Blair Sloane

I really liked the film. The film is based on a topic that is so ingrained with most who watched it. Bullying exists and there seems to be no answer to something so inhumane yet so human. As a child I was both a bully and a victim of bullying. In fact, in 1966, in Grade four, the entire class beat me up after school. I was swarmed. I was however, NOT victimized by the event. As in the film, the teacher kept the class in after school the next day, and I got to go home. I was such a weird kid, in later grades, I BRAGGED that I was so obnoxious that the entire class beat me up one day at school. I had a devastating loss of my mother in my teens, and was rather aimless. I loved school vacations, so I decided to become a teacher. I married and raised a family. Fast forward 40 years, I had an amazingly rewarding 35 years as a high school eventually specializing in dealing with really damaged teens. Things I learned that I incorporated into my teaching: One; While I never had a victim headspace, I keep the meek and the odd always in my peripheral vision. Two: When a student lost a parent, I shared I had lost one of mine at a similar age. Three: I noticed in my elementary and high school years, that some teachers had favourite and special students. I found a way to make every student feel like they were 'teacher's pet.' Learning the name of every kid in the school. Finding something positive about the student and bring it to their attention. Asking about kids' lives. And answering every question I could with an honest answer. And a story these kids all have loved is my telling them about the time when I was in grade four and the entire class beat me up. This film about bullying is so triggering, unpleasant and for many, as predicted, tedious. AND it has no resolution. How could it? As I taught in art classes, a good work of art hits your emotions. Just because the art may trigger negative feelings, it does not diminish that the work did its job. This was an emotional movie, apparently distasteful to many. But it was was well-worth watching.