As a child of the ‘90s, much of my adolescent life was spent trying to rock the middle part.
The infamous middle part was made popular by Jonathon Taylor Thomas, Andy “Brink” Brinker and of course, Shawn and Eric from Boy Meets World.
Unfortunately, center-parted hair on me looks like the head of a penis.
Thus, my childhood nickname (for a time): “Penis Haircut Parker.”
I was later dubbed “P-Crizzle,” followed by “Big Swo,” ironically of course, given my Ethiopian build as a youth. But nothing tops “The Third Turd,” an appropriate nickname, which takes into account my full legal name and the fact that I let a stray fart loose on an eighth grade trip.
Slick, plastic seating be damned.
The reason I’ve just castrated my dignity in print is to highlight an important point: None of that was bullying.
Light name-calling and smartass remarks are just things kids do. They are a childhood inevitability, usually carried out by friends.
Bullying is when name-calling and teasing escalate to harassment, threats and even violence.
There are laws to protect adults from harassment in the workplace, should we not do the same for America’s children?
The point when light name-calling transitions into all-out harassment is not difficult to identify. Given that children as young as 12 have Facebook and Twitter today, the little bastards can constantly send horribly offensive and hurtful messages to any of their classmates 24/7.
Considering teenage boys only know two insults, “gay” and “fag,” a significant amount of bullying is directed toward LGBTQ students or students who have been labeled as such.
Given the South’s traditionalist viewpoint toward relationships and marriage, I’m not off-base by saying the amount of abuse toward LGBTQ students in Louisiana is likely above the national average.
But let us not lose sight of the issue as a whole, which is the bullying of all kids, not just one particular group.
It’s important for kids to feel safe at school, just like it’s important for adults to feel safe in college or the workplace.
Students shouldn’t have to go to school fearful of being pushed around, teased constantly and the occasional ass-beating.
We’ve all had our asses kicked. It’s an important life lesson that none of us are invincible, and if we run our mouths for long enough, somebody will eventually bring the pain. However, this right of passage should no longer take place at schools.
For those concerned about us breeding emasculated males, I assure you the ass-beatings and life lessons will come. They just don’t need to take place in the classroom.
Everybody had a bully. Even bullies have bullies. They may be kids at school, teachers, parents — but rest assured everybody is taking shit from somebody else.
There is always the risk that bullied children become exponentially more violent than the bullies themselves, as was the case with the Columbine killers. In this instance, anti-bullying laws would have been not only in the best interest of students but of the community as a whole.
Our job is to ensure that children have a right to a good education, which not only includes classroom knowledge but a healthy environment to develop social skills.
Bullying sucks and kids are mean as hell, but the consequences far outweigh the little effort it would require to make mutual respect and decent behavior into common policy.
Parker Cramer is a 21-year-old political science senior from Houston.
