well, on one side, that means that even if you lost you put up a good fight.

Smart to let the opponent take first punch.

There was a time when I'd stand toe to toe with people, and they'd usually back down or just leave me alone. Nowadays, I'm only going to fight you if a. physically accost me, and force me to defend myself, or b. you do something immoral concerning one of my friends or family. That doesn't happen to me often. I don't like to fight or argue, so don't push me or anyone around me. I work out for my health, not to have to deal with somebody giving me trouble.

You all had challenging high school experiences, mine was awesome, I was never in a fight or ever wanted to fight anyone or had anyone ever want to fight me, Sober or drunk.

Eh, so far so good for me...

I'm two and a half years removed from high school, but I think my experiences are still relevant, here goes. I had bifocals from the ages of 4 to 15, now kids being heartless little bastards, I was picked on quite a bit. Freshman year of high school I was FINALLY able to ditch the glasses and wear contacts. Between Freshman and Sophomore year I hit my growth spurt and went from one of the shortest kids in my grade to one of the tallest, of course I stagnated at six foot and have been stuck there since so I got to watch everyone slowly catch up again. I also developed a sense of humor at this same time, I even figured out sarcasm and utilize regularly.

So there was a bit of a transformation for myself in high school, but what about the school itself? It seems that between freshman and senior years there is quite a bit of growing up in high school. Now some people think cliques are bad, I disagree. I noticed in high school that everyone had their group of friends, as opposed to middle school where there was the "in crowd" and the rest who made up the majority but stayed separate from one another in hopes of joining the "in crowd". In high school there wasn't near so much hazing and general abuse towards others as in the earlier years in elementary and middle school, and not just for myself, but for everyone involved.

Honestly, in all the fights I saw/was involved in, it was usually the rich or overly popular kids, and usually only amongst freshmen and sophomores at that, who were so used to being on top that they would run their mouths and get cold cocked by a kid twice their size. I truly don't know why these rich kids were so dumb, I saw one kid couldn't have weighed more than 100 lbs. try to take on a kid who was TOO big to play football and got his ass knocked out in one hit. Like I said, people seemed to have matured quite a bit during high school, but it really helped, IMO, that everyone had their own groups of friends. I doubt this was a result of Columbine so much as based on the environment, my school (Washington) drew students from a relatively homogeneous district, we had some rich and some poor kids but most came from the middle class. I also think my school was a rarity in Sioux Falls. Roosevelt had a much wider cross section and by no small coincidence a lot more troubles. Hell half their football team was suspended when they paid a 15 year old girl for oral sex on the bus home from a game. Being almost 400 miles from Spearfish to Sioux Falls on the Interstate she was pretty busy. Lincoln is a shithole, I used to live right across the street from that school, it draws students from the poorest part of town and has a ton of problems, but their band is probably the best in the state, a paradox I know. Then there's O'Gorman, the private school. Let's see they had the Legislature rewrite South Dakota laws so that they could recruit players for their sports teams from throughout the state, country and even some from Europe. The law was meant to prevent recruiting. O'Gorman was and still is a haven for drug addicts, the Catholic schools don't let the SFPD go through with their K-9 units to do random sweeps for drugs and the Catholic schools themselves do little to crack down on drug use.

Before I started going to high school there was a huge problem related to refugees from Sudan. Yeah, in South Dakota, I still can't believe it either. We had kids from rival tribes relocated to Sioux Falls, fights broke out in the hallways and kids were pulling out knives. That was 10-15 years ago now, but it left a mark at the school. I remember one kid, he was the only survivor from his village, started walking west, walked all the way across ****ing Africa, took a job on a freighter to pay for his trip to America, once he reached... I think it was Boston, started walking again, and stopped in Sioux Falls, SD. He walked into the office and said he wanted to start taking classes. I think he graduated with a 3.5 GPA.

For the record, I only found myself involved with a couple of fights in high school, both with the same kid who had a "holier than thou" attitude towards anyone in the grade below his. This kid had a pair of brass ones on him, he wasn't exactly a tower of muscle and myself being a shade under six foot and only 135 lbs. I had the advantage in reach and weight.

I was in a similar situation as you were in that I got into a situation that could have gone down hill straight to someone's death. The kid that I meantioned above attempted to sexually assault my girlfriend. I saw this going on, and I saw her attempt to fight him off. I ran over to him and layed a wakizashi at his throat. I let him know that he was not to come within 50 feet of my gf again, or his life would be forfeit. Luckily it never went downhill but the tension in the room was palpable.

