I went to a very large High School and bullying was a topic that was addressed in 1 or 2 school assemblies, and once or twice in Communication Applications classes. Specifically, the class(or in some cases school) was asked whether or not they had been bullied at one point. Everyone I could see raised their hand.
Bullying is not a serious American epidemic. There are not dozens of daily teen suicides and school shootings because of extreme bullying. Everyone is bullied, and I might even go as far as to say it's good for you. If your parents and the educational system are there to protect your sorry weak ass from every insult and negative comment, they might as well put you in a padded room as well.
Never once have I seen a student physically abused for any bullying related reason. These are extremely rare and contained situations that are completely blown out of proportion by liberals(not a political bias on my part, just the facts) who believe that we should sugar coat life for these students.
Please keep in mind that I'm not condoning bullying, but the only students who ever were verbally bullied while I attended school were basically asking for it. These were students who walked around with chains hanging off their pants, or wore a tail to school, or were just plain obnoxious. One situation I remember very clearly is where a student with ADD(or ADHD?) was constantly yelled at by teachers and insulted by students for being disruptive and immature - he was dead set on being the center of attention in every class, and for this everyone hated him. He constantly broke school rules regarding sexual harassment and physical conduct, and as a result the student body took it into their own hands and isolated him.
If you travel to an intercity school, or a school located in a lower economic region, or just a "ghetto" school, you'll see frequent fights. These are the schools where bullying is a problem - in these schools the so called "fags" might get shouldered into a wall but I've certainly never heard of anyone being shoved into a locker.
I personally knew someone in High School who committed suicide, and he definitely wasn't bullied. The students that are bullied that ignore it and pull through are the students who are intelligent and will be successful in life. Students that attract the attention of bullies and allow this behavior to bring them down won't be successful, and it isn't necessarily be the bullies fault.
In short, these kids need to adapt to survive without having butthurt politicians and parents sugar coating their experience until they're legally adults. They need to learn to cope. If someone flips you off while you're driving or calls you a closet dog fucker on the street they aren't going to be sent to the principals office. Plain and simple. These extreme bullying cases are rare and extremely overexaggerated by people with their own personal agendas.
