Should school bullies be barred from getting a driver's license?

[Max Power]

No. What is the connection between bullying and driving a car?

They use cars as weapons.

What the hell?

[WalterMitty]

bandit, how old are you now?

[Max Power]

bandit, how old are you now?

He's 10, and on some serious shit.

[YRABNNRM]

No. What is the connection between bullying and driving a car?

They use cars as weapons.

Does this come from experience?

[opebo]

No. What is the connection between bullying and driving a car?

They use cars as weapons.

Please.  If someone is using a car as a weapon, that's a far more serious offense than bullying.  And denying a driver's license is not the answer to that problem.

Actually Bandit makes a good point that the same sort of personality that bullies is likely to be prone to road-rage, and other forms of aggressive driving.

[Everett]

If you're over 18 and a bully in school, then you have some serious issues. I don't think that most people over 18 are still in grade school. Also, college bullies are generally much easier to avoid.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Also, college bullies are generally much easier to avoid.

My experience is that if they're student athletes, they're allowed to do whatever they want.

[TomC]

No, they should be barred from getting a diploma.

Oh my.

How about...you know...just detention or suspension?

Yes, that should certainly be what happens the first several times. But if students cannot then coexist in schools without bullying others, they have no place in the school. Someone said "Reform school." That's a possibility too.

[nclib]

It depends on the type of bullying. Repeat offenders should probably lose their driver's licenses. But definitely the penalties for any type of bullying should be more severe.

[YRABNNRM]

I can't believe people actually support this New American proposition.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

As someone who was bullied a lot in school, I do have some sympathy for this legislation

[Bono]

As someone who was bullied a lot in school, I do have some sympathy for this legislation

^^

[Citizen James]

A lot depends on what sort of bullying we are dealing with.  Are we talking about actual acts of violence (in which case, throw their sorry @$$ in prison), threats of violence and intimidation, Implied threats, verbal harassment, or social exclusion?

The type of bullying and the setting make a difference as to what sort of legal means you have at your disposal to fight it.  Verbal harassment in the general public is protected under the first amendement, as long as they are not committing acts of slander or inciting violence - however the workplace or classroom is a different matter.  There your employer has a responsibility to provide a safe working (or learning) enviorment.

Though I would have no problem preventing minors who engage in antisocial behavior from getting drivers licences (there is already precident for this with students who commit other misbehaviors), it might be more difficult to define and enforce with adults.

By my experience bullies tend to fall into two catagories - sociopaths and cowards.  The latter are far easier to deal with as they can be nudged into backing off if they are given a way to retreat while saving face; and with the proper intervention can be reasoned with, taught empathy, shown the negative effects of their actions on their own lives, and generally reformed.

The sociopaths are a much more difficult breed to deal with.   I have my methods, but I wouldn't encourage them.  In any case there are a lot of resources out there on dealing with bullies.  It is a problem that society does need to take seriously, as antisocial behavior does negatively impact us all.  United we stand, and divided we fall.

Take care and good luck.

[Bono]

Let's just give everyone Ritalin.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I've never seen any type of bully in college, or in my later high school years even, so that's kind of a moot point.

But for younger students, it's not a bad idea, since schools really don't do enough about bullying. When I was in middle school, the school largely ignored it, until it breaked out into actual violence, which was a bad idea, and when it did happen, the wrong person was usually punished, for example a friend of mine was suspended for quite a long time after he bashed a bully's head into a locker repeatedly, when the school should've dealt with the bully to get him to stop earlier. Another case where no one was caught or punished but was big news around school for a few days was when another friend urinated all over a rather annoying asshole's (he wasn't exactly a true bully, but did serve as a "sidekick" to many awful bullies) clothes in the locker room while he was in gym class. Had he been caught, he would've been in big trouble, but he wasn't the one causing the problems.

[© tweed]

How would we distinguish between bullies and non-bullies?

[Alcon]

Too much "he said, she said" is involved to make bullying this significant of an offence.   But I do think school bullying should not be treated as anything less than it is - harassment and even assault.

High school bullying has pretty much been a non-entity to me, though.  Elementary school was rough (I was pretty inept back then), middle school got progressively better, and I haven't really been bullied at all for the past two years.

And I've never been targeted or anything, so I might have a different opinion if I was.  However, I don't think that bullying has much to do with whether you can drive.

[??????????]

Often standing up to the bully and beating his arse will often get said bully to leave you alone. Just a comment from experience.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Often standing up to the bully and beating his arse will often get said bully to leave you alone.

Usually, schools brainwash the victim into not fighting back.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Often standing up to the bully and beating his arse will often get said bully to leave you alone. Just a comment from experience.

That's great if you're capable of doing that, not all of us were.

[??????????]

Often standing up to the bully and beating his arse will often get said bully to leave you alone. Just a comment from experience.

That's great if you're capable of doing that, not all of us were.

Anyone is capable of kicking someones arse if provoked to a certain point.

[Beet]

Often standing up to the bully and beating his arse will often get said bully to leave you alone. Just a comment from experience.

That's great if you're capable of doing that, not all of us were.

Anyone is capable of kicking someones arse if provoked to a certain point.

I find movie directors to be especially egregious in that regard, there are some directors who I just can't stand.