This past week, yet another teen girl committed suicide after being cyberbullied by classmates in explicit ways for months.
It's tragic moments like these when someone asks the classic question homeschoolers always get, "What did you do for your social life?" that I want to answer, "I wasn't bullied into desperation."
People question my parents' decision to homeschool me and my siblings as if it was a bad thing (which it wasn't. I'm now in a good college with top scholarships and my siblings are tracking above average in various subjects). I recognize that homeschooling isn't for everyone, but sometimes people just don't understand that tragedies like these are part of the equation for what makes people opt for homeschooling.
There's something seriously screwed up about the atmosphere in public schools nowadays that would drive kids to treat another kid in such a nasty fashion. I know that's a broad statement, but it's still happening, and often it's not taken as seriously by outsiders as it should be (as in this most recent story). As someone who already gets derogatory comments about how underweight she is without having gone to school and who is a relatively conservative Christian, I would likely be a target for such bullying. The stories from my peers who did attend public school are bad enough: kids will bully others about anything from virginity to hair color, from nosebleeds to depression, from being attractive to being less attractive, from dietary restrictions to their religion, from their political alliance to how many siblings they have. All that said, let's be real. People will pick on whoever they want for any reason. The fact that this is an ongoing problem in the public school system shows there's something, who knows what, in the system or at the very least in the social construction that is fostering this kind of unacceptable, sinful behavior. There's been a lot of anti-bullying programs set up, but they don't seem to be doing as much good as they should.
The system is fundamentally flawed.
The social system in public schools is currently and generally fundamentally flawed.
Yes, that's a general statement. But yes, it's still happening everywhere. So no, I don't want to be "socialized" if that what it means to socialize in public school. I would rather have only my siblings as classmates and friends than be subjected to this kind of messed up behavior.
I certainly hope it gets fixed. Many kids and young adults have public school as their only option for education, and they shouldn't have to be treated this way. But for now, I'm thankful for the safer atmosphere I was blessed with in my own education — and I don't ever want to take it for granted.
