Finally saw Bully today. Glad I went and equally glad the message is becoming louder and more insistent. I was teary-eyed through the entire movie. The Assistant Principal who talked down and showed the pictures of her new grandchild to the hurting parents? She was an idiot. And now everyone knows!
It disturbed me that the only non-white child who was bullied that they featured was also in prison/psychiatric care. I am curious how and why they chose to feature each of the students they did. By and far the biggest take-away I got was that adults don't have the tools, education, care, or concern needed to help make this bullying epidemic go away.
Just as an addendum: As a kid, I got my fair share of verbal teasing and harassment on the buses because I went to an alternative elementary school program that happened to share space with the district's special education programs. I took three different school buses each day both ways, but thankfully lived in a neighborhood with some kids who were in the same program. We sort of banded together when the other kids would start in on us. My older brother was also in the same program and did get physically attacked sometimes by other boys at the bus stop. I am appalled that bus drivers aren't able to do anything to stop physical harassment on their buses. Mine would have pulled over and not moved until the bus was quiet and behaving properly. (Just like the mom says in the movie!) Also, bullying isn't just a problem in the U.S. I think it's pretty bad in the U.K., too. The first night I set foot in Scotland, I witnessed a large pack of children chasing after one boy who was about the same age. They knocked him down right in front of me and beat him up using their fists, feet, and belts. I was told by the responding police officer that bullying like that was very common.
