Bullying...A Problem Schools Just Can Not Handle

In the education system everything is governed by rules...maybe not quite. Just like in any other system there are gray areas, so does the education system. I am going to focus on those gray areas regarding the problem of bullying. 
When one student bullies another and the victim retaliates physically (as in fights back) how do school authorities handle the situation?

1. Punish the bully and the victim for disorderly conduct?
2. Punish the bully and teach the victim  how to react to bullying in ways other than fighting?
3. Counsel both these young students about their actions

In most cases people fail to identify the situation for what it truly is and pick the first option. The problem with this option is that punishing a bully never truly solves the problem. After the punishment the bullying continues as the problem is never really addressed. The victim on the other end is demoralized and fails to understand why they are being punished. They continue to be be bullied, either by the same bully or by others and this time they do not retaliate or do anything about it. They begin to feel incredibly helpless and depressed. The worst case scenario is one which is becoming more and more common which is suicide. Some may begin to exhibit some antisocial behavior because of this.
Those who may decide to apply the second method understand the victim's situation and allows them to feel supported. On the other hand the bullying is still not addressed and the bullying continues with either the same victim or another.
In my opinion, the third option is by far the most favorable as it can deal with the problem completely. Bullies are usually broken people with so many problems which manifest through their behavior. Counselling manages to unearth these problems and allows one to solve the true cause of the problem. The victim also needs to be counselled. One can never know how much this person has been damaged during this period of bullying and also how much emotional breakage they have had to accumulate. Counselling prevents the problem of the victim continuously showing antisocial behavior as a result of their experiences. Prevention is always better than cure.
All in all bullying is a real problem that needs to be addressed more than it already is. Once you deal the with bullying you find a cure for so many other social problems.

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