<p>Awful story – that poor boy. Once we were driving on the thruway and ended up behind a school bus. Some kid was punching out another kid at the very back of the bus. Other kids were cheering him on. The bus driver either had no idea or couldn’t pull over to stop it. I felt sick even witnessing it.</p>
<p>If this kind of stuff is ever going to happen, it would be in middle school. The kids think they’re organized, but their plans are right out there in the open, so people notice. Bullying is always there – in elementary school, in high school --but when kids are younger, there are more parental controls and supervision; in high school, the kids know how to avoid it or deal with it. In middle school, it’s like “the perfect storm” of bullying – kids with a little freedom, a lot of bravado, an increasing amount of testosterone, and a strong desire to prove themselves strong (by showing another to be weak). I could write some more but I’d get so angry I couldn’t sleep. Which is probably exactly how that boy’s parents feel. </p>
<p>Sick. Unecessary. And in large part, promulgated by the aggressor’s boys’ parents. They didn’t pick up this hostility from Facebook.</p>