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Egcerpts from 2005 Human Rights Commission's Essays Student Stories of Bullying and Discrimination Bullying A girl my age's parents had just gotten a divorce and ever since the incident their family had been pretty low on money, not being able to pay for new clothes or a splurge to 1he mall's food court like many of ihe other kids in our class are able to do. So one day as she was witnessed to have worn out shoes and ragged clothing, some boys in her class began calling her poor and dirty. I was waiting for the bus to arrive...I went over and joined in a conversation with Jennifer when this othe;r girl came over...Jennifer goi mad because she didn't like her I guess...The girl said she can ta]k to vvhoever she wants and said that her volieyball team wins most of their games and stuff. Jennifer got really mad at this and started making fitn of how fat she was and how bad at volleyball sk�e was, because she was not on thc A team like Jennifer was. She also said stuff like the oniy reason they win is because she is so fat and every step she takes thc other team falls over. There is a girl at my sch.00l who most people would consider obese. Kids in my school are always cracking jokes about her like "Follow the herd. She is the herd." I have never gone through a school day without witnessing some sort of bias toward a fellow student, never. Whether it is name-calling, physical bullying, or teasing, I see it every day. Maybe it's a friend, somebody I know, or someone I've never seen before, maybe it is even myself; I am constantly seeing this unfairness toward othcrs. 1 don't understand how people can think it is cool to do such tltings. What makes people sa mali.ci.ous? Even I have bccn made fixn of at school. It can be anything from being called a weakling to a nerd. W�y people always need to pick on someone; I don' know. People can go from being your friend one minute to being your enemy the next. It seerns to depend on whom that person is hanging aut with. Some of my friends will a11 of a sudden change their personality when they are around a certain person. Kids shouldn't need to go through so zx�uch torment at school. Discrunination is zeally j ust treating someone badly because they are different from you in some way. If you look at discrimination this way many of us have experienced being discriminated. You could be teased because of the shirt you have on, the glasses you have to �ea.r or the braces on your teeth. You could have been fun of because you are too short, too tall, too heavy or ioo skinny. Discrimination can include being teased for not being smart enough, being too smart or a geek. There are too many ways people can be discriminated to Iist here. Kids who feel they have morc power pick on others daily. A ldd may be too short, too tall, too skinny, or too fat and even if thcy are a kind, funny, loving person, they are picked on. Whether it's someone calling tk�em names or pushing Ehem around in the hallway.