Although the charges against Katelyn Roman were dropped, I still think she is guilty. I think that it is hard for us to talk to kids about situations like this but, if she ended up being guilty maybe it would put out a better message to kids who have been bullied about people who do the bullying. With this young girl to basically just get a slap on the wrist I feel like it reiterates the fact that we were talking about in class and that is that people seem to blame the victim.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
While I was searching the web today for recent accounts of bullying I found an article that is about a girl who was in court after her best friend killed herself due to bullying. The girl who killed herself was 12 and she jumped off a tower at an abandoned concrete plant because her supposed best friend bullied her in school and then continued to bully her on the internet. This entire article is heart breaking but the one of the worst parts is that Katelyn Roman denied that she did anything wrong. She told her best friend Rebecca Sedwick to " drink bleach and die"! The judge said the bullying began because Rebecca started dating Katelyn's boyfriend. Katelyn threatened to fight Rebecca in school and then continued to bully her online.
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At this age I think "best friends" often become a bully and victim. Girls are mean, plain and simple. At the age of 12 they aren't mature enough to know how to handle their emotions. So instead of realizing this friendship is unhealthy or that they are getting irrationally upset or overreacting, I think girls just resort to being mean. It's heartbreaking. Every girl has been in a situation while not this extreme, similar. I wish I had some thought provoking idea to suggest how to fix it, but I don't. That being said I don't want to admit defeat and accept that this is just what will happen.
ReplyDeleteThis is a heartbreaking story. It is so sad how children at the age of 12 who have so much life to live die because they are constantly being bullied and in this case over a boy. Kids at this age don't realize how much their actions really do affect others. I feel like girls are more devastated when they are emotionally abused too rather than the physical abuse so when someone tells you to drink bleach and die you just feel worthless like you have no reason to live. I also agree that Katelyn is guilty and should have been charged, but any criminal activity with minors is a gray area in our society. Hopefully she will feel ashamed of herself and guilty for what she did to Rebecca and those are feelings that she will have to deal with the rest of her life.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a complex and emotional issue that it's hard to make overarching policies. It's difficult, but cases like this have to come down to a school-by-school or even conflict-to-conflict basis.
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