Actually, the best studies have shown that 25% of GLBT kids self-harm before age 20. For trans kids, it’s 50%. We don’t know the proportion of teen suicides who are GLBT though.

And of course some like Larry King get overtly killed by the bullying. Many more in “accidents”.

Sorry, that should say “Parents and schools brush of bullying as immaturity…”

“Gay man”, are you an idiot?! Did you really write that?! I’m disgusted by your suggestion the victims “should perhaps develop thicker skin”. I’m gay and grew up in Mississippi in the 70’s. I was tormented and assaulted nearly every day from the 5th grade through 9th grade. The scares from all of those years of being bullied remained with me well into my 20’s. I was a kid god’s sake and I expected, just with the kids in this story — gay or not, that the adults at school would intervene. Further you Free Speach claim is crap. I had a right to attend school in a safe environment free from physical and mental abuse. My heart goes out to the kids and families featured in this peice.

In my opinion, the reason both boys chose to end their lives was because the level of psychological distress overwhelmed them. In addition, they felt as though they had no comfortable means of communicating their incidents with both school administrators as well as immediate family. On a personal note, as freshman in high school I was bullied. I dreaded going to my art class, because there was one sophomore boy who taunted me and gave me a hard time. I told the sophomore to stop, but he continued. It got to the point where I told the teacher what was going on. He sent the kid to the Dean–at that point he was reprimanded. In short, that made things worse. It made me look as though I tattled on him. It was good to see that the school administration took my case seriously; however there is a downfall to making them aware of such incidents. Basically by going to the authorities, you are then perceived as being weak and cowardly by both the bully as well as peers.

Bullying is a very difficult issue to resolve. In my opinion, it would be beneficial for school administrators to have faculty trained to read and anticipate future bullying incidents. Schools should have a proactive plan laying out the specific steps to follow in such incidents. Many schools, including both my junior high school and high school had peer mediation services available. While I never participated in any of those sessions, I had friends who did, and they found them to be helpful. So overall, by having faculty trained to read and anticipate behaviors that look like bullying, having a procedure for handling bullying cases, as well as communicating with students with how and who to see when an act of bullying has occurred, this should help to reduce the number of cases as well as increase the level of comfort and safety felt by the students.

I feel so sorry to the families of the boys who committed suicide and to all the other children in this world who are bullied day in and day out. School is suppose to be a place for our children to learn. It’s just terrible that this is going on in schools today.

Teachers need to be educated and need to take children seriously when kids come to them for help about any issues that they might have. Teachers are suppose to be there for the children and if one teacher would have listened to Carl and Jaheem, this might not have happened. I would like to see teachers become more aware of the seriousness of school bullying and really listen when children come to teachers with any problem that they are facing.

To all of you who commented on my post: Yes. I am actually gay. Yes I was bullied and I hated it. But it taught me valuable lessons in my life. Did it “scar” me for life. Maybe. I certainly don’t dwell on the past. Those experiences are part of every child’s life. Who hasn’t had a bully pick on them for some reason, gay or straight? Most of us learn that most bullies will leave you alone if you stand up to them.

To the young lady to said “screw you”: Careful darlin’. That could be construed as hate speech…

For those of you who support legislation to stop bullying, I have one question: Who decides what is bullying? I’m sure that you would trust in our government or the school administrators to decide that. So what stops them from using that same law to expel any student who calls someone a name (dork, jerk, idiot, etc.)? This is not exclusively a gay issue. This law will affect ALL students. When you open the Pandora’s box of legislation you can never close it again.

The answer here is for parents to actually take an active roll in their children’s lives. That girl in Missouri who committed suicide over “cyber-bullying” died because her parents weren’t keeping an eye on what what that girl was doing on the internet. It’s high time for parents to start acting like parents and take responsibility for their kids (both bullies and the bullied).

As far as the statistics go: It is impossible to stop every teen who wants to commit suicide. It can not be done. There will always be kids who have a low self-esteem and look for an easy way out. I do believe that there should be programs to help these kids if they want it. I just don’t believe in imposing new repressive laws on everyone else to protect someone from having to learn the hardest lesson in life. That lesson is that life is rough and not always fair and some people are just plain mean. That is where the thick skin statement comes from. When I was bullied as a kid, my parents made me stand up for myself. Of course, I didn’t always win or accomplish what I wanted, but that is also life.

The point of all of this is that we, as a sociaty can’t legislate away all of life’s problems and pains. Sit your kids down and have a talk with them about how to deal with life’s bumps.

I believe that what happened to Carl Walker and Jaheem Herrera is a tragedy that their schools faculty could have helped to prevent. Both of these young boys were at a middle school age, a time in which most kids are concerned with fitting in and being socially accepted. This also means that it is an age where bullying is at it’s highest peak, especially for kids who are LGBT. For Carl and Jaheem school was an unsafe place because they were constantly encountering verbal harassment, and sometimes even physical harassment or assault. Although this type of misbehavior may not be very obvious to school faculty it does exist, and disrupts the rights of all students to have a safe environment to learn in. More importantly, the school environment these boys were required to attend was psychologically unsafe, which ultimately lead to their deaths. Both Carl and Jaheem were victims of anti-gay harassment at the mere age of 11 years old. This is a time when boys and girls are just discovering what sexuality means, which makes it an even more sensitive subject since it is so new to them. Besides the fact that bullying is extremely underestimated by school personnel, when it comes to bullying that has to do with sexual orientation it is even less likely for staff to step in. If the innocent death of these children doesn’t scream out a need for change within the school systems, what else will it take?
The change that needs to take place in all schools across America should be one that not only focuses on decreasing bullying in schools, but outside of schools as well. I completely agree that the Safe Schools Improvement Act Cyber should be passed because it is crucial bullying is recognized as a serious problem. Even cyber bullying outside of school can be a major factor on how safe psychologically and physically a child will feel at school. I believe to take the time to create and withhold a caring environment inside the classroom is just as important as subject material because children are most able to learn when they feel comfortable. One of the most effective models to imply would be to have an environment that is preventative towards bullying rather than reactive. This way, children are aware that bullying is something that will not be tolerated before it occurs, rather than having the students learn the consequences after hand. It would also be beneficial to try and create opportunities for students to get to know each other, work in different groups, and discuss why being respectful is so important. Activities that teach empathy or perspective taking will ultimately benefit everyone in situations such as bullying. When students get to know each other on a more personal level, and feel more like a group or a team, it is less likely for others to be singled out. It is imperative that all schools take a part in the prevention of bullying, if the schools that Carl and Jaheem had attended did so, both boys may still be alive today.

It is real heartbreaking reading theses tragic stories. I cannot imagine what these young kids had to be going through in order to feel that suicide was their only way out. What is more upsetting is the fact that there was little or no intervention made by school staff to try to help the situation or make it better. These tragic outcomes of bullying could have been prevented if the right measures of precaution were taken. These situations build over time, they do not happen from one day to another. If at the first sigh of bullying the school staff would have interfered to stop the harassment and bullying, these kids could have still been alive. Or even better, the school should have implemented stricter policies against bullying instead of thinking it was just a phase that would pass.

