These kids today have it way worse than we did.
Glad for the teacher however.
Outside of 24/7 news cycle and social media, how is it worse?
My grade 3 teacher was physically abusive and the kids who had failed 2 grades were big bullies, physically and verbally. I didn't take a gun to school. I didn't stab them with my pocket knife. There were physical fights in the playgriund sometimes.
It took some time, junior high, but I somewhat got even with JW. I thought I was in for a fight when I spiked the volleyball through his block and hit full on his nose. JW shook his head, llooked at me and said "good hit". I don't remember him bothering me much after that.
In high school, there was two Jansen brothers. Dan was a year older and built like a large man. Tall, broad and tough. His little brother was much smaller and a year younger than me. He was a brat because he operated under Dan's protection. The little twerp was walking up the stairs behind me. He thought it was funny to grab my foot and try to trip me. I told him to smarten up, but he didn't. I got to a landing and turned around, he looked at me with impunity knowing I couldn't do anything for fear of Dan. I told him to stop and shoved his shoulder. I don't recall shoving hard, but the little twerp took flight down the whole flight of stairs and landed in the corner, bounced off the wall and slumped to the ground. I could see a possible beating from Dan because he said he was telling Dan. I next met Dan in intramural volleyball. He stared at me through the net and said he had heard I had pushed his brother down the stairs. I told him what happened. He shook his head like OK. That was the end of it. Maybe he was tired of the twerp too?
Life wasn't always easy in the 70s also, but we didn't shoot or stab people.
You could stand up for yourself and tune up a bully.
I had to walk a fine line. DH and JW were 1-3 years older, not to mention they were big guys for their age, farm boys, and you know how strong ang tough farm boys can be. Generally I could navigate the waters successfully, but sometimes they were just going to pick on you that day. No matter how big I grew (and I am above average size), they were bigger and stronger. I got my shots in, but I never once "won". Not only did we have to contend with the bullies, we had to avoid the teachers and especially the principal, because fighting wasn't allowed. It would be easy to find yourself in for special attention if you were caught fighting. It seemed no one ever caught the bullies in action. Maybe because by the time of junior high, DH and JW were bigger and tougher than the principal?
Bullies are why Sam Colt made revolvers; "God made all men, Sam Colt made them all equal." I'm not advocating shooting bullies, but the presence of a handgun (with adults), can act as a nuclear deterrence to bullying.
Adults in schools have to have their eyes open for bullies and be prepared to deal with them. I think most adults are willfully blind, they don't want to proactively deal with the bullies and their parents. It's left to the kids.
I think kids should fail grades, if they don't perform. But, in my instance, it created the opening for DH and JW to physically dominate us. DH had failed at least one grade, JW at least two.
