Failure to protect

[Ryhunt86]

And these are just the cases that we know about. How many more young men and women take their lives without reaching out to someone or revealing what they were subjected to? School districts (where the authority really lays) are slow to respond to this crisis, but it's going to take them, parents and their communities to get involved in making bullying unacceptable.

I went to the same school district as Asher Brown (in suburban Houston) and I don't think that the people in charge are heartless or uncaring, but I do think that too many have been tone deaf to this situation. Its been going on for years, but it seems that in the past 4 or 5 years our culture has become crueler and coarser. Insults are traded more freely not just on the school campus but in the society at large. This meaness needs to be tamped down because the kids are paying attention and thinking that tormenting is somehow ok (or even desirable).

I am glad to see so many people in this country speaking out, including the Secretary of Education, but its going to take more than words or celebrities making videos (those are appreciated but it's not enough). We nned to retool how we teach kids about respecting others and set better examples.