Unfortunately, in most cases tragic events like these have to happen in order for schools to start implementing stricter bullying policies and to start educating kids about bullying. I am glad to hear that there are programs and acts being created to help stop and prevent bullying because sometimes that is what schools and kids need. Students need to be aware of the damage that there bullying and harassment can lead to; furthermore, they need to be aware that there will be a zero tolerance for bullying and that there will be serious consequences if done. I think putting fear in those that bully will help stop if not minimize bullying. Hopefully, trying to address the problem before it starts, educating students and having rigorous policies, will help prevent tragedies like the ones in this article.

Let me begin by stating that I am deeply saddened by these tragedies. While many of these incidences are rare, and many people see this as a one-in-a-million case, the problem still needs to be addressed. In both cases, Carl and Jaheem were bullied due to their sexuality, and both were seemingly ignored by school officials.
I would argue that much of the blame comes down to the teachers, as students are simply modeling what they see elsewhere in society. It comes down to the teachers monitoring what is occurring in the classroom. Teachers should do a better job of communicating with students. Sitting down for a few minutes after class with a student would help a great deal as a teacher could develop a positive rapport with the student. Thus, the student would feel that he or she could go to the teacher when in need. If a teacher is not performing in this way, school administration should be constantly monitoring teachers and looking to see if the teacher is addressing the social-emotional needs of his or her students. Overall, teachers need to be constantly aware of what is occurring in the classroom, and need to address bullying problems if they are present.

After reading this article I am fairly disgusted with how cruel some people can be, and how young they can be at the same time. I have a sister who is similar in age to the boys that the article refers to, and to think that people as young as her can say such awful things, to the point one would have to kill him or herself, is terrible. At that age kids should not be worried about going to school because of someone harassing them, they should not have to be worried about anything. I have a family member who is gay as well which hits me on another level. I feel, granted that kids this age might not think through their actions, that people should live their lives in whatever way that makes them happy. I never understood why gays are so poorly treated, it does not affect the way I live my life by seeing a person with different sexual preferences living there own. In school it should be no different. Students should be there to learn and connect with friends, there should be no room for people to harass or bully the students that choose to live their lives differently.

When it comes to the prevention of bullying or harassment, as much as it hurts to say this, I think that it is nearly impossible to completely mute both. I believe that policies such as the Safe Schools Improvement Act and others that are similar are necessary in order to tone down all misbehavior towards other students; however, there will always be students that are too scared to report bullying and other students who, God forbid, choose to take their lives. I believe that schools should do all they can to improve feelings of safety, but I feel that it is impossible to completely rid all schools of hate and harassment.

After reading about what happened to Carl Joseph and Jaheem because of bullying, I find myself full of sadness for the boys and their families, and at the same time, I am shocked that the school personnel would ignore instances of bullying, even when it was reported to them. Obviously, if a student reports being bullied in the first place, that goes to show that he/she was deeply hurt or upset by it, so to ignore a hurt student is in no way “alright” and school personnel should be held more accountable for that.
Apparently, the school personnel did not believe that bullying was this big of a problem for students and their self-esteem or outlook on school. However, in order to decrease these tragedies, school personnel (teachers included) should be required to take a class about the effects of bullying on students. The class should also include preventative measures to stop bullying before it even starts, and new, effective strategies to handle bullying after it has happened. Schools should hold staff meetings regarding how to respond to bullying, and the staff should be held even more accountable for instances of bullying. School personnel should make it clear that schools are a bully-free zone and there will be a zero-tolerance for it. If school personnel see a child being bullied, they should intervene immediately and punish the bully accordingly. On the same token, if a child reports it, personnel should listen to the child and respond in a zero-tolerance manner. I believe this may help decrease these tragedies because it will show that bullying will not be tolerated, students will feel safer, and school personnel will be held more accountable for stopping bullying because now they will be educated in ways to stop this from continuing to happen.

After reading this article it is a sad display about how much damage words can really do. It is not fair that students get away with the damages they inflict upon people simply by talking. It is especially appalling to see 11 year old boys being damaged to a point that death is their only option. The boys, Jaheem and Carl, clearly were already confused about how to label themselves but that confusion led them to only one conclusion. This being the only way out is by suicide. I can’t believe the schools did nothing to prevent this and in fact ignored the complaints of parents and students. It is sad to see that two lives hundreds of miles apart can be taken away by something as simple as words. There is no rational that can excuse the behavior of their bullies.
It is amazing what kids are capable of today. By simply tutoring at a junior high school one can hear terms tossed around like “you’re gay” as if it is nothing. However this is attacking a person character no matter their orientation. Rational thought of adults tells us that kids will grow out of this and they don’t think as clearly but also adults’ question who should handle the situation. I know firsthand if I hear students using terms like that I tell them to cut it out, having to do so multiple times already. There is plenty a school can do for the kids being bullied and the first one is to listen. No matter how childish the bullying seems the school should always listen. They also need to listen to both sides and make the correct call on what to do. If the problem consists or if the first few times it slips under the radar the school needs to contact the parents and not the other way around. It shouldn’t be the responsibilities of the parents to correct a situation that occurs at school where the students are supposed to be safe. Unfortunately much of adolescent bullying goes on unknowingly and to correct this education needs to be available to teach what is right and wrong. Bullying won’t ever go away but steps need to be taken to help alleviate the situation as fast and as soon as possible so no more 11 year olds have to die because of something as simple as confusion.

The fact that these two boys (and many many others) were pushed to the point of suicide because bullying is incredibly sad. Obviously these kids were way too young to die, and way to young to have suffered the criticism that they did. To me, the worst part of the article is that Carl Walker’s mother actually called the school several times and the incidence were dismissed as “teen imaturity.” To read that 86% of any teen who falls under the LGBT category has reported verbal harassment and 22% physical assault is absolutley ridiculous. How are these school teachers, administrators, and counselors not preventing these unbelievable numbers??

The ninth grade student who said “I’m not sure if they’ll do anything about it” is a scary thought. How can a 14-15 year old go into a school officials office, sit there and tell me horror stories about being bullied and the school official do nothing? These kids need to KNOW that help is there for them, that they SHOULD be sharing their stories to their school officials, and that something WILL be done. Schools need to implement anti-bullying programs asap and let these kids know its okay to be themselves and that school should never be a place to be afraid of.

I was quite shocked when i was reading this article. Sometimes I wonder what people are thinking when they pick on or call some one a name. I feel that the world is becoming more sensitive to everything as well. This also makes me wonder who kids know how to take their own life. I can’t believe how out of control the schools are getting with bullying and hazing ect. As for the teachers, I feel that they should keep their opinions to themselves and help the kids get through each grade without forcing any views on them.

I feel that the school districts need to have some way of enforcing a no bully policy. Maybe this should be brought up to legislature and then hopefully some thing will come of this. This needs to stop. There are too many young lives that are being lost because of the simple fact of some one wanting to put someone else down. These kids are the future of everything and they will probably be something great some day.

