Friday, October 22, 2004

Okay ... today, at lunch, I came over and my friend was crying in the corner of the room. I came over and asked if she was okay, and this is what happened.

During first block, there was a sub for gym. A girl got hit twice, very hard, by stupid people randomly humming softballs around the gym. So, a few girls went to walk her to the nurse and some other girls went with them to sneak out of class. The gym sub (the same one who later let this cheerleader do gym in a cami, short shorts, and no shoes in my class) didn't happen to notice any of this, and asked my friend who left. She thought he was just taking note of who was gone, and gave him the names. Then he gave them all detentions, though some of them didn't deserve it (the girl was having trouble walking). At lunch, she was crying, saying how everyone hates her.

Consequently, all of her friends came over and talked to her, the band director talked to her twice, and some of the marching band came by and told sick jokes until she laughed to make sure she was okay.

Or at least, that's what she told me. As it turns out, what triggered the whole feeling that everyone hates her was that a particularly nasty girl said something to her. I don't know what it was, but knowing her and knowing my friend is sensitive, it was probably pretty bad.

But really, my point is, gym class is a pretty nasty place. It's the only place that, even when the teacher isn't a jock, people can get hazed without a teacher ever knowing. If you've ever been cheered on as a form of ridicule, you recognize it instantly, but if you haven't, you don't even catch it. It's the most common form of hazing in gym, and it's really hurtful.

In my class this year, the gym leader's always hazing this one kid that way, so the other kids do too. The thing is, the overweight slow kid nice guy is too much of a nice guy to bother picking on, because 1) he doesn't react and 2) people notice if you pick on mentally disabled people more. So in my class, he doesn't get hazed anymore. Instead, they haze this nerdy Indian kid. He's a nice guy, and he's really not a horrible athlete, but they're constantly hazing him by constantly yelling his name (which isn't English, so it makes it more fun for them) and cheering for him in that nasty way kids have. Reason they pick on him is he's visibly different, has a very slight accent, knows computers, and most importantly, tells them to stop if they keep at it too long. At some point, the teacher's going to notice and he's gonna look like the bad guy, but really, I hate it when things get like that.

A friend and I were considering talking to guidance about this stuff. I don't know about it though ... I haven't been hazed in a while ...
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