Other

What I saw in middle school was not as crucial as in other schools but it was bullying. There were these cliques in elementary through middle school. They were four girls who gossiped about everyone but targeted mainly one girl. Those girls would call her a lesbian for no good reason. Especially when the girl came into sixth grade with her hair cut much shorter. This “clique” of theirs was disturbing. All they thought about was themselves and no one else. The clique didn’t bully me but gossiped like I said before. The thing that hurt me the most was one of those girls was my best friend. We had known each other since we were born. Her mom and my mom went to school together. Gradually my best friend was being taken away from me and she was turning into a monster. When there was a fight between these cliques she’d come to me the next day she wouldn’t talk to me and act like she’s too cool for me. Next thing you know I’m friends with the. What I did was sometime stand there and listens to the crucial things they said. I told them a few times not to say that but they would roll their eyes and act like nothing even happened. The rest of the time I was a bystander and did not do anything because I did not want to get involved. Sometimes I was even part of these cliques. When it came to boys I didn’t even want to get involve with that. If you told a boy to stop bullying you they would just make fun of you or say ok. But then they keep making fun of that person all over again. I didn’t do anything because I didn’t want to get made fun of and it wasn’t very “severe”. The school administration did a good job of making sure to stop bullying but not so much the gossip which hurt just as bad or worse. Even when teachers turned their back for a split second there would be name calling, throwing, and much more.

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**__ Bullying At My School __** While at Ventura Missionary I saw very minimal bullying. Most of it was verbal and psychological with the exception of about 2-3 physical confrontations that lasted mere seconds. I remember seeing people exchanging miniscule insults that weren’t paid attention to and forgotten soon after. While other times I saw people purposely excluded from a group. Another form a bullying I saw was when a particular person was completely ignored by most students for a period of time, which led to arguments that weren’t unnoticed. While it didn’t happen often I still saw the damage it rarely caused. When time came and I was the one to be bullied, I never really dwelled on it long enough to continue a grudge or have an ongoing fight with the person. Rather I tried to let it pass and forget it happened, because if something happened the school was small enough to were everyone would know about it. The bullying I usually endured was almost always verbal, so I never had to physically fight, although on some occasions I did have to show that I was capable and if need be willing. But I do remember having to use an old trick I learned as a response back. I was at a table talking with some friends when another kid made what I thought was a hurtful comment towards me, but instead of taking it personally I laughed with the others. When he questioned why, I said,” Why can’t I laugh at myself every once in a while.” He had trouble thinking of what to say back realizing he had looked foolish muttering trying to come up with a response back. Although this wasn’t the case every time, I still had to do what most students did, continue a meaningless argument to see who would come out on top. Ventura Missionary did not take too kindly to bullying. Any form of it would be considered wrong, and if any reports came in it was dealt with immediately. With it being a small private school, punishment was swift and usually ended with detention, a phone call to the parents, and in some cases suspension. This was mostly due to the volunteer adults that watched every part of the school. The teachers were in the classrooms and the volunteers were in the halls, gym, and on the lunch area. So for me middle school was not a hell hole but a semi peaceful learning environment. 

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In my school everywhere I went I saw bulling. One kid I knew in 5th grade got it really bad. People would call him fat or 4 eyes. At one point he lied to make himself look cooler to other people. This did not help this made it worse. At one point when he was playing football on the playground and then a kid that hated him talked him on the concrete and broke his arm. Then the kid that broke his arm got expelled. After a year of being tortured he left to go to a nether school. At the time he was being bulled I did nothing. At the time I was new to school. I had been homeschooled for years and then when I went to school in 5th grade I found myself in the middle of school bulling. Some of the bullies thought that I was kind of cool and for being new to school and not having any friends I did not want to get in front of them and then have them want to be me up for trying to stand up to them for someone. Now it world have never mattered because I don’t even see them anymore. Sometimes I wish that I would have stood up for that poor kid. Now I feel bad for him and I hope that he never has to go through that anymore. When the teachers heard of this they did nothing at first they just sat there. Then the bulling kept going on and they started to do just a little bit. Then after they started to hear it all over the place they talked to us. They told us that they did not want to hear about us fighting and they said that it was bad. That was not going to do anything though just telling them they did not want to hear about it. Then when they heard about the kids breaking his arm then they flipped out but they should have seen it coming. They still did not do anything to stop or to help the problem of bulling and now seeing the school I think it got worse. 11-13 year olds are the meanest things to you can ever think of. They do not listen most of the time. They are mean to their peers and they complain about everything when something does not go their way. They also think that they are the coolest thing and that no one can touch them. I do not think that they can be changed. They live in a world where there are people that hate and so they copy what they see. They also live in a world where if they have money there parents are going to most likely buy them whatever they cry for.