No Child Left Unscarred

By Robert Ringer

I recently received this disturbing e-mail from a reader:

My 16-year-old son hung himself 90 days ago because the school principal threatened him for violating a rule he didn't break, said that "the cops are getting involved," that "this is gonna be big," etc. - a lot of threats.

I had to pick him up and take him home, then had to go back to work. My son hung himself four hours later, before I came home. I cut him down and started CPR before help arrived.

Now, the school says they have no records of that day and won't produce them. Tox screening showed no use of drugs or alcohol, yet the school has led people to believe the incident was drug related.

My lawyer doubts we can do anything. What should I do? My son and I were best friends, and he even mentioned that in the note he left. Please offer me some advice on how to deal with this. - S.B.

S.B., your story not only saddened me, it brought back old memories and made me see red. I am all too familiar with this kind of terror being wreaked upon students by teachers and principals. While I don't have any firsthand knowledge of the facts in your case, based on my own experience, I would be inclined to believe your son's side of the story without even having known him.

While pundits and politicians continue to brainwash the public with blather about how heroic "our" teachers are, I stand firm with John Stossel on the subject: Both teachers' unions and public schools should be abolished. They are the biggest terrorist threat in America, because they harm children every single day.

While there are certainly teachers who are both well-educated and well-meaning -and who make a sincere effort to help, rather than hurt, children - they are most decidedly in the minority.

Over the years, I've received many e-mails from teachers and ex-teachers who have a genuine loathing for the National Education Association (NEA) - which is, in reality, nothing more than a professional lobbying organization for teachers who ruin the lives of millions of children. Their motto should be "No Child Left Unscarred."

As to principals, I have clearly expressed my views on their ilk in previous articles, particularly in my article "The School Principle/Principal Problem" (The Cho Factor, Part XV). As I said in that article, I had many meetings with principals over the years with regard to bullying and other outrageous behavior by teachers, and, without exception, they tenaciously defended the teachers in question.

In a perfect world, every school board would make it clear to the principal that he works for, and is answerable to, the parents of his students. In other words, the principal would understand that he is not there to defend the teachers. But with the professional vote-buyers who are now at the controls in Washington, bad teachers, bad principals, and bad schools are certain to remain untouchable for a long time to come.

S.B.'s story resonated strongly with me because of a similar incident that occurred when my son was in middle school. He has a particular kind of "learning issue" that made him vulnerable to both student and teacher bullies. (This is a sensitive subject, so I want to guard my words carefully. You'll have to do some reading between the lines.)

My son had the "misfortune" of being the kind of kid who was, and still is, exceptionally kind and nice to everyone, very well mannered, and always anxious to please. His gullibility and naiveté, along with being one of the smallest kids in his class, made him a delectable target for bullies - of both the student and teacher varieties.

There were a number of eminently bad kids who teased and bullied my son day in and day out. And why not? They never got punished for it! If there are no consequences to a bully's actions, the message is clear: "The victim is fair game."

On this particular day, two of the punks who constantly gave my son grief, knowing how much pride he took in his basketball skills, started taunting him about how they could beat him in basketball. As usual, they wouldn't let up, and, as usual, he took the bait and exchanged words with them. It's not easy to teach a twelve-year-old to ignore obnoxious kids who are trying to provoke you.

At one point in the back-and-forth gibberish, my son pointed to his shoes and said, "I'll bring my nines to school tomorrow, and we'll see how good you are." (Note: He wore size 9 basketball shoes.) What happened from that point on was like something out of an NEA training film, the kind of thing that has resulted in many students ending up like S.B.'s son ... and has brought out the worst in disturbed young people like Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho.

The rest of the story continues in Part XXXIV of this article ...