My turn to be nervous

Tomorrow my 12 year old, Chad, starts at a new high school. It's not ideal timing, in the middle of the year, but after a few weeks of debating within himself the merits of 1) staying put and being pushed around and miserable, and 2) taking the leap into the unknown and hoping for the best, things turned ugly on Thursday when he was hit about the head by two goons, and we decided on an emergency bale.

I've been surprised at a few people's reactions to this, which has been in effect to say that life is hard, and the sooner you get used to it the better; that school isn't meant to be fun; that it's important to work at things and fight your corner.

To which my response is, life shouldn't be hard, and expecting it to be so is a terrible way to grow up. That I'm not prepared to let my boy get used to it, if there's anything I can do to save him from unhappiness. And that a year and a half of being pushed around is enough. That's enough corner-fighting for anyone.

His school used to be a good one, but in recent years, and I don't know why this is, it's become known as THE ZOO. The kids rule. Discipline is sketchy, punishments hesitant, and the trouble makers can't, somehow, be reached, with discipline and threats. They carry on regardless. There's an air of quiet desperation about the school now. There's no homework. Parents' night is a farce. There's no real feedback other than from half a dozen great teachers who press on trying to give a basic education but spend most of their time doing crowd control.

And the bullying... did I mention the bullying.

I'm embarrassed that I left him in there so long.

There are so many bad high schools out there. And actually it's worse than that - there's an acceptance that that's how school is, somewhere that has just to be got through. But the truth is that it wastes kids' time, and doesn't inspire them, and leaves them at the mercy of other kids who have come to the conclusion that life's a piranha pond and the only way round that is to be the top piranha.

I just want him to be inspired.

And yes, there will be bullying at his new school too, no doubt, but they come down hard on it, I hear from other parents, and the ethos is good, the classes small, and kids wear the uniform and do their homework, and appear pretty happy to be there. So I'm hopeful.

But nervous.