In past few days one news item has captured my attention as well as entire nation. A suicide death of young beautiful girl at tender age of 15, in South Hadley high school in South Hadley Massachusetts.
Her name was Phoebe Prince, 15 year old freshman with angelic face and heart melting smile, whose family had just migrated to US from Ireland. This is what Marie Szaniszlo and Laura Crimaldi of Boston Herald wrote in describing the event.
Excerpts:
SOUTH HADLEY - In the final months of Phoebe Prince’s short life, it was open season on the vulnerable high school freshman as an evil brood of cruel teens allegedly orchestrated a series of vicious attacks - carried out at times in front of school staff who failed to step in and protect her.
Days after nine teens were charged with criminally harassing Prince, the town is abuzz with tales of the torment the 15-year-old Irish immigrant endured before her Jan. 14 suicide.
The disturbing new details that emerged show a pattern of harassment that intensified in Prince’s sad last days - and even followed her to the grave.
Indeed, on the day Phoebe died, one of the accused bullies wrote “accomplished” as her status on her Facebook page, according to the mother of a schoolmate of Prince, who requested anonymity because she fears reprisals against her daughter.]
End Excerpts.
Standing accused are 9 teen, 7 girls[aka Mean Girls at the school] and 2 boys on the charges of brutal bullying and statutory rape allegedly committed by the accused boys. Phoebe’s crime? Besides being vulnerable young beautiful girl, dating the high school football star ex boy friend of one of the accused girls. Her taunters couldn’t stop even then: they began posting their trash on
the teen’s Facebook memorial page.
Phoebe Prince’s tragic story is result of vicious and brutal bullying, which was not prevented by school authorities despite numerous reports, even by victim’s mother. In colloquial speech, bullying is most often used to describe a form of harassment perpetrated by a child who is in some way more powerful than a weaker peer.
Researchers accept generally that bullying contains three essential elements: “(1) the behavior is aggressive and negative; (2) the behavior is carried out repeatedly; and (3) the behavior occurs in a relationship where there is an imbalance of power between the parties involved.
On a study done by US Department of Justice, and of approximately 24,315,000 students between the age of 12 – 18 years, total of 14% were bullied [at school] both directly and indirectly.
“At school” was defined as in the school building, on school property, on a school bus, or going to and from school. Youth ages 12 through 18 were first asked if “they had been bullied at school. That is, had anyone picked on them a lot or tried to make them do things they did not want to do (e.g., give them money)?“ This is referred to as direct bullying. They were also asked, “Have you felt rejected because other students have made fun of you, called you names, or excluded you from activities?“This is referred to as indirect bullying.
Rest in peace Phoebe, they can't hurt you any longer. My deepest sorrow to Prince family and her friends.
Source: //nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005310.pdf
//news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg...
Recently by capt_ayhab | Comments | Date |
---|---|---|
Grandeur of Kiani Crown. | 10 | May 07, 2010 |
Happy Mothers Day | - | May 07, 2010 |
Why Do I Think the Military Strike on Iran is Imminent! | 19 | May 06, 2010 |
Person | About | Day |
---|---|---|
نسرین ستوده: زندانی روز | Dec 04 | |
Saeed Malekpour: Prisoner of the day | Lawyer says death sentence suspended | Dec 03 |
Majid Tavakoli: Prisoner of the day | Iterview with mother | Dec 02 |
احسان نراقی: جامعه شناس و نویسنده ۱۳۰۵-۱۳۹۱ | Dec 02 | |
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Prisoner of the day | 46 days on hunger strike | Dec 01 |
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Graffiti | In Barcelona | Nov 30 |
گوهر عشقی: مادر ستار بهشتی | Nov 30 | |
Abdollah Momeni: Prisoner of the day | Activist denied leave and family visits for 1.5 years | Nov 30 |
محمد کلالی: یکی از حمله کنندگان به سفارت ایران در برلین | Nov 29 | |
Habibollah Golparipour: Prisoner of the day | Kurdish Activist on Death Row | Nov 28 |
The American education system is very broken; so are the kids
by I Have a Crush on Alex Trebek on Fri Apr 02, 2010 03:54 PM PDTThis country is doomed.
The parents who take an interest in home schooling are usually religious zealots. The ones who work hard and send kids to public schools end up with 90% dimly educated children with 10% achievers. Very sad. Most children who graduate high school end up in the Pentagon work camps known as the US Army.
Thank you baby-boomers for making a society of consumerism and sex fanaticism. Children in America grow up with autism, attention deficit disorder, texting, iPods, genetically modified food, hormone milk, and lead in everything.
This poor girl. I cannot even imagine. Thanks for this blog captain. Thank you.
Assault, rape and negligent endangerment
by Ramona on Fri Apr 02, 2010 03:22 PM PDTDear Captain ayhab,
I, too, was very distressed when I heard this horrible news on CNN. For today's youth, bullying and ganging up on innocents seems to be the norm with devastating results. Such behavior, unchecked, continues into adulthood and manifests in everyday aggressive behavior, bludgeoning, rape and even murder.
One of the solutions to this rampid problem is to learn from our early ancestors who taught and initiated their children into adulthood through special schooling and ritual ceremonies. For example, amongst Native Americans, the elders used to pass their experiential knowledge of adulthood to their sons and daughters by taking them to sweat lodges and out in the wilderness and leaving them alone to meditate on their lives internally until they found their totem animal which would help them through their life's journey and instruct their behavior. Similar traditions currently abound amongst the Massai people in Kenya and Tanzania and others.
Unfortunately, in our "modern" Western societies, parents and teachers have no clue about "initiation" and humanitarian teaching. Therefore, I believe that both teachers and parents need to be educated before teaching their kids and preventing such atrocious bullying tactics. Then again, the problem is, "who is to educate the educators?"
Notwithstanding the above, I do believe that the offender teenagers in this case should not only be tried as adults for assault and rape, but also rehabilitated through proper education and mentoring. Otherwise, when they go back into society, they will be even angrier, threateningly psychotic and more destructive.
As for the the teachers who witnessed the emotional abuse and sadly did nothing, they should not only be fired, but the school should be sued for negligent endangerment. They were clearly on notice of the ongoing abuse and chose to stand by until Prince's tragic suicide. We all know that emotional abuse leaves deeper and more longlasting scars than any physical abuse. This innocent teenager was unfortunately victimized by both types of abuse long enough until she couldn't bear living anymore. I really feel for the beautiful innocent Irish immigrant and her mourning parents.
Ramona
Bajenagh Jan
by capt_ayhab on Fri Apr 02, 2010 12:55 PM PDTO God yes I hope they try them as adults.
The story has absolutely broken my heart. The same way when I hear about our own youth in Iran.
Thanks refigh
-YT
capt_ayhab jan
by bajenaghe naghi on Fri Apr 02, 2010 12:41 PM PDTThank you for bringing this topic to our attention. The more this terrible issue is spotlighted the better. I think these sick hooligans should be tried as adults and serve long jail sentences. The staff who witnessed any of these attacks and did nothing should also lose their jobs.