This is certainly a horrible tragedy as to what happened w/ these boys. But post after post on the board said the schools should’ve done more. True. But how far should the schools go?

No one seems to want to hold parents accountable. What about the parents’ (or lack of parents’) involvement in bullying cases? Food for thought: do parents of kids that are being bullied try to talk to the parents of the bullies and try to come to terms with one another. Or do they keep to themselves, do nothing, and place all the blame on the school?

I have two kids of my own. I certainly don’t want either of them to be bullied or to be bullies themselves. Even though my own childhood was kind of rough, I certainly do not condone violence. However, there IS a difference between fighting and defending/standing up for oneself. My son/daughter know that if they are being picked/being felt to being intimidated then they need to go to a trusted adult at school. They both understand that fighting is wrong (especially starting fights.) But if they tell teachers/whomever, and that adult ignores the situation, and are still being bullied, then they have a right to stick up for themselves. Then from there, it is my obligation as a parent to intervene w/ the school AND ALSO go to the other child’s parent in order to work on a reasonable, working solution that will prevent siutations like this in the future. Sorry, folks. It’s not a hard concept.

I hate to be the lone realist in the midst of most of you idealists- kids will be kids. No amount of school legislation will keep kids from bullying other kids. Even though it is to be expected and their responsibility, don’t rely on the school to protect/raise your kids like most Americans do.
Step up to the plate and be parents for your kids. Protect them and love them above all else.

In Christ, In America- K.T.

The thing that struck me the most when I read this article is how young these kids were. The thought of such a young boy feeling so trapped that he had to end his life is terrible. 11 year old children should be able to go to school and feel safe no matter what their sexual orientation is. It is both the school’s job to make sure that these students feel safe within the walls of their school, and parent’s jobs to teach their kids that bullying is not acceptable. The quote about administrators asking if the reason for the bullying was true is outrageous. Administrators should be required to protect a student and their rights no matter why they are being bullied. These two boys, gay or not, couldn’t go to their teachers or principals, so they killed themselves,

I agree with the idea of all schools implicating zero tolerance as far as bullying goes. If students know before they start to bully that they will get in trouble, the chance that they do it anyway is probably much less. It would also make students of every shape and color feel safe to walk the halls, it might even make them more likely to feel comfortable in their skin.

The purpose of schools is to educate and to expel ignorance. It is the job of the school to give students the necessary to tools survive in the world. In order for that to occur, schools must create an environment where students feel safe to learn. Children are developing: emotionally, cognitively, and physically all the way through adolescence. They just are learning how to cope with the stressors of life and need guidance to find a way to reason through what seems like impossible situations at the time. When addressing bullying, it is important to look at the age of the child and understand that their way of thinking is entirely different than how an adult would view things. This is why I believe that it is essential that schools and communities take bullying seriously. When educators, administrators, and parents look the other way and neglect their responsibility to investigate the situation, they are rewarding destructive behavior making it more likely for bullying to occur. Regardless of ones: gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation every student is entitled to a safe learning environment.

I think overall the school plays a very big part in this problem. All over the world this is happening everyday and the school names always get cleared. Why is that? As we can see schools are becoming just as dangerous as streets and bullying is becoming an hobby for these students.

This is very tragic. I was taken aback over what happened. I can’t believe that such anti-gay bullying and harassment would occur in such young children. And for the school to let this happen to the point of them both committing suicide is unacceptable. Sure, the first maybe 1 or 2 times its reported might just be immaturity because let’s face it: Boys will be boys. But if this continues (and it did), there should be action done to remedy it. The first thing that should be done is stricter policy. If an action of abuse is reported, it should be at least addressed to the other party. The ones doing the abuse should at least be addressed to tell them that what they are doing is wrong. After that, if it happens again. then action should be taken.

It is a very sad thing when you see eleven year old kids thinking suicide is the only answer to solve their problems. It is also not only a sign of the growing bullying problem in this country, but also a sign of the taboo of seeking help when one is experiencing emotions. The fact that eleven year old are even facing these emotions is also very disturbing. Very few adults can handle or cope the stress, pressures, and pain of depression, and expecting children to be able to deal with it is completely wrong.

If one is going to point the finger at bullying, then one must also point at the finger at the lack of advertisement out there for the resources available to help people cope with the hurt of that often times accompanies verbal and physical harassment. I think that one way to solve the bullying crisis is that more schools need to put forth a No Tolerance Policy for bullying, but these schools must have an inclusive policy, and one that guarantees students the resources necessary for helping them deal with their problems. Also I am a staunch believer that today’s teachers are not trained well enough to recognize the signs of harassment, and then act on the problem. If schools and the community are educated, then in many ways these problems, though they may not go away, would probably go down their severity.

I think that there is definitely needs to be more awareness about bullying in schools today. When young children are being harrassed about their sexuality and a teacher is not seeing it in the classroom, then there is a definite problem. These kids are not even old enough to understand their sexuality completely and other students bullying them for it is just ridiculous. I think there needs to be more education to both students and teachers about bullying. If the teachers especially can become more educated on how to recognize bullying and also how to talk to their students in a way that makes the students feel able to discuss these matters with their teachers everyone might be a little better off. I also think there needs to be more recognition from teachers to situations that could possibly be bullying. Sometimes it may just look like kids playing around but often times the kids are just too afraid of what will happen next. The teacher needs to set up a safe environment that lets the students know that they can come to the teacher with this information and know that nothing will happen to them as a result of it.

Also, I think there needs to be more done with schools being held accountable for their actions on bullying. When there are children that young committing suicide because they feel as thought no one at school could help them with it there is a huge problem. Schools need to have stricter rules in place to deal with bullying and more serious consequences for the bullies. If new legislation is the only way to get this done, then so be it. But somehow these problems need to be addressed in a new and better way.

“It is time we combat outdated and erroneous beliefs that downplay the seriousness of bullying” - Rep. Sanchez

Rep. Sanchez is right. Too often do most kids think that bullying is normal, and therefore it goes unreported. What’s worse is when administrators share the same sentiment and attribute that type of behavior as something that all kids experience, when in reality, it can be prevented. By issuing a zero-tolerance policy towards bullying, teachers will have no choice but to report any occurences of bullying and students will have to suffer the consequences. If this can be mandated by the government, then all the better. How many students have to die before people start to take action? Bullying is something that won’t go away by itself. There will always be competition amongst children, and those who are judged to be “different” will be ostracized. Students who identify as LGBT have it worse because they are blatantly setting themselves apart from their peers, thus leaving themselves open for ridicule, especially since the general sentiment is to be gay means to be abnormal. Fact of the matter is, LGBT children are at a higher risk for being bullied, and that is a statistic that shouldn’t be ignored. The two children that committed suicide are evidence that something needs to be done so things like this do not happen in the future.

