Yeah, as always, someone has to step up with "If parents would teach their kids to defend themselves, there wouldn't be bullies!"
Bullies always choose victims who cannot defend themselves. And when they find a suitable victim, they often recruit others to bully the victim. For the victim, the situation can be pure hell, and the psychological damage may be permanent.
I was always the smallest girl in the class, smarter than anyone else, and shy. In other words, I was a bully magnet. So I feel pretty strongly about this issue.
It's up to the adults in the situation to stop the bullying and adopt a zero tolerance policy. Bullies who can't be controlled should be expelled, or transferred to a school for problem children.
Thank you for some common sense.
Although those who plump for fighting back to stop the bullying have a point. I was similar to you in character, though male, and was bullied continuously thru 10th grade. Finally lost control and counter-attacked one of the bullies.
Lost the fight, but also was not bullied anymore. The theory of beating up the bully to solve the problem has obvious difficulties, but OTOH just fighting back (even unsuccessfully) will sometimes be enough.
That said, adults who have a policy of benign neglect toward bullying are abdicating their responsibility to establish reasonable rules of order and enforce them. I’ve always felt in many cases they take vicarious pleasure in the exploits of the bullies and the suffering of their victims.
Assault and battery are crimes. Why these felonies should be ignored when committed by minors, especially in schools, when vandalism and theft are punished, is quite beyond me.