I agree completely with your post. My dear " big brother " Rick-who just died-had ears a lot like this kid who had the surgery ( Rick later just grew into them-a tall, attractive man ) ) I don't recall his " different " ears being an issue in the family, among his many friends, or in school. Bit this was America circa 1955- a more polite post war world. I remember my elementary school teachers always trying to instruct their pupils in GOOD MANNERS. To be sure, you never MADE FUN of anybody for a " problem " he or she had no control over. In Junior High School and High School things got a little meaner. A rather pretty girl with acne was called " pimple pus ". A boy who wore glasses was called " four eyes ". A kid with protruding teeth was called " buck teeth ".
And there were those -rather few back then- FATSOs.
Who or what decides who LOOKS RIGHT ? The images presented to us by capitalist advertising ? A male should not look much different from Brian Williams. ? A female from Megyyn Kelly ?
The only SOMETHING WRONG about any kid should be a nasty personality, a lack of sympathy and empathy, a bullying meanness. There is no " plastic surgery " for these defects. It is LEARNED BEHAVIOR.
Bring back GOOD MANNERS in elementary school. Recall the opening scene in the Stephen King movie " Carrie " : how many PICKED ON Carrie Whites are there in the public schools today ? Recall how it all ended: that unforgettable REVENGE scene. A minor HOLOCAUST !
Had not her good Christian mother warned her about THEM ?
Something was NOT RIGHT about that Carrie girl