I have always thought that the upswing in “bullying” is due to the fact that through imbecile sero-tolerance rules, if a kid fights back against a bully, he is considered as guilty as the bully, and suffers accordingly.
This is deranged, as bullies are generally not the kind who are going to excel in life and the kids they bully generally are. Bullies therefore have nothing to lose in being suspended.
I remember back in the old, uncivilized days, when the unruly kids were marched down to the PE Coaches office, and paddled silly. No kid wanted that and it was an excellent deterrent. But, as a geek who was picked on, it was fully worth it to pop a bully in the mouth and then watch him get it far harder from the coach than I did. They knew who was the instigator and who was the victim, and meted out punishment accordingly.
Now there is no recourse. No ability to fight back. It’s like.. ‘rats run things or something...
I grew up as the number one child of 6. Living with your competitors for 18 years gives you ample opportunity to stand your ground and give as good as you get.
I had my share of fights in school but I think mostly due to people misjudged that I would cower or back down.
Never did. Not genetically disposed for it and they paid for their dumb decision.
Last guy that tried it was 6 years ago. After punching square in the nose and lips I had a violent, allergic reaction.
He lost two teeth and had to go to some specialist to save them.
He’s been rather passive since then, after years of misjudged my tolerance for idiotic attempts to lord himself over me.
I think he thought he got something in his head to finally best me at something , anything and with the courage of a few drinks in him he nailed me clear out of the blue.
He’ll never make that mistake again.
I was bullied, once, the other kid was just trying to see if I would back down. New in the school even though I had lived in the area 5 years earlier. I am not big nor do I consider myself to be a tough guy, but I don’t back down from anyone, if I have done nothing wrong. I remember some kids that were made fun of because they were poorer than others, shoot even my family would have been considered below the poverty line. But the bullying never got to a point to where a kid would have considered suicide. Another kid would eventually stand up with the bullied one and say enough is enough, now the bully had two to contend with. That is what I remember. Also my mom told me if someone starts a fight with you, you have my permission to finish it. My mother is a devout Christian woman, both mom and dad have been married almost 70 years, dad is a preacher. So yeah I had to deal with that too, when I was in school.
But I have one comment to make. It's about the victim fighting back. When I was an inner-city high school teacher, I saw a few instances of the victim fighting back. In every case, the bully won. Remember, the bully has thug friends ready to jump in - and later retaliate - the victim does not.
The idea of the victim hitting the bully and making him cry happens so rarely it can be considered just TV fantasy.
Bullies make their victims' lives continuous misery. Very little upside there.
So what's the solution? It's as you said, a visit to the PE coach's office. That's one fight the bully will ALWAYS lose.
My observation is that bullies generally grow up to be labor leaders, Democrat politicians, and CEO's. Sociopaths, in other words. Refusal to let the good kids hit back since the 70's has led directly to a lot of societal dysfunction.
Paddling served as a pretty good deterrent in the schools I attended, as well. There were exceptions... for some reason in my 8th grade algebra class there was a cadre of boys who asked the teacher for cracks from time to time, just to posture as hard cases. The teacher was happy to oblige and delivered the cracks to order, giving takers the choice of “Whoppers” (hard cracks) or “Winky Burgers” (light ones). Strange kids, strange teacher...