Education Issues Debate

I am not surprised by this...considering that these "little" girls come from a privileged background.  They are spoiled self important children who are most likely given every thing they want and none of what they need.  I went to a school in the late seventies that had girls like this and not only girls but boys also.   The damage that was done to me has been life long.  I thought then that I was ugly ...but I look at the pics now and I see a pretty young lady.  It's a shame I let these cruel people get to me!  I actually confronted one man....many years later for what he did to me.  Nicely, but direct.  He remembered me and said that if he was the man then that he was now, he never would have done it and he apologized to me profusely.  I still feel the sting of it as an adult.  I just quit a job because of the cruel way my co-workers treated me.  I went into work every day with a smile on my face and a good attitude only to let them get the best of me.  Grown woman who are bullies raise girls who are bullies.  I shouldn't have let them get to me.  But this only validation that  you are never to old to be a Mean Girl.

"This is one of the reasons that we will probably continue to school at home."

Don't kid yourself. Unless you are planning on not being in any co-ops or any activity outside the home (dance, martial arts, sports teams, music groups, theater groups, church groups...) your children are at risk of being on someone's list or creating their own lists!

I'll be honest with you some of the nastiest kids I've dealt with are home-schooled kids who felt a need to prove their "coolness". For example, I was at a cast party this past summer and a couple of home-schooled girls (high school aged) outright refused to let a middle school boy sit on the same couch as them (I was sitting in the same room), claiming that it was another girl's seat (public schooled kid, goes to the same school as the boy). These girls were so proud of them selves for chasing off the boy, and when the third girl came into the room they were bragging to her about what they did, going on and on about how much they didn't like the boy. I was so proud of the third girl because she told the first two that they were wrong about the boy, and that if they'd only give him a chance they'd see that he was actually a great guy. She then told them that she was going to find some others to sit with.

Nastiness is not reserved for public school kids. My kids have found that they have an easier time avoiding nastiness at their public schools (they'd been at a private school) because they have an easier time finding other like minded kids.

The district that I was in, and seemingly the one I am currently in, are full of seemingly well to do families (I say seemingly, because I know a bunch are actually hurting in our current economy) and the parent attitudes of "Keeping up with the Jones'" and little giving back to the community seems to be the norm. Parents talk snidely behind a hand, and so do the kids. I don't really associate with people like that. Yes, there will be some things that can not be avoided, but, then again, we will have the CHOICE to be there, to continue on if we want. If we don't like the attitude or the atmosphere, we don't have to continue. Not like school where for the most part kids/parents do not have a choice. I can't protect my kids from everything, but I can help them make choices that will minimize this stuff.

And good for the third girl for standing up to the other two - her parents have taught her right from wrong (and she learned it, where as the other parents may have taught too, but the kids didn't learn the lesson) and to not go along with the herd mentality. And that is what the slut list is, a herd mentality of rather than squashing it and saying that it is not right, the second kid passed it along to the next person until it gets out of hand. And, being kids, they may not (but also may fully understand based on media about Facebook and jobs) how this is going to effect the girls on the list.