Someone posted saying it is wrong to limit free speech and that bullying actually taught them lessons in life; though I will admit I see their point, I still disagree. There is no room for bullying in an academic environment. Schools shouldn’t be a place where children fear for their safety or get attacked verbally - it is a place where learning should be the number one priority. How can a student learn if they are worried or stressed from being bullied? This isn’t a matter of the government putting constraints on free speech - this is a matter of ensuring children’s safety in schools. Anything considered detrimental to learning is an offense and that includes bullying. Administrators need to be more aware of situations like this and any reports of bullying should result in either suspension or, if the act is severe enough, expulsion. To condone these acts is to further promote more children getting hurt. If there needs to be a law that states that, then so be it. Why put children through so much when they don’t HAVE to go through something like that in the first place? Your argument that these children simply need to develop “thick skin” is not an argument at all. Who are you to judge them? They’re CHILDREN.

Lastly, an argument was presented stating parents need to take more control of their children, and I agree with that. Parents do need to be more involved in their children’s lives, but it is also understood that once the child leaves his or her home, he or she is under the care of the school and it is the school’s responsibility to watch over the child and make sure that his or her well-being is taken care of at all cost. Someone stated that had the parents been more open to these two boys about their sexuality, then maybe they wouldn’t have committed suicide - but guess what? It doesn’t always work like that. That’s another reason why LGBT students have it worse than most because their parents aren’t always supportive of their children. I interned at the youth program in Center on Halsted, an LGBT center in chicago, and there are children there who have been kicked out of their homes because they chose to come out to their parents. Sometimes these children have NO support in the home, and to lack that support at school as well - to even be harassed for it? It’s no wonder they feel like they have no way out.

What happened to those children are tragedies that could have been prevented had the school been more pro-active against bullying. Like I said, there should be a school-wide zero tolerance policy for bullying in each and every single school. Students need to know that if they report being bullied, the school WILL do something to stop it. Bullying should NOT be a part of growing up, and it does NOT have a place in schools where the objective is to learn. All steps should be taken to ensure that bullying is banned from schools nation-wide. If the government needs to step in, then so be it.

My personal experience has been varied. I was on both sides of this as a child, I have been bullied and have bullied. I am not proud of it but its something I must face and understand in order to raise my own children.

We have to teach our children empathy at an early age. Explain why another child might be upset and equate their problem to our own. Empathy and accountability are really missing, our society teaches to look out for ourselves, be greedy and take what we can. Yet we expect children to act differently than adults.

I recently read a really emotional book, I finished it on my long train commute from upstate into the city. I cried for about 45 minutes as I read the final chapters as some young male stranger sat next to me. When I got home that night I made sure I told my two older children about the experience. My son had already read the book so he could identify.

I think we need to get over the fear of sharing feelings, especially men, because we are the most emotionally stunted. We look down on what we perceive as weak and push it around to make ourselves look and feel strong. Our role models are, for the most part, ‘tough guys’ they don’t talk about their emotions or insecurities because they, like most, have been conditioned to think that emotion is weakness.

Teachers should be aware of whats going on with their kids and should intervene. But often the children are emotionally stunted long before they make it into a class room. Teachers are left doing damage control for what parents have neglected to teach and media has drummed into the heads of children.

The story about the two boys hanging themselves because of bullying over sexuality is very upsetting and absolutely ridiculous. Schools should not let anything get to the point of a student harming themselves because of what another student says. School is suppose to be a place for students to go to learn not worry about what people will say to them when they express themselves or when they are themselves instead of hiding who they are because of fear. Bullying in general is a very important topic that teachers and school administrators deal with every day but it should not be ignored like it was in these cases. There are so many forms of bullying and so many reasons why students bully other students, but schools still need to stop it from the beginning so it does not get to the point of students causing harm to themselves.
Schools and parents should teach students to respect themselves and others. Parents and teachers are also role models for their children and students. Therefore, how they act at home and at school can also influence bullying. Being a good role model and talking to your children and students may help decrease bullying on some levels. Explaining fully the affects of bullying to students may also decrease bullying. Some students think that bullying is not as harmful as it really is, but if they learn more about it, it may stop some students from bullying.

Our school systems have come to a horrifying place when it comes to bullying. These two young boys were learning about themselves and the world around them, there was no reason that they should be discriminated, teased, or bullied for figuring themselves out. The students around them were most likely experimenting sexually, with drugs, or even just with the limits of rules in their house and at school. Going through a questioning and deciding time period is normal, but no one, no matter what they decided, should be bullied, physically, “cyberly” , sexually, or verbally for questioning their status. It breaks my heart to see such young children result to extremes to free themselves from the pain in this world. Suicide hurts so many and is preventable with the care and love from those in any person’s life. Schools need to take the right of protecting their students and caring for them in order to prevent stories such as these.

Though not every suicide and every mean act can be punished or prevented, there is a place where schools need to listen and act. First of all, schools should have a prevention program, allowing students to be exposed to harms of bullying and the punishments that will come with bullying. This can include outside speakers, banners of positivity or anti-bullying, or a set of special rules about bullying. Second, if there is a problem with a student being constantly bullied and there is parental communication of depression, the school must address that specific situation and provide an outlet for the bullied student. Third, if there is a specific student who is bullying repeatedly, they need to be dealt with in a serious manor. This will set an example of excellence for the school that attitudes and shameful acts are addressed and hold the students to a higher standard. It will also be used to show other students what is not to be tolerated because if students are not punished or cared for when they are bullied, it leaves an impression that bullying is approved of and the school does not care. Schools are responsible for what happens in their schools and how situations are handled. The one thing I am glad about is the fact that the school was punished because their is no reason for their negligence.

This article just makes me feel completely enraged. The fact that the school faculty did not feel the need to step in and help these students who were obviously crying out for help is ridiculous. If i was one of the parents i would have gone and had a “talk” with these teachers. As a teacher i feel that they should be there to bring the students a feeling of SECURITY and SAFETY while at school. These acts of harassment could have been because they just were acting immature, but the teachers should of still sat down with those children and explained to them how their behavior was not appropriate. Faculty should have taken this seriously the first and second time this issue was brought to them NOT now that the children are gone.

The parents of students who harassed these kids should sit down with their children and talk to them abotu the right/wrong way to mess with kids. There is a fun and approriate way to tease friends, but these particular kids crossed the line. Parents and teachers need to address these concepts and situations to avoid things like this from happening.

The victims in the article should of never had to end their lives the way they did. No you can not always avoid these acts form happening, but lets try to make it easier for these kids. School should definitely be a place where students should be able to be themselves. Encouraging students to be provide courtesy to others and promote healthy relationships would be a great start. If teachers expressed that they want everyone to get along and support each other, while getting everyone in their classrooms involved I’m sure some of these bullying acts could be prevented.

To the families of these poor victims i feel for you deeply, and I’m very sorry this happened to your children. I hope all learn from this, and schools take ACTION to prevent these situations from occurring.

I found this article shocking. It saddens me that students being bullied feel that the only way to end being bullied is to take their own life or that a student can just end someone life because they don’t like how a student is. It also saddens me that children don’t feel that they can talk to authorities because the authority figures just shake them off. Educators are there to help students. They shouldn’t take bullying lightly.
I feel that this has been happening more often since the children feel that the the authority figures in the school don’t really do anything to stop the bullying. I think actions need to be done to make it known about the actions that follow bullying all forms of bullying on students. I don’t think that a law will decrease bullying. I think that the victims need to be confident in telling someone with authority about is happening to them. No one should be victimized because they are seen as different. School officals should be trained to detect bullying and not take it so lightly. How would they feel if it was there child who was being bullied and they ended their own life or someone else ended their life?

