Seventh Grade Genocide: Never Again!

Most people don't have overly fond memories of junior high school, but if this is typical, then it sounds like it's gotten worse since I matriculated there: In Middle Schools, Empathy Becomes a Weapon Against Bullying:

The emphasis on empathy here and in schools nationwide is the latest front in a decade-long campaign against bullying and violence. Many urban districts have found empathy workshops and curriculums help curb fighting and other misbehavior. In Scarsdale, a wealthy, high-performing district with few discipline problems to start with, educators see the lessons as grooming children to be better citizens and leaders by making them think twice before engaging in the name-calling, gossip and other forms of social humiliation that usually go unpunished.

That's right, "empathy" is the new self-esteem. I guess everyone has already learned enough reading, math, history, and basic science. 

But, this is more about the educators' priorities than the kids. This principal sounds like more of a pompous ass than most:  

 “As a school, we’ve done a lot of work with human rights,” said Michael McDermott, the middle school principal. “But you can’t have kids saving Darfur and isolating a peer in the lunchroom. It all has to go together.”

Darfur! It's the genocide that goes with everything!

The kids, of course, know all of this is BS, and deep down, I think the adults know it too. But that hasn't stopped them from targeting a certain minority long held in disrepute for their mysterious rituals and hidden wealth: 

And to combat feelings of exclusion, the Parent Teacher Association is trying to curtail a longstanding tradition of seventh graders and eighth graders showing up en masse Monday morning wearing the personalized sweatshirts handed out to the popular crowd at the weekend’s bar or bat mitzvahs.

...

Bar mitzvah sweatshirts emblazoned with the name of the honoree, the date and occasionally even the guest list are still commonly worn, if not on the Monday after, then on a Tuesday or Wednesday a month later. 

Otherwise, “what’s the point in getting them?” asked Jess Calamari, 13, an eighth grader who gave out blue hooded sweatshirts to more than 150 guests at her bat mitzvah last year. “I don’t want to offend people, but I like sweatshirts.”

First, they came for our sweatshirts....