Thoughts ... ?

[Pixelated]

So I'm driving home tonight along one of My Hometown's busiest streets ... we're talking two lanes in each direction (sometimes three, sometimes more, if you count left turn lanes). And it's busy.

There's a fair number of pedestrians out there. Two caught my eye: a young girl (early teens) holding a piece of cardboard, accompanied by an older man. You often see kids out there waving cardboard signs for fundraiser car washes, although they're usually on weekends or holidays, so I didn't think much of it. I figured this was something similar (it is unnaturally warm here these days, so the weather wouldn't be a deterrent).

Until I got closer.

The girl was holding both ends of the cardboard sign, which was hung around her neck by a piece of string.

And the sign read: "I LIKE TO BULLY HANDICAPPED KIDS".



Soooo ... we're definitely not talking a fundraiser carwash.

I don't know the backstory, of course -- how long she's been doing this, what her parents and school might have already tried to get her to stop, and so on.

But holy moley ...

[mjr]

Betcha she doesn't do that anymore.

[Tanasi]

From the description I'd venture to say this isn't the first time she's been caught bullying someone(s). The punishment seems appropriate providing she truly learns the lesson.
Had this been one of my kids the sign would have only been a small part of their learning experience.

[Pixelated]

From the description I'd venture to say this isn't the first time she's been caught bullying someone(s). The punishment seems appropriate providing she truly learns the lesson.

Emphasis on the second sentence is mind. That is exactly it ... presuming she learns something and doesn't see it as "I'M being picked on!" and "I'M gonna call somebody and report my parents!!" and blah blah blah.

And yeah, I wonder if this resulted from a long string of incidents, with nothing her parents or the school could do having any effect.

[s_stabeler]

Fundamentally, it depends on what prompted the parents to do this. if this was something of a last resort, then it may be fine. however, I have noticed a trend of public humiliation being used as something of a first resort- which should never be the case.

Fundamentally, the problem with public humiliation as a punishment is that punishments should- with a couple of rare exceptions- be the end of the matter. With public humiliation, it can cause a disproportionate- potentially permanent- effect on the person punished. (That, and I go by the principle that punishments should be able to be cut short if the miscreant is repentant- which is why I dislike parents selling a favorite toy as a punishment. (take the toy away by all means- but don't get rid of it, so that if the kid is repentant, the toy can be returned. call it carrot and stick- if you misbehave, you lose the toy, but if you change, you get the toy back)

[mjr]

Emphasis on the second sentence is mind. That is exactly it ... presuming she learns something and doesn't see it as "I'M being picked on!" and "I'M gonna call somebody and report my parents!!" and blah blah blah.

And yeah, I wonder if this resulted from a long string of incidents, with nothing her parents or the school could do having any effect.

"Cash me ousigh!!"

[mjr]

it can cause a disproportionate- potentially permanent- effect on the person punished.

But couldn't that be looked at as a positive, depending on the effect?

[s_stabeler]

not with the effect i had in mind- I'm talking about the fact that kids can be cruel, and it could get the kid bullied, hence disproportionate, since even if she was a bully, that doesn't mean she should be bullied.

IF the only permanent effect was her not bullying people anymore, I agree with you though.