Someone must not have had friends...

I just got done reading this article about how some educators think kids having a best friend is a bad idea.  Oh yeah read it, its disgusting.  They are encouraging kids to not have a best friend but to have a group of friends.  I get the part about having many friends, but saying that a child doesn't need a best friend or encouraging them not to is absolutely stupid to me.

They say that exclusitively causes bullying and cliques.  I'm sorry, but I find that total BS.  Some kids automatically bully one another, not on purpose but because they don't understand it.  A child sees a toy they want and they will take it away from another kid because they don't think about how the other feels, they just care about getting the toy for themself.   It's our job as parents to teach our children that's wrong.  And when people let their kids get away with it, the older they get the more they think its ok to do.  Having a best friend has nothing to do with bullying, it has everything to do with bad parenting, in my opinion.  I've never met a bully whose parents, sibling or some other relative wasn't one themselves.

Besides that bully's don't have best friends in the first place, because people are either scared of going against them or are just as dispicable and enjoy it.  You can't be a best friend if no one trusts you and no one trusts a bully.

Seriously, I don't understand where these people get this idea.  Either they are a bully themselves, or were, or they never had a best friend growing up and they think that others shouldn't either.  I have had more than one best friend through the years, and I have never bullyed anyone nor have I ever thought to.  I was never part of a clique, nor did I want to be.  Yes I do have some friends who I am closer to than others, but I have tons of friends and having a best friend doesn't affect how many friends I have nor does it affect how I treat others.  A best friend is more than a clique, its having someone who understands you, who you can trust, and who you have fun with. 

Someone needs to look up the definition of bully and best friend.  I seriously doubt they have the same definition.

What do you guys think?