Proof: Bullying Bans Make it Worse

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

bullyingWe’re failing these kids, Save Jerseyans. Big time. Rather than enact reforms which could actually, in some small way, act as a curb against a rapidly-decaying culture that’s producing kids ill-equipped to deal with the struggles and pressures of the world, we’re wasting millions on programs that aren’t working. At best.

In one southern state, teen suicides are actually on the rise in the wake of so-called anti-bullying measures taking effect:

“In Mississippi, 635 youth ages 10-24 have committed suicide since 2000 — an average of 49 deaths per year — according to data from the state Department of Health Vital Statistics program.

The number hasn’t budged in more than a decade despite widespread efforts to curb teen suicide, including a 2010 state law requiring schools to ban bullying, one of the most often-cited causes of this epidemic.

In fact, teens statewide have reported an increase in many of the behaviors associated with bullying since passage of the Mississippi Anti-Bullying Law.”

It’s a damn disgrace, folks, but it’s also a predictable turn of events when the adults are behaving as poorly as (or worse than) the children they endeavor to mold. We’re not teaching kids about morality, manners, responsibility or plain old common decency anymore, but then when they act out as a direct result of their rudderless existences, we impose laws upon them which further retard their collective ability to learn proper social skills.

Don’t take my word for it…

Ask any public school educator (off the record) and they’ll confide in you the extent to which the maze of paperwork, procedure and pseudo-science established is creating havoc in the classroom. The only true “winners” are my fellow trial lawyers who are seeing a spike in new lawsuits and, thanks to one recent court ruling, the possibility that schools facing bullying suits can enjoin the bully’s parents. Cha-ching!

Enough is enough. We’re hoping against hope that a Virginia-based civil liberties organization’s constitutional challenge to our state’s own moronic anti-bullying law succeeds. Then we’ll (im)patiently wait for a Republican to stand up and both loudly and clearly articulate how to save this generation.

 

Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8390 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.

5 Comments

  1. Mississippi ? You cannot be serious! Have you actually looked at the law and compared with NJ? They have institutionalized bullying for many in their schools!

    Looks as if you picked a couple of cherries and entered them in the national 4H watermelon competition

  2. Another liberal who can’t admit it when another one of their social engineering projects fails. Miserably. How can we except our kids to learn responsible behavior when none of the liberals teaching them will take responsibility for anything? Shame on you.

  3. I have a daughter in middle school, and I’ll tell you one thing: this new Anti-Bullying law makes it a piece of candy to victimize a kid by ganging up on him or her. As long as one’s buddies can testify that “the other kid started it”, one is absolutely free to do anything to the victim.

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