My wife was asking me about this very issue this morning, along the lines of "What the hell is up with all this talk about 'bullying' now?"
My response was, "I don't know - but new rules cannot change human nature."
So let's say Great Leader has a nationwide symposium on bullying, and there are new federal mandates against bullying in schools. They declare bullying to be illegal. Will that change the nature of the people who naturally are more "alpha" and aggressive and have no qualms about pushing the smaller kids around? No. That's ridiculous. There's an agenda here, and it has nothing to do with actually stopping bullies - a fool's errand.
It's just like the OWS movement. It's a whiny-baby movement. These kids camp out for a month (I wonder how they can afford that, by the way) and they whine about not having as much as the Wall Street big-wigs. So what? I'm against corruption and I'm anti-fascist, but I'm also an advocate of self-respect and self-reliance. If you don't have something you want, then fucking go get it. Work for it, learn a new skill and get it, whatever - make your own destiny.
If these hipster kids (and yes they look almost all under-30) ever get what they want - Communism, to put a name to it - then I guarantee in a year the same "haves" of today would become the haves of tomorrow. Why? Because their nature is to game the system, extract money from the have-nots and do-nothings, and the profit above all. They do it in our current fascist system, they would do it in a true free market, and they would do it in a commune. Because that's what they know how to do.
Back to bullies: same thing. Even if you made rules, created punishments, and leveled the playing field ("all involved parties in a fight will be equally guilty") it will solve nothing. Bullies will be bullies. The solution is obvious to anyone with a shred of common sense and intelligence (and life experience): kids who are picked on need to stand up to their bully and fight them.
When I was a kid (in first grade) I was bullied. It went on for weeks. Finally my older cousin taught me how to punch, how to put someone in a full nelson, and how to kick someone in the balls. He also told me that there is nothing dishonorable in a fight except being the loser.
I remember the day I was no longer bullied, and it was when the two kids came up to me while I was on the playground at recess. I literally took a flying leap at the leader and then fucking pounded his head to the ground - on the sidewalk. He lay there saying "Ah want mah momma...ah want mah momma...." while his sidekick and I stood there looking at him. The playground monitor casually walked over and looked at him, and asked him if he wanted to see the school nurse. That was in 1984, so things were different.
Another time, a few years later, I had a bully problem. (I was a nice kid, and not a jock or anything so I guess I was looked upon as a possible target.) That bully got hit with a Gremlins lunch box. I didn't know if I should laugh of cry when it was over: I used my favorite lunch box to pummel my tormenter and it was ruined, but it was so satisfying to see him laying on the ground, cradling his knee and crying. [Relevant note to all you 90's kids: this was in the late 1980's so it was a metal lunch box. I still have it by the way.]
(Oh yeah...my cousin who taught me to be ruthless? He had been bullied when he was a kid. My uncle told me that it all ended when he gave my cousin a whoopin' for being beat up when he came home from school. My cousin went to the kids house that night and challenged the bully to a fight. They fought it out right there - with my uncle watching. My cousin won the fight.)