This is pretty much why Doctors follow the axiom of "Do no harm", if you're not sure that the cure is not worse than the disease then you need to evaluate some more until you're sure it's not.

I see the biggest cause of the rampant bullying in U.S. schools is the zero tolerance policies. Zero tolerance policies only help bullies. Bullying is only successful when it goes unnoticed. It is very difficult to keep it unnoticed if the victim fights back. Zero tolerance policies encourage victims to just suffer in silence because if they defend themselves they get disciplined (suspended or expelled) too.

I was a favorite target of bullies growing up. Was I bullied? HECK NO. I fought back. I never started a fight, but I am always happy to finish them.

When I was in kindergarten a neighbor down the street called to complain to my mother that I had beat up her son. I was 5 yrs old and small for my age. The neighbors son was 12 yrs old and over 5' tall. Now what is the likely hood I would have started it? Once it was looked into by the school interviewing other students at the bus stop. It was found that he had been pushing me down at the bus stop till I got mad and slammed him upside the head with my steel lunchbox. Then after school he was chasing me till I suddenly dropped to my knees and he tripped over me. I then jumped on him and began beating him till he was crying like a baby.

First time I got sent to the principles office was first grade. I had pulled a kindergartner off a girl. He was pulling her hair rather viciously. He then attacked me so I punched him in the eye. We both lost a week of recess but his parents were called mine weren't.

The list goes on and on but the point is. I would have been suspended or even expelled as a kindergartner (and every year of elementary school after) because I dared to defend myself and others. In my experience, bullies quit being bullies when someone holds their own against them.

Anyone who believes that violence never solves anything is an ignorant idiot or dreamer. Might does not make right, but might must be used by right to defend against wrong.

If /when I have kids they will be taught to defend themselves. If they get suspended or expelled because of defending themselves I will home school them.

Definitely an excellent idea. Ben X should be a must-see anyway because of many other lessons it teaches as well.

Bullies are assholes, sure, but if you commit suicide because you were being picked on then you had more serious problems to begin with.

Your understanding of the psychology surrounding victims of sustained bullying = ZERO PERCENT
Hooray, expect the home school part. I might have to home school the teachers who insist that fighting back when somebody starts abusing you physically is not okay, though.

people don't know how to raise their own children... yet they still make more...

And from what part of your body did you pluck this statistic I wonder?

Getting bullied is just preparation for the real world. I was bullied ruthlessly from around grade 4 till the end of high school. I was never strong enough to fight back. I hated life. Did I kill myself? No, because that's the only way to truly be the loser they call you; it's letting the bastards win.

Frankly, if you cannot take high school and are so psychologically unbalanced that you kill yourself over it, you'd never make it in the real world. The real world is vicious and kids should not be taught that life is fair because after you're 18 those same people will leave you to rot on the side of the street. It's a vicious evil world out there. Would be nice if it weren't but it is and it's only getting worse. People who lie, cheat, and steal tend to rise to the top. It's sad but true.

Yes, of course life is unfair and all such, but still there are laws and there are people concerned with enforcing them. If it is indeed true that this girl or here family were seeking help but not getting any effective help then it's also a failure of the structures that be.

Often kids are extremely good at not telling their parents everything, even if they love them. And schools are known for being place of severe crimes (bullying is a crime for me). Especially physical violence is more common when you'r young (<25 years). So it just makes sense to check there quite often.

I am strong opponent of cameras in schools. When I attended high school there was recurring discussion about installing them there and it was my biggest worry in those years. Cameras just don't belong to schools.
Well, I have to admit I was probably lucky with my high school and I have never encountered bulling there and would maybe speak otherwise if I had attended worse school. More likely not as my elementary was much worse and I opposed to cameras there too.
I just hate cameras. :-)

All right, basically, advantages of cameras recording both sound and video:
- prevention of shit like bullying, at least outside of toilets
- prevention of property damage, as far as I know, children broke windows and chairs all the time, and of course school ended up paying those. School with far too few money as it is. Even our elevator that allowed a student on wheelchair to move about the school was broke because some idiot forced pipe into the mechanism!

Disadvantages:
- Price (of course, but I think it would pay for itself eventually)
- Sets a dangerous precedent

This means you are strong willed and resilient. Unfortunately it is not the case for everyone, and while boys can deal with a high level of physical abuse, girls can be really mean (not to say bitch) so I can understand that a young girl can really get mentally abused to the point where she will believe what she is being said.

I don't think we should expect teachers to do much, but kids should protect themselves, campaigns should be aimed at them standing to each other, report bullying, etc. (not the victims, the witnesses).

If you ever have a son, maybe you should call him Sue then? ^^

Yes, the world isn't fair and some times cruel. But we should never forget, we are the ones making it.

Funny, because I went to college for pretty much that exact stuff. Also I was relentlessly bullied in middle school, to the point I was afraid to go. It didn't stop until I finally hit a growth spurt my freshman year in high school and became intimidating.

Bullying is horrible and can have severe effects on how you grow up. That said, if you actually kill yourself, you had other issues as well.

Teachers are often the main people to blame for bullying. During my school years, it was often the kid that received the most flack from teachers that got bullied the most - next to the kid that kissed teacher ass, of course.

But during my high school years, I got bullied for a few years too because I was "different" as in, I dared play computer games *gasp* and liked reading and scifi whereas they liked getting drunk and having one-night stands with slutty girls. They started with small stuff but soon, not a day went by or my lunch got stolen or wrecked, books stolen, other property stolen or wrecked.

One time, during the class of one of my favorite teachers (who, unlike most others, didn't take bullying kindly), they stole the case of my brand new glasses. Inside was an expensive watch too, which I had received as a gift a week or so earlier. The case then got thrown back without the watch. I yelled back that they had 5 seconds to return it. They just laughed - it was the last drop.

I knew the three guys who would be responsible and got up and ran over to them and grabbed anything I could off their desk and threw it out of the window (we were on the 3rd floor) including a calculator, all sorts of pens, one of the earliest mobile phones too (this was 1997 when they were just appearing). They were scared as hell, went "OMG you're crazy! You're crazy!" (yes morons always think you're crazy when they bully you for ages and then are surprised they push it too far and you flip out). One of them threw the watch at me to get me to calm down, but they had already broken the clasp at the back so it couldn't be worn any more. When it was all done, I said I'd send them the bill for the watch and they better pay it or I'd break everything of theirs until it matched the bill.

During this whole time, they looked at the teacher as if to say "when are you going to step in?" and he just stood there watching. When everything was over, he just continued with the class. After the class, as I was leaving, he stopped me and said "You better not do this in other classes, those teacher may not get what bullying can do to someone. Don't let them get to you too much, okay?"

Now THAT was a good teacher. He really disliked bullies himself but later explained that teachers often make matters worse by intervening and punishing both because then the bullies feel the blame is spread to both.

I did have my own ways of getting back at bullies - I got several thrown out of school for getting back at them and they deserved it.