In the USA, most kids take antidepressants from early age

Adults conveniently numb kids and shut them up and get them out of the way

It's a global issue, or issues, with varying degrees per country and culture.

Here in the Philippines, we've been topping global surveys in school and youth bullying for years now, and barely anything was done.

Korea the worst? Not really. According to these studies, the Philippines is far worse than Korea. Like, bullying in Korea is nothing compared to bullying in the Philippines.

The difference is, bullying is Korea is easily exposed because they have forums that they all converge in. Here in the Philippines, it rarely gets exposed because we rely on US-based platforms that hides these content by their algorithms. Not only that, you need a very solid evidence like an unedited video. Our policy is "innocent until proven guilty", the burden-of-proof is on the accuser. Which is correct and proper otherwise, we will end up with something like Korea where you are guilty until proven innocent, which is very toxic and a humae rights violation.

But, as usual, the youth are wiser these days than the generations before it. They are more aware of the laws, so they make sure no one can record and gather definitive proofs. Which results in bullying and other crimes not getting investigated.

We do have juvenile laws too. But guess what? It's being abused by parents as well as their criminal kids.

We have an anti-hazing law. The only thing it did is people found ways to keep hazing hidden and harder to prove. Ways where there won't be physical marks, for example.

We may not have killer students, drug network in schools, or an automechanic school turned gang haven, but we have other forms of bullying happening. Oh, during my time in the 80s and 90s, there were gangs in schools, we had inter-school wars (physical), and inter-gang fights off-school. I've seen schoolmates bring balisong (a Batangenyo knife) in schools.

I only survived because I studied them and learned how to keep them at arms length. But my Grade 7 was the worst. I literally got into a fight with a bully. Well, I challenged him and set all the conditions, because it was the only way to make him stop, then I made sure he'll be caught on the act punching me. 🤣🤣 It was still painful, I took a lot punches before the school authorities showed up.

But not everyone can think the way I did. And it is not applicable in every case. I even built my own network, which made the bullies choose not to cross me because I'll block them from my "services". 🤣🤣 (And they can't touch those in my network.)

That's how I survived and protected others because I got fed up with bullies. And very few people know it because without evidence, it's a baseless accusation and a defamation case. That's why it's not getting exposed here in the Philippines. Some bullying gets exposed because the bully became careless or someone died.

Accoqding to Program for International Student Assessment (PISA, up to 67% Filipino students experienced bullying in one formr another, but in Korea, only up to10%.

I'm not from Korea, but as theres more dramas about school violence/bullying, I hope its getting better.

I do remember this: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/bullies-need-not-apply-south-korean-university-applicants-rejected-for-school-violence-records

ReallyScary:

@IM YourOnlyOne That is pretty horrible that is happening in your country. Glad you were a survivor and came out stronger. Unfortunatly with corruption being ramptant is hard to get changes made but I think it starts with grass roots movements and hopefully tings will change for the better. If laws were really used to punish the adults who turn a blind eye then thing might slowly get better.

Yep! Adults who turn a blind eye needs to be punished, especially if they're in the education sector. They were trusted to be the second parents but they're failing at that. Actual parents can be punished, qnd their children taken away, if it was proven they're abusing or neglecting them. But those in the education sector gets a free pass.

And true on corruption. It undermines everything.

It's why this show isn't just for Korea. It resonates in other countries as well. Here in the Philippines, the ERPB became a icon of sorts. 😅 Something like "We need the ERPB!" "Call the ERPB!" You can't tell anymore if people were serious or just joking because the issues were real and serious. It's like, "the ERPB is the ultimate last resort, let's not go there, but it's understandable at the same time with current state of affairs and corruption".

Hopefully the show's message reached a lot of people. If we don't do something, we might indeed end up with this ultimate last resort. I won't be surprised if some politician was already thinking about it prior to the show's premier, but probably is holding back.