Bully hysteria

Bully hysteriaA person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself.
1. Bullying is aggressive behavior that involves unwanted, negative actions.
2. Bullying involves a pattern of behavior repeated over time.
3. Bullying involves an imbalance of power or strength.
Bullying can take on many forms:
1. Verbal bullying, including derogatory comments and bad names.
2. Bullying through social exclusion or isolation.
3. Physical bullying such as hitting, kicking, shoving and spitting.
4. Bullying through lies and false rumors.
5. Having money or other things taken or damaged by students who bully.
6. Being threatened or being forced to do things by students who bully.
7. Racial bullying.
8. Sexual bullying.
9. Cyberbullying (via cellphone or Internet).
Here's the bottom line: If half of all high school students really are bullies, which I distinctly doubt, then we have a bigger education crisis than we think.

Instead of obsessing on standardized tests and how to use the results to evaluate teachers, we would need to consider that we are raising a nation of sadists. Even to someone as pessimistic as I can be, this just doesn't seem right.