I tried to comment on Shari's post about the NY Times bullying article, but for some reason it didn't work, so I'm putting it here. As someone who hopes to work in education, this article raised a lot of questions/concerns for me. First, how does a teacher show concern and care for a student while upholding professional teacher-student relationships? How can teachers show that they care, when school days are often not set up with time for adult-student mentoring or non-academic conversations? When something like this occurs, who is accountable? How should responsibility be assigned, and by whom? What makes a school a safe place, and how can a safe, caring school be molded?

On a slightly related note, I've been thinking about "Thirteen." There were tons of memorable moments, but one that struck me was the scene where Tracy's teacher informed her that she would have to repeat 7th grade. The thing that bothered me was that none of Tracy's teachers had apparently bothered to give her warning before she failed, or to ask why she had so suddenly changed. Were those teachers oblivious? Was it a matter of not caring? Did they notice and care but not know how to act? If they had acted--which is possible, since it probably doesn't make for exciting cinema--why did their attempts fail? It seems to relate to the article on bullying, because the girl who committed suicide had been bullied for only three months, and in the movie, Tracy's destructiveness happened in about four months. She easily could have been killed or killed herself accidentally any number of times. It shows that within a relatively short period of time, it is easy for a "normal" child/teen to undergo huge changes--and huge consequences--while adults are still trying to decide on a course of action.