What?!? Public Schools Discouraging "Best Friends"?!? WTF?

[ChaosTheory]

I think Newt hit the nail on the head, they want to do something about bullying without actually doing something about it. This is a terrible idea.  You can't get kids to get along by forcing them to separate from the friends they already have.  Making them feel isolated isn't likely to make them more studious either.  

My high school was very small and VERY clique-y. I only had a couple of close friends and I still don't make friends very easily.  It wasn't easy or pleasant most of the time for me to interact with my classmates, but some of my extracurriculer activities made it easier to socialize with other kids outside of my school since there I was around people who at least had a few common interests (I did oral interp, one-act play competitions, all-state choir and writer's camp).  Forced interaction isn't going to help kids make friends; it sounds lassaiz-faire, but sometimes you just have to let them find their own way when it comes to social situations.

[Hammock Rider]

    Until they can improve our reading, math, science and writing scores and increase our graduation rates, we can do without "educators" monkeying around with the kids' socializing. It sometimes seems like public school kids are used like guinea pigs for whatever crackpot theory comes down the academic pike. If school doesn't even approximate the real world how are kids supposed to learn how to get along in it. Parents have enough to worry about without having to undo all the damage done by some of these knuckle-heads.

[HappyGilmore]

Just another step in wuss-ifying the nation's youth. 

Horrible idea.  About as bad as the idea of giving EVERY team/athlete a trophy at the end of the season, regardless of if the team was any good at all.  "They'll feel left out if they don't get a trophy."  Bull.  It'll make them work harder and IMPROVE.  Hell, when you grow up and get a job, if you do badly, you don't get a bonus.  You get a write-up and a warning.  If you still don't improve, you lose your job.  There's gonna be a sad group of adults running this country soon.

[Hammock Rider]

I think Newt hit the nail on the head, they want to do something about bullying without actually doing something about it. This is a terrible idea.  You can't get kids to get along by forcing them to separate from the friends they already have.  Making them feel isolated isn't likely to make them more studious either.  

My high school was very small and VERY clique-y. I only had a couple of close friends and I still don't make friends very easily.  It wasn't easy or pleasant most of the time for me to interact with my classmates, but some of my extracurriculer activities made it easier to socialize with other kids outside of my school since there I was around people who at least had a few common interests (I did oral interp, one-act play competitions, all-state choir and writer's camp).  Forced interaction isn't going to help kids make friends; it sounds lassaiz-faire, but sometimes you just have to let them find their own way when it comes to social situations.

   Good point. I think these days many school systems want to cover their butts more than anything else. I wonder how much of school policy is created with CYA in mind.

  Good point about the social lassaiz-fairre too. Kids need to learn for themselves how to make friends and develop socially. Over time they will develop a sense of what works best for them as opposed to some out of touch beauracratic panel

[BTM]

I want to add some ore to this... as guy who was bullied severely particularly in Junior High, I can tell you that people having best friends does NOT bullying.  It's f**king BULLIES that cause bullying!  That and when the teachers, principal, et all, fall to do anything about it, either by ignoring the problem or (as they do in some schools) treat certain people with a different set of rules just because they're star athletes. 

I remember when I was younger, I fantasied many a time about bring a weapon (or several) to my school and blowing away my chief tormentors.  Believe it or not, I also thought about the aftermath, mainly how the media would react, proclaiming how horrible it was that these young lives were tragically taken, completely ignoring what (IMHO) total a***oles these guys (and a few gals) were.

Now, here's the kicker:  I was thinking about all this looong before Columbine, long before Marilyn Manson, DOOM, GTA, or whatever cause de jour they like blaming this stuff on.

So, yeah, that's my take on it.

[Mr. DS]

The bottom line is this...@sshole are @ssholes and they're everywhere at every age.   They are the people who will go over and beyond the point of just "poking fun" into seriously trying to make people the most miserable they can be.  Hell even my 4-year old son had some little twerp calling him a "baby" in his preschool.  I had a hard time coming up seeing I was the first to deal with acne in middle school and was rather withdrawn in high school.   Even today  I deal with several in my work place, one in particular in the shipping department is as old as my father.  However, time has showed me that these folks hardly get anywhere in life.  That and as I age, I handle them better thus out A-holing them with my smart @ss attitude. 

Point in case, people will remain @ssholes no matter who they are with.  Maybe they will be worse seeing they can devote their full time to @-hole behavior. 

For the teens of the site who have this problem, trust me...it gets better once you walk out with your diploma.  Most of these morons end up stuck in this mindstate and like I said go nowhere.  In other words, you'll probably end up their boss. 

[The Gravekeeper]

I think Newt hit the nail on the head, they want to do something about bullying without actually doing something about it. This is a terrible idea.  You can't get kids to get along by forcing them to separate from the friends they already have.  Making them feel isolated isn't likely to make them more studious either.  

My high school was very small and VERY clique-y. I only had a couple of close friends and I still don't make friends very easily.  It wasn't easy or pleasant most of the time for me to interact with my classmates, but some of my extracurriculer activities made it easier to socialize with other kids outside of my school since there I was around people who at least had a few common interests (I did oral interp, one-act play competitions, all-state choir and writer's camp).  Forced interaction isn't going to help kids make friends; it sounds lassaiz-faire, but sometimes you just have to let them find their own way when it comes to social situations.

   Good point. I think these days many school systems want to cover their butts more than anything else. I wonder how much of school policy is created with CYA in mind.

  Good point about the social lassaiz-fairre too. Kids need to learn for themselves how to make friends and develop socially. Over time they will develop a sense of what works best for them as opposed to some out of touch beauracratic panel

As much as being bullied sucks (I've been there), well, kids do eventually have to learn that bullies exist at all stages of life and that eventually there isn't going to be anyone they can run to that will deal with the problem for them. Again, I know it sucks (geez, there's an understatement if ever there was one), but eventually everyone has to find their own way of coping. Part of growing up is learning to take responsibility for your own actions and your own life, after all.