First of all....what school do you go to? second, why would you carry a wakizashi in school (i pray to God this happened out of school) or out. Thats an extremely dumb weapon to carry. I'm a second degree black belt, and the wakizashi, or basically any sword nowadays, is obsolete. get yourself a nice tactical folder for every day carry if you really feel the need to carry a weapon. or better yet, be a man and use your bare hands.


now. i'm a high school senior, and it seems like a lot of you other kids out there either go to REALLY f*cked up schools, or you guys take stuff way to seriously. I go to a very small school in rural NY, and we have MAYBE one fight a year (and its usually among the 3 or 4 black folk we have bussed to the school. not to sound stereotypical or racist, but they ARE the only ones who cause problems so....)


I have gone to public school my entire life, and have never been a victim of any bullying or abuse (except in the normal everyday schoo life, which i'll explain in a bit). Now, i've always been the tough guy in my school. I've taken martial arts since i was 8 years old, and i feel confident in my abilities. nowadays i walk in crowded cities and bad neighborhoods without fear, but thats besides the point. the school i go to, everybody has known everybody else since the 1st grade. if theres any drama or dislike, we work it out. usualy, if somebody starts giving somebody else a problem, they're like "hey man, remember that one time in 3rd grade" and they end up laughing it out.

Now, like i said, i'm a senior, but i've been like this my whole life: if i like somebody (whether its a guy i'm buddies with or a girl i kinda like) i make fun of them. I'm very sarcastic and have a good sense of humor. I "shove" kids into lockers and stuff, but we both always have a smile on our faces. I guess i'm trying to say its all in good fun. its just normal goofing around. Heck, me and my buddies get in fake "fights" like every week punching each other and wrasslin around just to burn up some pent up male aggression.


so. i think all the high school kids across america need to just calm the freak down, and take a breather. High school IS the best times of your life, no matter what people say.


finally, if somebody is picking on you, or getting on your nerves, get some big friends. friends that can make other people hurt. alot. I know i'm that guy for alot of people in my school. (not that i actually ever have to hurt anybody, cause i'm no bully) but other people know that if the S hit the F, i would be on certain people's side.

Originally Posted by OORAH

First of all....what school do you go to? second, why would you carry a wakizashi in school (i pray to God this happened out of school) or out. Thats an extremely dumb weapon to carry. I'm a second degree black belt, and the wakizashi, or basically any sword nowadays, is obsolete. get yourself a nice tactical folder for every day carry if you really feel the need to carry a weapon. or better yet, be a man and use your bare hands.


now. i'm a high school senior, and it seems like a lot of you other kids out there either go to REALLY f*cked up schools, or you guys take stuff way to seriously. I go to a very small school in rural NY, and we have MAYBE one fight a year (and its usually among the 3 or 4 black folk we have bussed to the school. not to sound stereotypical or racist, but they ARE the only ones who cause problems so....)


I have gone to public school my entire life, and have never been a victim of any bullying or abuse (except in the normal everyday schoo life, which i'll explain in a bit). Now, i've always been the tough guy in my school. I've taken martial arts since i was 8 years old, and i feel confident in my abilities. nowadays i walk in crowded cities and bad neighborhoods without fear, but thats besides the point. the school i go to, everybody has known everybody else since the 1st grade. if theres any drama or dislike, we work it out. usualy, if somebody starts giving somebody else a problem, they're like "hey man, remember that one time in 3rd grade" and they end up laughing it out.

Now, like i said, i'm a senior, but i've been like this my whole life: if i like somebody (whether its a guy i'm buddies with or a girl i kinda like) i make fun of them. I'm very sarcastic and have a good sense of humor. I "shove" kids into lockers and stuff, but we both always have a smile on our faces. I guess i'm trying to say its all in good fun. its just normal goofing around. Heck, me and my buddies get in fake "fights" like every week punching each other and wrasslin around just to burn up some pent up male aggression.


so. i think all the high school kids across america need to just calm the freak down, and take a breather. High school IS the best times of your life, no matter what people say.


finally, if somebody is picking on you, or getting on your nerves, get some big friends. friends that can make other people hurt. alot. I know i'm that guy for alot of people in my school. (not that i actually ever have to hurt anybody, cause i'm no bully) but other people know that if the S hit the F, i would be on certain people's side.

I go to a small high school of 400 people total..that only fight was between a black chick and a white chick. Me and my friends do as you do, we fake fight and during football we beat the **** out of each other..(I take most of the abuse..a 150 pound safety vs a 275 pound center..) but still its fun when you actually get a good block on a big guy.