It shocks and saddens me to read this article; my initial reaction was deepest sorrow, not only for the two boys but for their families and friends, and other victims of bullying who hear their stories. Eleven is dramatic enough an age without any added pressure. For some it can be extremely to difficult to decide on a sexual orientation if confused; Sirdeaner Walker addressed that her son was clearly not openly gay, just confused, and even that made him a target for bullies. I myself am confused on a few issues presented in this article: for example, I cannot understand why the Mayor Bloomberg administration in New York City will not enforce the Dignity for All Students Act. I just can’t wrap my head around why a politician would not want to support something like this. Working to end bullying could never be misconstrued as a bad move. I think that’s one of the things that stood out to me the most - that he won’t back that Act.

It is clear that the bullies are having difficulties expressing themselves in meaningful and positive ways; that is why they take out their - anger? confusion? - on others. While I think it’s important for schools to implement these anti-bullying laws and regulations, creating consequences for misbehavior, I think it’s just as important to try to prevent it from happening, not just dealing with it appropriately when it does. Teachers need to strive to be good models for their students, exhibiting open minds and tolerance for all races, religions, and orientations. Especially for younger children, that modeling is crucial. However, teachers can only implement so much into their students. If children come from racist or intolerant homes, little they learn at school will counteract their first five years of learning. Teachers and school administrators need to discuss these issues not only with students, but with parents. Parents need to learn how to deal with correcting their children’s behaviors should they be bullies. Additionally, they should be provided with the tools to learn how to cultivate their children’s minds in a beneficial way. Granted, it is not the job of the school to raise the children for the parents; but they should strive to work together so the kids are given a consistent example of how they should act. The schools definitely play a crucial role here - the percentage cited was that two thirds of polled students had heard teachers making slanderous comments, and that really needs to be corrected - but not all the blame falls with the school.

Bullying is the scourge of the school system, and it is up to the combined efforts of teachers and parents to put an end to it. In our schools, faculty and staff are virtually oblivious to the extent to which these kids persecute one another, especially when it comes to kids of a differing sexual orientation. Even when they are informed, they take inadequate measures to pursue the offendors (Hence the dire need for acts like the Dignity For All Students Act). These kids are the among the easiest prey in a culture in which separation of church and state is only partial and religious prejudices , where the word ‘gay’ is synonymous with ’stupid’ or ‘dumb’ among middle school children and where narcissism and egocentrism is encouraged by pop music and television. Thus, to fix this problems, solutions have to be made on all levels, from the school level to general society.

On the school level, no tolerance policies and strict enforcement are good as a first step. However the innate drive of some children to inflict harm and or assert their perceived superiority/dominance over another will simply drive it into a more covert mode. The second step is to change how students set norms amongst themselves. At the middle school age, a major concern is fitting in and comforming to some group and thus establishing a sense of identity. This is where education about these issues becomes important. Homosexuality, sexual identity and such should be something that kids are explicitely educated about in their health classes. While this has the potential to open up a whole new can of worms (due to teacher prejudices which were fairly common according to the statistics in the above article), by teaching these concepts along with open mindedness and respect for fellow human beings, it may be possible to educate kids out of some societal prejudices such as homophobia.

I know first hand the importance of policies to prevent bullying. During middleschool I was the one singled out as ‘the weird kid’. When people, girls especially wrote up their ‘hate lists’, my name was on virtually every one just because of my ADHD and tendancy to irritate people. I’ve been physically pinned to the ground and harrassed on the bus (the worst incident involved kids shoving me over and sitting/jumping on top of me). These were the worst cases. I will not even bother to mention details about the mean faces and names or objects thrown at me. In the physically violent episodes, I did report them to the school faculty. And they left me alone from then on. When the schools act, it works.

The case in the article above transcends the school level. The issues are a product of larger patterns in society, those of homophobia and gender norms, which stem from the pervasiveness of literalist interpretation of religious texts. Most notably of the religious texts is the book of Leviticus (jewish/christian) which indeed states that a man should not lie (in otherwords, have sex with) another man. The closed minded non-thinking literalist would interpret this as meaning that homesexuality is outlawed by God. Of course, so is wearing clothing made of two different types of material (Leviticus 19:19), or cursing one’s mother and father (Leviticus 20:9). Some of these laws had practical purposes, scaring kids into respecting their elders or making better clothing. Male homosexuality could’ve been forbidden for a number of reasons, such as infection or ‘uncleanliness’ (which I’ll leave to your imagination) during a time before condoms when that was truly a concern. Is the literalist thinking about this? No. It is this kind of thing that needs to be addressed on the society level, outdated ways of thinking (or not thinking) which cause more harm than good. This is not something that can be addressed in public schools due separation of church and state (which I do support), but could be in political campaigns and on legal and community levels.

Religion, while being one of the major justifications for homophobia, it is not the only one. On a much simpler level, homophobia results from the repulsion heterosexuals have towards homosexual immagery involving members of their own sex. In otherwords, the thought of intercourse between you and a member of your own sex most likely strikes you as ‘gross’. In less rational individuals, this emotional aversion is projected onto homosexual people. Thus the aversion of homosexuality translates into an aversion toward homosexuals themselves. For boys, the association between male homosexuality and femininity may also cause of repulsion. How this connection is made is uncertain, it does indeed exist, and in a culture where boys seem to be pushed by their fathers towards activities and values that they erroneously believe ‘Make them men’ does cause them to be averted toward engaging in anything they perceive as feminine.

While the non religious components of these issues can be addressed in school, their success depends on society level change. Children often adopt many of the beliefs of their parents (in spite of the rebellious ‘phase’ they often enter in their teen years), which includes their prejudices. As ultimate authorities in the lives of their children, parents can easily undermine any efforts the school makes towards changing their beliefs.

I realize that in this response I’ve focused much on homosexuality to the exclusion of bisexuality and transgender, both being issues raised in the article. Yet society’s rejection of bisexual people and transexuals is explainable in all the same ways.

Hearing about families who have children who suffer from bullying that result in suicide is some of the hardest things to read about. You always wish you were there to make a difference for that child before something had happened to them. Reading about The 11 year old and the 14 year old makes I the reader wonder how people can be able to use derogatory names towards them. The other children in their class’s probably don’t even know half of what is like to be stereotyped and set apart from the rest of the kids in the class. Its not just the kids to blame for using name calling and bullying, its where they are getting the ideas from. Without what these kids are watching on television or in the movies, they wouldn’t know the difference from being gay or straight is. The fact that they hear someone say that it is wrong to be a homosexual, and go ahead and use name calling isn’t right at all. They don’t even know that what they are saying, actually is affecting someone’s life and their emotions.

