Good Luck Legislating Morality/Bullying

Earlier in the week, the Telegraph-Herald reported Rep. Patti Ruff's (D-Monona) speech Monday in the Iowa House. Ruff told legislators she spent a portion of the weekend in the hospital with her son who had been bullied. Ruff ended with an indictment of the legislature, “. . . we don't have the backbone to pass laws to help those that truly matter in this state — our children,"

While one can sympathize, she, Governor Branstad and every legislator who voted for the Anti-bullying Bill is misguided. Several reasons: 1) We cannot legislate morality; 2) American schools have their hands full teaching academics; and 3) Schools are out of their league trying to police social media.

I say this as a teacher who sees, even experiences a bit of bullying.

Recently, I heard a girl on Youth Radio opining, “Teenagers aren't any crueler than they were in the 1600's, they just have a wider reach.” Poppycock & Tommyrot! 
Mid and lower class kids, even into the sixties and seventies, had a far different sense of themselves. Nobody ever used the adjective “awesome” with us. Furthermore, the advent of smaller families and more resources has spoiled a lot of kids. If kids did not think so highly of themselves, they would not have the ego and audacity to set themselves up as a standard and demand their peers conform, but we see a lot of it.

Children will always be the apples of their parents' eyes, but parents need to keep at least one critical eye on kid behavior and let them know that they are not the center or emperor of the universe; they have no right to set standards for the rest of the world, let alone force others to abide. A critical eye is a far, far cheaper solution to MOST problems.