"The Cruelty of Children"

"The Cruelty of Children" presented by this American Life showcases three different scenarios in which the topic of why children are/can be so mean to one another. The first presentation was by David Sedaris, an author who is homosexual, but in his story he tells how when he was growing up, he would make fun of gay kids in his class. He didn't want people to know he was homosexual and he just wanted to fit in with the other kids in his class. He wanted to conform in order to feel "cool" or "wanted."He was trying to be something he was not. He made fun of the other kids because he did not want to be made fun of in the same way. The second presentation was entitled The Well. This is a story in which the children chose not to help each other get out of their situation they were stuck in; which is an odd one leaving an old man to die in a well. It is done in a survival of the fittest method.  The third presentation was "You Can't Say You Can't Play." This is an experiment done in a kindergarten class to prevent bullying between kids. The idea came up from the teacher repeatedly hearing certain kids telling others that they can play together, but not others. The teacher made a list for the class of certain rules, so that playing between everyone would be fair. The first rule was you can't say you can't play-meaning everyone had to play with one another. The kids were left in disbelief, not being able to wrap that idea around their little heads. Kids were not to be excluded, but of course there will always be the "leftovers" the ones left out. As people move from grade to grade, mean-ness increases and the reasons are not valid. People are mean to each other due to previous relationships, people having "weird" characteristics, such as being quiet, gross, etc. It's hard for kids to assimilate,  some have clashing perspectives. This whole NPR podcast well exemplified that children are cruel to each other, for no valid reason besides bias, and learning over time that bullying is not the answer.