Teachers and parents need to teach their children at a much earlier age the different types of people there are out there. They need to be aware of the amount of impact what they say can really cause damage to someone’s life. By the students being educated or even have real life examples shown to them, may help prevent future bullying. The better understanding they have earlier in life of what is right and what is wrong will be a big help to problems in the future. The school systems can’t be just used to give out punishment for bullying, because the students aren’t going to learn from it. They need to be shown how what they have done has affected someone before it is too late.

First off, my heart goes out to the family and friends of Carl and Jaheem for their loss. No one should ever have to go through losing someone as young as these boys were, no matter the circumstances. When I first read this article, I immediately wanted to blame the school for not acting on the reports and not doing anything to stop the bullying. But, then as I thought more about it, I realized there is only so much the school can do about bullying. The statistic presented in the article of “More than 67 percent of students reported hearing school personnel making homophobic, sexist or negative remarks about gender expression” is astounding and by no means acceptable for teachers to be talking about while around students. But, people make derogatory comments because it is what they think. That is part of life and part of being a citizen of this country (The United States) is having the right to think what you want to think and say what you want to say. I am not saying thinking or making derogatory comments about sex, gender, etc. is right or wrong, but that if people think something, you cannot say that they are wrong for thinking that. Saying, in the other hand, is more cut and dry. There are places TO say something and places NOT TO say something. If you are out for a drink with your co-teachers on a Saturday night, you can say things to them that you would not say in a school setting with children around. Teaching is a professional position where you are expected to act professional. Making derogatory comments in school with children around is completely unacceptable and should not be tolerated by any school district in the country.

To an extent, the school is responsible for preventing and handling bullying. To prevent bullying, they should implement mandatory sessions within the school year about bullying, such as what bullying actually is, forms of bullying, why not to bully someone, and the effects on someone that has been bullied. Schools also need to handle bullying more seriously. If a student comes to an administrator, teacher, coach, etc. and reports being bullied, it should be the schools responsibility and obligation to follow through with that report and punish the student who was bullying. But as stated before, I believe the school can only do so much to handle bullying. For instance, let us say that a student reports being bullied to the dean of the school, and the dean gives the bully a 5-day suspension. He goes home and informs his parents he has been suspended for bullying someone (or his parents found out from the school). What do his parents do? How do they react to their child being a bully? If they simply put it off and say, “You shouldn’t do that. That’s not ok to do.” do you think that is going to have a lasting affect on the child not to do it again? Parents need to understand too the seriousness of bullying, as well as schools, and talk to their children about not bullying and the effects it has on children. The school can only do so much to prevent and punish bullies, but it responsibility lies with the parents to how their child thinks and acts. The school can control the child and make sure they act in an appropriate way in school. But that is within school. Parents need to be more responsible for how their child thinks and acts and less dependant on the school to do this for them. Parents need to become parents again and rely less on the school to do their duty.

When I was 13 years old I found out that a 10-year-old boy at my friend’s school had committed suicide by hanging himself from the fan in his room. From that day on, the thought of why someone would go so far as to take their own life plagued me. A few years later I would understand exactly what that young man might have thought as I struggled with my own depression.
The pressure that our youth have in our day-and-age has almost tripled in the past few decades. During my parents generation, kids were allowed to just play and have fun. As they got older, they were expected to mature and fulfill an adult-like attitude, but in our world today, young kids are supposed to act like adults even while in middle school. These young boys, as mentioned in the article, aren’t even old enough to really understand what it means to have a sexual orientation. They are going through lots of growth and changes during this age, and need support, not pressure, from the people that they are supposed to look up to for help.
All adolescents need room for growth (mentally, physically, and emotionally) and an atmosphere that fosters it, but we dont’ necessarily need to protect these students from every single harmful act or hurtful word that comes their way.
Students need to be taught how to stand up for themselves, but the bullies also need to be taught self-regulation and self-consciousness. If a victimized student doesn’t feel like they have anywhere to turn for help, then they will suffocate inside the box they build to protect themselves. No, these boys shouldn’t have been put in a bubble to prevent them from the world having an affect on them, but they obviously weren’t being guided or counseled on how to deal with situations such as theirs. Anybody, regardless of age, without a social-emotional support system are going to have a hard time in any type of social setting, whether it be good or bad. When you feel alone or singled-out, the amount of people in the room has no effect on your emotional state of “aloneness”. These young guys were having to deal with their peers’ parent’s opinions influencing their own opinions (because they are, quite frankly, too ignorant to have a realistic opinion on heavy social issues at such a young age).This is just one of many reminders of how bullying can get to an extreme when allowed to get out of hand, espeically in a situation with a very vulnerable, maturing adolescent.
This story really struck my heart because if I hadn’t had my faith in Christ or my siblings to keep me motivated to live without self-inflicted pain or suicide, then I can’t say that I would have made it out of my struggles unharmed. I now know that because of what I went through that I can have a positive influence on young girl’s lives that are struggling with the same changes or circumstances, but it is always a tragedy when a young soul escapes the reach of those who desire to change their circumstance for the better.

I was greatly saddened when I read about the two 11-year-old boys who took their life because of bullying. How awful that these two young boys had their whole lives ahead of them and ended it all too early because they could not deal with the problem of bullying. Their temporary problem seemed so horrible to them that they sought out a permanent solution. This shows just how devastating the effects of bullying can be. A child is very impressionable and to hear harassment and negative remarks can have a very serious effect on a child. This is why bullying cannot be brushed off as just immaturity or not a big deal. It may not seem like a big deal to an outsider, but to the victim of bullying, it is an overwhelming deal. This article especially hits home with me because a boy from my high school committed suicide because he was the target of bullying for several years. I have also had several people close to me who were victims of bullying and attempted to take their own lives. Bullying should not be taken lightly, and the horrible effects of bullying need to be a priority to schools, to teachers, to parents, and to the rest of society.
Schools need to respond to bullying as the serious offense it is. Just like with drugs and alcohol, there should be zero tolerance for bullying. This means bullying should be dealt with harshly and bullies should know that they will not be able to get away with intimidating or harassing others. As soon as one teacher or administrator turns a blind eye to bullying, the bully thinks he or she can get away with what he or she is doing and the behavior continues. If the bully knows he or she will be punished, the bully will be less inclined to continue bully. Bullying should be dealt with at its very starting stages before it escalades into a serious problem. This means a teacher should watch for any kind of actions or words that could potentially be harmful to another student and should deal with the problem right away.
Just as important as punishing bullying is fostering a caring environment. Part of the reason a bully bullies another student is because the bully does not understand the other student. By educating students on differences and pointing out how these differences are a positive thing, whether it is differences in sexuality, race, or physical characteristics, schools can help students be more accepting of each others’ differences. Holding students accountable for their actions, having students self-monitor their behavior, and encouraging students to interact with each other is a good way to promote a caring environment. In addition, most bullies are intolerant because they are insecure of themselves. Many bullies are also the victims of bullying and abuse. Many bullies feel unimportant or powerless and put others down to build themselves up. By helping build the bully’s self esteem, a school can help prevent bullying from occurring further.
Schools need to provide support for the victims of bullying. Providing support for the victim is a very critical thing. I know firsthand the power of this. As a kid who was bullied for several years in grade school and middle school, what helped me deal with the bullying was knowing there were people there who cared about me. I was involved in other activities outside of school where I made good friends who understood me and supported me. I had several adults who were close to me, stood by my side, and helped stop the bullying problem. Even though the bullies made me feel alone and unwanted at times, the other people in my life made me feel loved, like I was not alone, and made me feel important. I was lucky enough to have many supportive friends and family in my life, so I never let the bullying get to me too much. The two boys in this article were not that lucky, as are too many other victims of bullying. They were overlooked, not shown like they really mattered, and this only reinforced what the bullies were telling them. This is a mistake schools cannot afford to make. A student who is bullied needs to know that someone cares. Even if the bullying cannot be stopped right away, the victim will cope with the bulling better if he or she knows there is someone who does care for them. When a student tells a teacher that he or she is being bullied, the student is trusting the teacher to help. If the teacher does not do anything to help the student, then the student feels like he or she cannot trust anyone and that no one cares about him or her. This is when one becomes desperate enough to take one’s own life. Training teachers about the critical role they can play for students who are victims of bulling will prevent teachers from turning a blind eye.

