Blogs | Daily Crasher
Kick a Kid
By Josh Board | Posted December 1, 2009, 10:54 a.m.
About a month ago, I heard about a middle school in Florida that suspended a few kids. They were participating in something called “kick a Jew day”. I have to think, if there’s a day like that, Florida is where you get things done. I’m just not sure why it was in a middle school. You gotta take it to the retirement community of Florida.
A week ago, a few students got suspended at a different middle school. On their Facebook pages they were promoting something called “Kick a ginger”. And, seven red-heads were kicked at the school.
Some say this stems from a South Park episode.
This all get me to think about Lambert. No, not the American Idol singer. That soccer player for New Mexico who got thrown out after punching, kicking, and ripping the pony tail of a competitor. If she wants to garner some good PR, she should go speak at middle schools. She can call the campaign “Kick a soccer ball, not a kid.”
Kids can channel their anger and energy into sports, and not beating up and fellow students.
I started thinking about my junior high school. And I realized that’s when I saw the largest amount of bullies. In elementary school, there were a few. In 2nd and 3rd grade -- this Irish kid named Patrick. He had frizzy red hair, and he’d punch and pinch you on St. Patrick’s Day if you weren’t wearing green.
In 5th and 6th grade, it was Terry. He had the Napoleon thing going. He was short and wanted to bully everyone around. It was so strange that a 5th grade showed up at our school, and just started taking over. We all hated him immediately.
But in 7th and 8th great, this guy Mike (who I found out years later was arrested and doing five years in the joint). He had blonde hair, a big gut. He was a football player and would walk around giving people “titty twisters”. And they hurt. He would also make fun of anyone that didn’t play football. Oh, and if you “flinched” for any reason when he walked by, he’d punch you and declare “That’s for flinching.” Is it horrible of me to hope that bad things happened to him in prison?
There was a thin but muscular African-American kid that beat the tar out of me. He wasn’t really a bully. He was just hard to figure out. He was quiet and always walked around campus with a chip on his shoulder.
One day, we were all waiting to go into the showers after gym class. As the doors opened to the locker room, we all ran inside. He was in front of me and fell. I just ran by. We all did. He started screaming that I pushed him. I told him I didn’t. But that didn’t stop him from throwing a series of punches, knocking me into the lockers and over the benches that sat in front of them.
As I laid there crying, this short surfer named Kevin walked by. He looked down and said “Look at that guy, crying like a baby.” I wanted to get up and beat the crap out of him.
A few days later I saw Kevin in the shower. And I noticed he was…well…small in certain areas. My entire junior high days were waiting for me to have a run in with him. I wanted nothing more then to whip out (no pun intended) that information, for any classmates around to hear.
The reason I think junior high / middle school has more bullies – well, it’s a lot of reasons. In elementary school, you have friends and classmates you’ve known since kindergarten. They’re all the neighborhood kids that grew up together.
In high school, you’re older. And you may have classmates from all over the city, but you become friends with people you sit next to in class. You find people that have similar interests and gravitate towards hanging out with them. And sure, there may be cliques, but it’s not nearly as bad as the teen movies would make them out to be.
If a nerd walked by the jocks, they didn’t have to fear being stuffed into a locker or a trash can. If you walked by the drama room, they might be rehearsing some scene outside, but nobody made fun of them.
But in junior high, all this stuff is thrown at you. You have the scary element of walking from class to class, with six different teachers. Some are nice, some are mean. And the same with the students you sit around.
You have different areas you can go to during lunch. And, if you’re smart and don’t want to get kicked, you got rid of the lunch box you had in elementary school. My last one was a Superman; I don’t remember the thermos that came with it; maybe because I bought a milk at lunch. But I loved the red and blue colors that adorned the square tin. And the comfort of opening it up to find the delicious turkey sandwich and cookies my mom made for me the night before.
I don't know why, but I don't remember any of the "bullies" from Jr High....especially I know we went to the same one b/c it was the only one around at the time! Why did I have such a different experience than you did is what I really want to know! :-)
But I agree with you points. Kids seem to get meaner as you progress through school. With this thing about kicking other students, that's just stupid. What the hell were these kids thinking? Or better yet, were they thinking?
By redsoxfan 1:08 p.m., Dec 1, 2009 > Report it
I used to play "Kick the Witch" in high school. Kids these days are just imitating, never inventing. It's all the video games.
By FullFlavorPike 1:36 p.m., Dec 1, 2009 > Report it
What is "kick the witch"? Is that where goth kids get a boot in the behind?
redsox...Wangenheim didn't just have bullies running around. I actually enjoyed the time there (although, I lived directly across the street from Challenger. it was built a few years after I graduated high school)
I have a good memory, which means, remembering the good times and the bad. Although...I think most people remember their bad school experiences, no?
By JoshBoard 2:54 p.m., Dec 1, 2009 > Report it
Tons of bullies in high school at Patrick Henry and as well during my ninth grade year at Pershing Junior High (now Pershing Middle School) as i wrote here a few weeks ago about the black chick that threatened to kick my arse (but backed down in the locker room) but none at my junior high back in Skokie, Ill., where i attended seventh and eighth grades (or as you called 'em, "greats" *laughs*)...
Good read here, Josh.
By KarenBP 5:54 p.m., Dec 1, 2009 > Report it
Red, you know how they say if you can't recognize the sucker at the poker table, it's you. Is it possible you can't remember the bullies because you were the bully? Just wondering, because I've thought about how I'd like to meet the bullies that tormented me as a kid, but if I did they probably wouldn't even remember what they were like.
By rickeysays 7:49 p.m., Dec 1, 2009 > Report it
Ever see "Flatliners"??
By KarenBP 7:59 p.m., Dec 1, 2009 > Report it
at Rickey, Josh can confirm with you that I was no bully....far from it, I would think. I was a skinny kid, never weighed more than a buck fifty through high school, standing 6 ft tall. I have a great memory as well, but I guess either I didn't get involved in those kinds of things, or just tried as much as possible to avoid them? I wasn't a recluse, nor was I Mr. Popular....more somewhere in the middle. Also, whenever I am at the poker table, I always recognize the sucker....even if its me.... :-)
By redsoxfan 12:31 a.m., Dec 2, 2009 > Report it
I concur. Redsox was great in junior high, and I only knew him briefly in high school, as we had no classes together. I know he swam, but swimmers weren't considered "jocks" the way the football and baseball players were.
By JoshBoard 1:12 a.m., Dec 2, 2009 > Report it
RE #3: Josh gets the point of "Kick the Witch" in one--although, it's vital that you only kick the cute, goth girls because you have no other means of flirting. I'm always astonished by how young men, my former self notwithstanding, think that picking on girls is a good way to get them to like you.
By FullFlavorPike 2:39 a.m., Dec 2, 2009 > Report it
In 5th grade, I liked Loreen Demetrio, this tall, cute Fillipina in my class. We did the flirting, where she'd sometimes punch me. And we'd throw berries at each other during recess and lunch.
I was coming off the basketball court one day, and she chucked one right at my eye. It hurt, and I was covering my eye. Of course, she ran up apologizing and I said "It's okay."
Well, that afternoon, I got glasses from the eye doctor. And the next day it was April 1st. All the kids in my class thought I was wearing glasses for an April Fools day thing. I kept telling them, "Who am I tricking by wearing these things?" When Loreen asked about them, the first thing that came to mind was to say "Well, that berry you hit me in the eye with...it caused some damage."
She became my "girlfriend" after that, and I swear, it was out of guilt for thinking she damaged my retina or something.
By JoshBoard 9:30 a.m., Dec 2, 2009 > Report it