@tinuviel said in RL Anger:
Not being someone's friend isn't the same as bullying or treating poorly. So conversation should be had, but there's nothing really that a teacher can do.
I feel like I maybe did not explain the situation well enough. I was pretty upset when I posted it and didn't even get the full story from his teacher until later that day, I apologize. My son did not have three friends individually come up and tell him over the course of the day or whatever, this was something that happened in the classroom all at once. For some reason the subject of religion came up, and when he admitted he did not believe in God, three of his classmates who also happened to have been his friends since the beginning of the school year said they wouldn't be anymore, and other children in the classroom joined in.
Some kids were defending him thankfully, but it was a nightmare, several kids were all telling him at once that they would not be his friend or involve him anymore, and that absolutely is bullying. When he went to the teacher she copped out instead of taking it seriously by saying she couldn't force them to be his friend, which wasn't the issue and she later admitted to me was wrong of her.
Again, as mentioned above, if my son had been Muslim or Jewish or Hindu or anything else, this would be so cut and dry. But for some reason when the discrimination is against agnostics or atheists many people in the US suck their teeth and hem and haw about stopping it, it's a double standard and it fucking sucks.
Luckily, the teacher did the right thing yesterday and dedicated some class time to talking about accepting others for their differences instead of excluding them, and the kids involved were very open to it and my kid was able to patch things up with them.
I appreciate the input and/or the empathy, peeps. This was quite a trip.