It was difficult for me to continue reading this article after reading the first few sentences. It’s rather upsetting and disturbing that children so young result to suicide because they can no longer take the abuse by fellow classmates. The deaths of Carl Walker and Jaheem Herrera could of been prevented. I believe both schools did not do their job in protecting their students. I am a strong believer that a school could be a safe place for everyone. School staff have to keep in mind that not every student may have the best life at home, and sometimes school is the only time were the child can feel safe. Ignoring any issue that makes a student feel unsafe at any level is unacceptable. A school should be a safe place to learn and there should be zero tolerance of violence, regardless of a student’s personal views. Reading all the alarming statistics about of the physical, mental abuse of LGBT should be enough for schools to recognize it is out there and something should be done. Kids are very smart and will not always abuse their fellow classmates when a teacher is present. If a student does come up to a staff member about being abused, it shouldn’t be taken lightly, too many students have resulted into hurting themselves because they feel like no one cares about them. How many stories about teenage suicide need to be out there out there before schools get the hint?? Students get punished for abusing teachers and staff, but they ignore it when students are getting hurt? That doesn’t make sense to me!
I feel like some students may be influenced by their parents values or what they may watch on TV. There have been several shows in which teens abuse students who are LGBT. Seeing this images may give the students ideas of their own. Also, sometimes parents do not teach their children from right and wrong and may not always know better (referring to the kids who abused Carl and Jaheem), but it may be a reason for why the students treated Carl and Jaheem. In addition I feel like Carl and Jaheem kept everything to themselves was because they were embarrassed and did not want anyone to know that they were being abused. Not many people are open about being abused, and being so young they could of felt they could handle it. However, letting it build in for so long they finally popped and no longer knew what to do.
About a year ago I saw an Oprah special about school bullying. The gathered a bunch of students from different cliques and put them into their school gym for a daylong event of team building. Students learned about things about their classmates they may have known prior to that day. Emotions circulated throughout the room, students slowly regretted things they may have done to others. This was an emotional episode to watch, but gave me lots of ideas for when I start my own classroom. Having students come together and even learning a few things about their life students could possibly relate and be more supporting rather than hurting their classmates. I also thing having school-wide assemblies is a good idea. Having people come in who have had experienced with being abused of was the abuser talking about their experience. This may not always be the most effective way, but it spreads awareness and enforces to students it is not okay to hurt others. One of the simplest way is to not tolerant any kind of violence in their classroom or anywhere in the school. Have a box in your classroom where students can write anonymous notes to the teacher about anything is bothering them. That way the teacher is aware of the situation and can address it and pay more attention to his/her students.

Wow… This is awful. All of the mentioned deaths were preventable. Really, if a kid mentions suicide, I was under the impression that if anyone in power hears it they had to try to find out what’s going on. Also, it seems to be willful ignorance on the part of the school. Calling teenage immaturity on the fact that students are hurting others, even emotionally, could almost be seen as approving the behavior.

But what can be done about it? One method seems to be the act that was mentioned, but the government acts slowly. While I feel that it will eventually work, I also wish there was a method to enact change faster. Of course, training is best for this, but the problem of money always comes up. It seems to me that one of the best methods for stopping bullying is to actually show that there will be consequences for the actions. If kids see that they can get away with bullying, it only encourages them to do such. Beyond that, actually having a support system for the kids seems to be a good move. Hopefully it works as intended, and saves some kids from this torture.

As a general reaction not pertaining necessarily to any previous posts, my overall belief is that the adults in all of these situations need to take more responsibility and act more proactively.
Though most children know right from wrong and should be held accountable for their actions, elementary and middle school children look to their teachers and parents for how to act and how to treat people who are different from them. By setting a positive example, hopefully students will follow suit and learn that it is not acceptable to ridicule, abuse and assault. Teaching explicitly correct behavior should also not be overlooked.
Another responsibility of teachers and administrators especially, is to be sensitive to any hint or sign of a threat within their school. Sweeping things under the rug, choosing to be ignorant of the dynamics among students or failing to enforce school policies is entirely unacceptable. Educators are not providing a productive or safe environment for students by being passive when it comes to bullying of any kind.
Besides not knowing how to appropriately interact with children who may be slightly different from them, children also harass LGBT children because of the negative stigma associated with homosexuality. In the media, within families, and among friends, people who are homosexual are portrayed in a negative, inaccurate light. To some children they are, unfortunately, presented as bad people or even less of a person. It is easier to be cruel to someone who has been dehumanized.
We must all make an effort to erase the negative stigma placed upon the homosexual community by hateful or confused people in society.

This article really bothers me. I have a lot of friends who are gay or lesbian, and yes they have put up with their fair share of abuse for it. I don’t see how people can be so upset about others being gay. Who cares? Are people really sitting in their houses just fuming mad thinking, “I’M SO MAD BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE ARE GAY!” That doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s not your life, it doesn’t have any effect on you. This is disgusting, and ridiculous, especially with kids. Kids learn things from several places, but I feel as if the biggest place they are influenced is around their friends at school. That is where there is the least amount of authoritative supervision, and children often feel the need to impress their friends or agree to be part of the group. This is really stupid, I honestly can’t believe that in the times we live in, people are still being persecuted for their sexuality. Not even by law, but by random people that are upset that others are gay. Kids were bullied to the point of suicide because they felt that there was nowhere to run to for help. Schools need to take more of an initiative in order to ensure the safety of the children who enter within its walls every single day. I don’t feel as if being gay is a choice. It is like being born male or female or white or black or red or green or whatever. It is just how people are and it’s incredibly disgusting that people are treating others like that because of how they are. Would you kill someone because they were a woman or man or their skin was black or white or yellow, would you bully someone to the point of them killing themselves because they had red hair, or brown hair, or blonde hair? It’s just how some people are. This is literally revolting and infuriates me.
Schools and parents really need to take some initiative with these things. How can a problem that is leading to death being looked over so casually? People’s lives are ending because of bullying. If it is happening in schools, then the schools should be the ones policing what is going on. Recently there are more laws being created to stop bullying or things that will be detrimental to ones future. Schools need to start laying down the law, and making sure that kids aren’t being bullied as severely as they are now. There is no way to completely alleviate bullying completely, however, there can be drastic measures taken to reduce the amount of bullying there is already. Make punishments more severe. Have it be more of a focus of school officials. Children are very secretive and a lot of bullying goes on under the radar of teachers and other people who work for the school. Cutting down on bullying will be a difficult thing to do, but it can be done. There is a way. Nietzsche said, “He who has a why can bear almost any how,” and if people are losing their lives to this, I think that’s a damn good why.

