Funny as I was rarely bullied for my diminutive height. No one ever imparted any wisdom on me on how to handle it I just naturally was a jokester and be able to relate to anyone on some level or another. I guess I never made myself a target. Also, my highschool had some clique-ness to it but it was never movie styled cast system people describe sometimes. Sure the sports jocks dated the hottest girls but it always seemed like by the time high school rolled around it was more a us vs. them (teachers/parents) than us vs. ourselves. We just wanted to get out of there and party as much as possible.
This is entirely fucked up. When I was 13 I was a short, chubby kid, within three years I had grown 18 inches and had really grown into my body. While bullying is certainly a problem, giving every kid a nose job or pinning their ears back isn't going to end that. Kids can be cruel and that isn't going to change. Taking a 13 year old who hasn't fully developed physically or emotionally is nonsense, while it certainly seems that she wants the surgery, who is to say that at age 17 (as her peers mature), that she will still be bullied, or that it will impact her as much as it did when she was 13?
I don't know how I feel about this. On paper, a non-profit organization that offers free plastic surgery to kids who are being bullied sound like a great use of money. But in reality, they're not taking into account that this girl was probably still growing. Maybe she would have grown into her ears. I especially don't like that they offered her additional surgery. It's like saying Not only are your ears weird, but the rest of your face is unattractive. So here's some more surgery that you won't turn down because I've made you self-conscious about yourself, girl who probably just hit puberty. As to the spotlight on bullying, I just think that it's more publicized now. These days, we have cyber bullying, which means kids can't escape their bullies when they get home from school. It's gotten worse in that respect. Everyone knows everything about everyone else, and they use that against each other. I've only been observing in the high school classroom for two years now, so I'm not entirely sure how deep it goes, but I think that's the major issue here.