Photo Credit – Swagbuck Images
I cringed as I watched the video. It brought back a memory I have only shared with my mom (the day it happened) and my family. I was in my 8th grade history class. Now I don’t remember what we were doing in the classroom but somehow I ended up on the floor, against a wall and 4-5 boys were holding my head and taking a Sharpie and dotting my scalp. I can remember telling them to stop but they wouldn’t. If I remember right, they weren’t being mean…just being boys. The one thing that stands out in my mind the most, is the teacher just sat there and laughed.
Was this a practical joke? I guess I have always chalked it up as that, but if you fast forward to today, it would probably be considered bullying.
I have vivid images of my mom and I sitting on the front porch and as I told her the story, I cried. Since it was so many years ago, I can’t really remember if I was mad. I do know I was embarrassed and humiliated. I didn’t want to go back to school the next day either. She was very understanding and calmed me with her motherly advice.
Fast forward to 2012…do you think this would have been considered bullying or just a practical joke? As an 8th grader I would say practical joke but as I watched the bullying video on the news, I second guess myself and (maybe) call it bullying? What would you call it?
9 Days Left 
9 Days Left 
I think when you ask someone to stop, they should. While they didn’t hurt you, how easy could it have been for you to have been “accidentally” hurt while htey tried to hide you there. Not cool in my book.
Kids are just cruel. My son had been homeschooled his whole life and when I got him from his dad 3.5 years ago, I put him in public school. He had been sheltered to the nth degree and for the first two years they called him horrible names…gay, the f word that means gay, you name it they called him that and he came home sobbing every day. It was just AWFUL, but we changed schools, and I helped him learn how to be more “cool” Now he has a great set of friends who also are in the “super smart” but not quite nerdy category and it’s all good.
This was before that law passed, and I spoke with principals, bus drivers, and teachers all of whom were “going to handle” it, but it just makes it worse for the kid and they ultimately do nothing. I think the responsibility is on teachers and principals to make this stop!
I would have to call it bullying. To me a practical joke is something done in fun just to get a laugh and leaves you either laughing or saying “Ha Ha, very funny” in a sarcastic tone. When it becomes something that makes you cry and humiliates you, it is plain old bullying. So sorry you had to go through it.
When a bunch of boys are holding your head for it to be done, it’s definitely bullying. I would call it bullying if only one boy had been involved. A practical joke would be putting a frog in your desk. Attacking your physical person–even with a Sharpie–is bullying and assault.
I was bullied on the bus and my teacher–who was never on the bus–downplayed the seriousness of the situation. I wound up getting in trouble instead of the boy who bullied me. Anyone surprised he turned out to be a juvenile delinquent?
I grew up being bullied by a group of boys…. eventually they all wanted to date me but I explained to them that because of how they treated me I could not date them but would be friends with them. I hope that my child does not have to go through being bullied now days.
I think it is bullying for sure. A practical joke is supposed to be funny to everyone, not hurtful to someone.
Practical joke in a crowd as in one against many is bullying,s ugly cousin!
I think these things are taken more seriously now- not a joke, but something real that could really hurt someone.