WOW…. I am just amazed that school officials did nothing to stop the harassment. As a school official it is not only your job to teach students but make sure there is a safe environment for the students to learn in. I feel really bad for the Walker and Herrera family. I wish the children would have talked to their parents first before anything bad happened. Also, the friends of the children killed, should have come forward before anything like this could happen.
I think children need to have more knowledge on what types of support systems are available to them so these kind of acts can be prevented. They need knowledge on support systems for both their homosexuality and for bullying.
If you are a teacher and a child is being bullied, you need to do something about it. Even if the children don’t tell you, there are always signs of bullying. Part of being a teacher is creating a safe learning environment and you must always look for signs of bullying. Lets face it, there is always going to be bullying in the school, it is just life but it is not only on the children but also the teacher to take action.

It is sad to hear that hate crimes are still happening today. No mother should have to say a final good bye to their children, especially at eleven years old. The childrens lives are only just beginning and are taken away so suddenly. It makes me wonder if these hate crimes would have ended the same way, were the students profiled caucasian? I do not believe the administration took the right steps to end the situation. It seems like the administration avoided the situation in hopes that it would disappear on its own. However, I doubt the administration wanted the situations to end the way they did.

I believe the administration of schools should implement an anti-bullying education unit into their curriculum. Also the schools should have set consequences for students that choose to bully other students. Hopefully this will make the administration confront the situation right away and not wait for it to go away. My heart goes out to the families and friends of the two students profiled above.

I was not surprised that the administration was not hands on in their reaction to the problem. Often times, it seems that administrators are reluctant to take serious action when it comes to bully. Whether this is a result of laziness or fear of the response from parents and student, I do not know. It is utterly shocking that two eleven year old boys committed suicide because of derogatory statements made about their sexuality. Bullying for sexual preference occurring at the young age of eleven is shocking. Middle school, in general, is the time when many students complain of being bullied but I had not realized that this type of bullying was occurring. It is a true shame. Carl’s mother,Sirdeaner Walker, informed the school of her son’s torment and still nothing was done. It makes one wonder if action can only be taken when serious consequences occur such as an eleven year old committing suicide.

Though I can never truly understand why these boys were tormenting I wonder if projection came into play. The students that were harassing Carl and Jaheem may have very well been questioning their sexuality. Often times children and adults alike lash out at people whom they see characteristics in that they have and detest in themselves. Also, at that age it is vital to fit the group norms of your age. Since homosexuality is a minority in general, the eleven year old boys probably stuck out and thus were prosecuted for their differences.

One must wonder what could have been done and what should be done for the future to diminish the chances of such tragedies occurring again. Often times, high schools and especially college have a Gay Straight Alliance club, offering their homosexual and straight students a chance to mingle and form connections and understandings amongst each other. I wonder if something similar to this could occur in a middle school. Since the maturity level amongst these pupils is lower, the group would have to be highly supervised but the basic principle of widening understanding and support for the gay community is, in my opinion, a good idea to start at any age group. Also groups that put on awareness programs for drugs and alcohol could add a section for bullying and sensitivity towards others different than you. If the children are shown that accepting people outside of the way you are is good at an early age, it may decrease the amount of prejudices formed later. Also, if children are aware of what bullying is in all forms then when they see it happening to a peer they could anonymously report it.

The school should also take an active part in the awareness of the bullying happening to their students. There should be drop boxes where students could leave anonymous notes saying they are being bullied. They would not have to write their name but perhaps the class in which they are being bullied. That way, the teacher could be informed and pay extra attention to any disruptive behavior and confront it right away. Once the students see that bullying will not be tolerated, they will be less likely to try to get away with it. Overall awareness by teachers, parents and administrators but especially fellow children is needed to try to stop these tragedies.

What happened to the two boys in this article is sad. They were at the age where they were not 100% sure of who they are, and for someone to come along and make them think something that was not their own idea and then to negatively act on it by taking their lives is extremely wrong.

I believe that there needs to be a repsonse on both sides of the spectrum. There needs to be some give on the “victims” side and some give on the “offenders” side. The kids walking around today using gay interchangibly with stupid should be punished and educated on why it is not ok to do that. People who are seriously offended by these remarks need to take a step back and realize that the people saying it probably don’t know the “victim’s” sexual orientation. It means nothing, and only when you respond you fuel the fire that you are so desperately trying to avoid. There are different avenues to relieve stress then killing yourself there is always someone to go to.

No one should emit hate the way it is today, a moment of anger or passion once in a while is normal, we are all human. The people on the other side need to get over themselves this is not the 1950’s. Times have changed and the only reason that we are here today is because we survived yesterday…ignore the ignorant people.

The way these schools handled these situations is appalling! I simply cannot believe nothing was done when these children went for help. I cannot believe that students who are in this feel that there is nothing that can be done by the administrators. Students should feel safe at school and protected. True, no one can protect students from everything, but when an issue arises it is the administration to step in. This is their job and they should also act on this because it is the right thing to do when you are in that position of power in a school setting. The teachers should have pulled the bullies into their classrooms or offices and determine a punishment. Zero tolerance is in schools for a reason, it is not just for students who are unpopular or “nerds”. It is to protect everyone no matter what race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation. First offense should be suspension and if it proceeds after that the student will be expelled. I do not believe this is an unfair punishment, it is fitting because the student body needs to know this will not be tolerated. I am not sure what exactly was said to the students or parents when they went for help with these problems, but I wonder if these administrators did not help these students for a reason. I feel it could have been because the administrators had their own personal opinions about homosexuals. Why else would they have not helped a student in need when that is their job?
When I read the first paragraph I was overwhelmed with tears. I almost could not type a response for this article. Last year my friend committed suicide and I have not completely come to terms with it. This was extremely hard to hear that these two boys went to people for help and no one would help. My friend did not go to anyone and we all feel that there is something that could have been to done to prevent his death if we only knew. This honestly breaks my heart and I am crying as I am typing this. I honestly do not know how those who knew about this problem stood by and did nothing to help these boys sleep at night. I would be completely disgusted with myself if I were them. I felt that I could have done something to help my friend even though I spoke to him the day before he died and he said to call him later in the week when I knew what dorm I was staying in next year. I still to this day feel that I could have done something, anything and he would still be here. I just cannot believe no one would help these young boys.