The state of American High schools? As bad as it always is. I hate high school. I hate how in American High schools everyone is so shallow. How everyone thinks more about their clique, about their looks to really care about the people they're ignoring or stepping on. I haven't been bullied like you have, and I'm sorry that happened to you.

Bullying tho is a lot more than just pushing and shoving or punching. I've been called bad names, and I've most of all been excluded from everything. It's so bad how most people don't think anymore in hihg school, no one ever acknowledges my existence only until they need something from me. I have never been beaten but the scars and bruises of a beating fade away, but not the feeling of loneliness.

If you looked at Columbine, and knew a little more about it you'd recognize the first part of my name: VoDKa. It's Dylan Klebold's nickname for himself. I would have been gathering my materials by now if I wasn't planning on joining the Corps. If I gave up on thinking about joining the Corps, I'd be another statistic. Another one of those people like them. I really don't know if you guys know what it feels like to.....be so alone that you become so self proficient that when one wants to help you, you shun them away in fear of this....change.

I don't know if anyone else would know how painful it is to be your own best friend. To live inside your mind because no one would talk to you. To be around people and knowing that they don't see you......I don't know if anyone knows that. I ask for one thing tho from people who are in high school and in this forum, when you see someone being excluded please just talk to them. Please just say Hi, please just make them feel like they're there. Unlike those at my school....

I've entertained the thought of shooting my school plenty of times. Oh I have, sadly to say it's one of those things that put a smile in my face and helps me keep my head up. I've delved deep into REB's and V's journals and writings and for the most part, I see similarity with my life. And it scares me...and makes me wonder......if they would have wanted to join the military, like I want to would they have done it?

No one at school sees Columbine as a way to learn. They see it as something another wackjob did. Yet, at the same time you would probably hear people talking about how it would be cool to kill this person, blah blah blah. So for the question, no, no one has learned from it. Other than the administrators maybe. Plans in case some "wackjob" comes to school with a gun.

At my school its just basically verbal abuse also. But back in middle school, there were a lot more fights then what we have now in high school. I have found that as the generations increase the younger kids start fighting and abusing people earlier. Not to long ago one of our fourth graders cussed out a bus driver. the mouth on these kids are getting worse. As for weapons, i wouldnt be surprised if half of our population had a knife on them everyday.

I used to be verbally abused everyday starting in about 3rd grade. As i got to middle school i started careing less about what was said. I learned that if i tried to defend myself it only increased the abuse. so i just stoped careing, when something was said i agreed, they didnt get any other reaction out of me and eventually they just stoped. It wasnt fun for them anymore. Unfortunatly im mostly ignored now, but that fine by me, it just shows me who my true friends are

Overall though i have to say the violence has decreased in schools but the verbal abuse is way worse.

Originally Posted by brooke01

At my school its just basically verbal abuse also. But back in middle school, there were a lot more fights then what we have now in high school. I have found that as the generations increase the younger kids start fighting and abusing people earlier. Not to long ago one of our fourth graders cussed out a bus driver. the mouth on these kids are getting worse. As for weapons, i wouldnt be surprised if half of our population had a knife on them everyday.

I used to be verbally abused everyday starting in about 3rd grade. As i got to middle school i started careing less about what was said. I learned that if i tried to defend myself it only increased the abuse. so i just stoped careing, when something was said i agreed, they didnt get any other reaction out of me and eventually they just stoped. It wasnt fun for them anymore. Unfortunatly im mostly ignored now, but that fine by me, it just shows me who my true friends are

Overall though i have to say the violence has decreased in schools but the verbal abuse is way worse.

I'm not a young member but as an educator I would like to comment...I totally agree with you 100%,..I am a kindergarten teacher and just so you know the verbal abuse unfortunatly begins at that tender age of 5...while am teaching ABC's and 123's, I am also now, including bullying as a lesson...I see it everyday, and that is mostly due to the way parents are diciplining their children at home..most of the children often dont receive any dicipline at all and with all these new education regulations their is only so much teachers can do...Parents in my humble opinion play the most important role in how a child behave's at school,...if a child bullies he or she needs to take immediate action by his or her parents in conjuction with the teacher so that the bullying can stop..Here in Texas and the school district that I work for fortunately, has implemented the "Bullying law" which basically means that if a child is bullied at school the victim has a right to press charges, and that becomes a legal matter..I wish I could change, the world, our school system, and situations....but unfortunatly, I cannot...these experiences however, will prepare each individual to survive in the real world.....sigh..