What's next?!!? Milwaukee charters school for the

www.jsonline.com...

Ashley Werner does not mince words when describing her experience as a lesbian at Milwaukee's Pulaski High School.

"If you are even remotely different, (the students) harass and make fun of you," Werner said. The 17-year-old junior said she is teased, called names and singled out almost every day. The situation was no better when Werner attended Clintonville High School as a freshman and sophomore. "I decided that I had had enough with Clintonville and moved down here," Werner said.

Werner hopes her situation will improve next year. She plans to attend the Alliance School, a charter high school that will focus on students who feel discriminated against or bullied. That might be a Goth student, a painfully shy student or a gay one. All three have enrolled in the school, which plans to open in August.

I'm sure many of you noted this article today - I think it was first linked to nationally on the Drudge Report.

Where does this kind of insanity end? Is a special school for people who get picked on really necessary? What are they going to do if this special school starts to develop cliques? Do they really think that the nerds, goths, homosexuals, and other "cast-outs" are going to join hands, minds, and hearts in some kind of magical pubescent utopia? Nonsense.

Personally, I'm all for charter and magnet schools that cater to those that want to develop and nurture special skills. In fact, I attended middle school with someone that went on to the special magnet school for the arts in Milwaukee and ended up an actress on a NBC sitcom. A great example of using public funds & a public school system to advance education and prepare students for some future career. What does this high school teach them? If life is hard, quit. Isolate yourself. How ridiculous.

My advice to the bullied? Suck it up. Everyone gets bullied at some point in their life. The worst case scenario is that you have to deal with a bunch of bigots, fools, and/or insecure buffoons for 4 years. Hell, I was your classic nerd. (Imagine that) I hated a sizeable fraction of my high school class and was threatened with physical violence on a semi-regular basis. My revenge was that I never gave up on myself, pursued my dreams, and became a well-paid scientist. Now, I hire the former jocks to fix my air-conditioner.

Originally posted by ChemicalLaser
My advice to the bullied? Suck it up. Everyone gets bullied at some point in their life.

While I agree to a certain extent, I don't think it's so simple.

I don't, h owever, think the answer is to have separate schools. There have been several threads on this issue, dealing primarily with schools designated for gay students.