when it does happen. It is impossible to prevent rape, but we try and then prosecute those who do it when we catch them.The police department doesn't go around telling women to change because that suggestive outfit could get them in trouble! The victim blaming logic is totally indefensible, and we have far too much of it without institutionalizing it into our schools.

[suzifrommd]

If I had a child, there is no way in hell I would subject them to the public school system. The first time that she or he was being bullied by the pricks and the administrative scumbags, people would be losing more than a few teeth.

No matter what it would take, I would make sure they were home schooled.

Um...

Some of us WORK in the public school system and are very proud of the jobs we do.

[Miss_Bungle1991]

Um...

Some of us WORK in the public school system and are very proud of the jobs we do.

That's fine.

If you want to take offense to what I said, that's fine too.

I'm just telling it like it was. Most of the teachers and administrative people that I dealt with in school were complete pricks and would play favorites all of the time. I was insulted on more than one occasion by a few teachers and when I reported them, nothing was done about it.

Having said that, I did have a minority of very cool teachers. Most of them were middle aged women. The only exceptions were my 8th grade Social Studies teacher and my 8th grade English teacher.

I still stand by what I said, though. I would never put my child through the hell of public schooling. Yeah, they may come across a few cool teachers, but they stand a greater chance of being bullied by douchebag classmates, pathetic teachers and inept administrative schmucks.

[alabamagirl]

Um...

Some of us WORK in the public school system and are very proud of the jobs we do.

I'm hoping the one you work in is a much better place than the schools I attended. I'll have to second Laura's sentiment. School was an absolute hell when I went there. It was hardly focused on education at all and more about oppression and conformity, in every possible sense of those words. It was an absolute joke.

I just hope the rest of the staff there is as cool as you are, Suzi.

[Miss_Bungle1991]

It was hardly focused on education at all and more about oppression and conformity, in every possible sense of those words.

Thank you!

When I was in grade school, I would intentionally fail classes knowing that they would still pass me. I would confront them on this and they would give me some BS line. But even though I had failing grades (that weren't indicative of my true intelligence level, just my desire to not listen to what they wanted me to do), I was still passed to the next grade. They didn't care about my education at all, they just wanted to get rid of me. Sure, I could never be an "A" student (because I genuinely sucked at Math), but I could have at least scored a B in most other subjects. In my Social Studies, History, etc classes, I was almost always the teacher's pet. I remember a time during my Freshman year of high school, I was called to the guidance counselor's office over my grades and they pulled them up. Among a sea of "F"s was a lone "A+". When they asked me how I could do so well in one class (with a 105% grade, no less) and do so poorly in the others, I told him the truth: That I liked the class, the teacher was really cool and I didn't give a damn about the other classes. I spent a few days in ISS for swearing at him, but I didn't care. I saw their entire educational system as a joke.