Quite so. Getting "in trouble" pretty much means calling in the parents. OK. So you get called in after the fight and promise the vice-principal that you'll "discipline him appropriately" for fighting.
That way you can save the high-five till you get home. :-)
After several weeks of this, we told him that he was allowed to defend himself, so one day he finally decked the kid. When the Headmaster called me in to tell me why David had been sent to him, and that his behavior was unacceptable, I asked him what the school's policy was for when one kid was bothering another one. He said that the teachers tried to let the kids work it out. So I told him our son HAD worked it out, so what was the problem?
The bully didn't bother our son again for the rest of the school year.
Nowadays there's usually some suspension time involved - either in-school or at home. (it goes on your ~record~... oh the horror) If I had kids in a public school who had to fight off a bully, I'd celebrate their understanding that the rules the liberal educrats make do not create peace and harmony. The celebration would probably entail ice cream, a movie, maybe pizza...
FWIW, these days fighting usually means suspension.