I don't want to sound like the devil's advocate here. As someone who has been properly bullied I despise bullies. However, it is a sad yet unavoidable fact of life that 'bullies gonna bully' and 'haters gonna hate'. It doesn't matter how harsh your punishments are, or how good you are at catching them at it, the douchebags are always going to find a way to torment the weak. In response to situations like this, your only option is to 'deal with it'. When my bullying stopped it had nothing to do with my teachers or parents, and everything to do with my realisation that nobody was going to look out for me until I proved I was both willing and able to (at least partially) look out for myself.
I think it's also important to distinguish between what is actual bullying, and what is just 'boys will be boys' kind of stuff. A lot of cases I know where the word 'bullying' has come up, I've found it to be 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. The accused are indeed taking things too far, but by the same token the accuser is also being too sensitive, sometimes even asking for it. There's actually a lot positive to be said for the more minor stuff. It keeps adolescent ego's in check and stops people from getting too big headed for their own good. It also sharpens your wit.
Bottom line is, you won't find that this sort of stuff just stops when you enter the adult world, so when you're a kid you have to learn the difference between what is real bullying and what isn't, and how to look after number 1, otherwise you've got no chance. That doesn't mean that the bullies are in the right, not at all. But committing suicide, going on a killing spree, or just generally playing the part of the helpless victim that they're trying to make you play, isn't going to win you any friends and it certainly isn't going to make them stop.
I think it's also important to distinguish between what is actual bullying, and what is just 'boys will be boys' kind of stuff. A lot of cases I know where the word 'bullying' has come up, I've found it to be 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. The accused are indeed taking things too far, but by the same token the accuser is also being too sensitive, sometimes even asking for it. There's actually a lot positive to be said for the more minor stuff. It keeps adolescent ego's in check and stops people from getting too big headed for their own good. It also sharpens your wit.
Bottom line is, you won't find that this sort of stuff just stops when you enter the adult world, so when you're a kid you have to learn the difference between what is real bullying and what isn't, and how to look after number 1, otherwise you've got no chance. That doesn't mean that the bullies are in the right, not at all. But committing suicide, going on a killing spree, or just generally playing the part of the helpless victim that they're trying to make you play, isn't going to win you any friends and it certainly isn't going to make them stop.