Bill That Would Allow Students to Fight Back in Bullying Incidents Moves Through Legislature

A student certainly should be allowed to defend themselves. Many kids were taught by their dads to defend against bullies. I was and so was my son.

No Shit ? I only had a problem with bullies Once as a young adult. I knocked him out cold and when he woke up he was in the parking lot by himself. Never had a problem since.

Slippery slope. My son had an altercation as a 5th grader with an 8th grader. He stood his ground when the 8th grader took a soccer ball from him and his friends. My son was shoved as he asked for it back, he pushed back, and the 8th grader slammed him down. My son got back up and attempted to fight back before they were separated. He was handed a day off suspension due to the no tolerance rules against any fighting. But the head of school was obviously torn, knowing my son was only trying to stand up for himself. On one hand, he could have gone straight to a faculty member to complain, but it all happened so fast, I don't think it registered at the time. On the other hand, I don't want my kids to back down either. So, I was proud of him for standing up for himself. In the end, the 8th grader and his parents paid us a visit, in which he/they apologized profusely (they are friends of ours). My son never faced another bullying issue at that school again.

In my own case, I faced a lot of bullying in middle school while my Dad had us stationed in Panama. I stood up to a 9th grader as a 7th grader in a bus ride home. I managed to get him into a headlock and wailed on him. All this did for me was turn me into a mark for all the other would-be challengers to take on the 7th grader who beat up a 9th grader. I was so happy my Dad was reassigned after 6 months to take on the role of a relieved Commander in Guatemala, where I got to start over.

My opinion, we should be allowed to stand up and defend ourselves, but it has to be followed up by the faculty vs the bully.