Bully for You and You and You

There aren't two side in school, there what the school says and wants and what you're going to do to comply. And those pigmentationally challenged are by default seen as non-complying.

I don't know how kids these days make it out the front door without thowing up at the prospect of being piledriven into the tile by a classmate, teacher or cop.

Only adults have any expectation (false though it may be) of safety.  Most children accept that risk and uncertainty are the norm. Those that can't, spend the majority of the school days in misery.

Some teachers know how important they are in the lives of students, they have the power to make such a difference. Many a Life has changed course because of a teacher. And many have been destroyed. a good teacher is golden in today's world.  

Enjoyed your perspective on this.

I love teachers, it's a hard job, one of the hardest IMO, and there are some doing it that just shouldn't be, the same goes for cops.  I think the bigger problem is the school "system" and how by it very nature is cruel to far too many. Add systemic racism to that and it you get the school to prison pipeline that we now have.  I have an 8 year old and her BFF is a black and male, they are in private Montessori school and some of what I touched on here can still be seen and felt.  It breaks my heart and pisses me the fuck off.

The core theme is that the school system itself is the bully.  It's ambiguous because it's alluding to multiple things, gangs, skin, ambiguity itself in black and white (simple/surety) vs color (chaotic/uncertainty).   The other references, a cop body slamming a girl to the floor who was attempting to break up a fight, kids whose lunch tab aren't paid up being denied lunch and having a note pinned to their shirt to tell the parents to pay up, girls being told sleeveless shirts or dresses "are distracting", and the fact that any aggression verbal or physical outside of sports, which is highly encouraged even when they know it's damaging, has been criminalized.  Kids as young as 5 have been handcuffed and taken to jail for hitting a teacher. It's fucking absurd and the fact that they've got parents buying into it enough to actually send their kids into that battle arena every day shows how well and pervasively the system has conditioned previous generations.

LOL, it IS a ranty mom piece, and Ameri-centric and, for now, I'm ok with that.  I'm in the vulnerability/wholeheartedness/love languages reading cycle at the moment (Brene Brown's Rising Strong is on deck), when I come back around to my education cycle I'll try for a real fuck you piece.

I never thought of school being like your depiction but I suppose it is. They own your ass, but not just school, just about everyone owns your ass really. ;-)

No, with most other things there is at least some element of choice, the alternatives may suck, but they exist. The vast majority of kids have no choice as most parents have been indoctrinated into the system and allow them no alternatives.