[Ballygrl]

I feel sorry for any kid who has to go through bullying, but I have to say, why don’t kids fight back? I was bullied all through 6th grade, 7th grade started and the bullying started again, in the middle of class 1 day I had enough, got out of my seat and proceeded to beat the girl up who was bullying me, the teacher accidently got punched by me trying to get me off of the bully. I’m not a violent person but I knew the bullying had to stop and I had to stand up for myself for it to stop.

[Ballygrl]

Oh, and I forgot to add, I was never bullied again.

[equalitybeforethelaw]

7th grade started and the bullying started again, in the middle of class 1 day I had enough, got out of my seat and proceeded to beat the girl up who was bullying me, the teacher accidently got punched by me trying to get me off of the bully.

Bingo. You don’t even have to physically win the fight, just physically retaliate. Preferably in front of the admin or teachers. While I feel for the kids, they ultimately have to learn to defend themselves mentally as well as physically. I am not sure the teachers or admin can really stop it, they can certainly punish it. I would recommend long suspensions of bullies with many truant officer visits to the home during school hours to punish the parents.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I’m not a violent person but I knew the bullying had to stop and I had to stand up for myself for it to stop.

I had this kind of experience when I transferred to a new middle school - eventually I got into it with the guy who was bothering me. It was broken up after a bit by a gym teacher, and soon the guy and his friends started becoming friendly. Teen bullies can be like hyenas sometimes - if they smell uncertainty or a lack of confidence they'll attack but if you fight back you sometimes win their respect.

But a lot of the time it can't be solved with a fist fight - teens place so much importance on forming social cliques and fitting in. Getting humiliated and ostracized on a daily basis can devastate kids, especially the ones with no friends to start with.

[FourPeas]

I think the difference here is it wasn’t one bully, it was a group of bullies. Tormenting is now a sport. It’s the topic of discussion and planning in the clique of kids. One person may be easy to avoid or address, a group isn’t.

[Cyber Liberty]

You get in more trouble than the bully if you kick their butt. First, you get bullied by the bully, then you get bullied by the bureaucracy when you fight back.

Also, when I was a kid, I found the bullies were much more adept at spying out the adult supervision.