A lot of schools spend countless hours trying to stop bullying. But some question if they are sending the right message.

It started as a simple look at bullying. University of Texas at Arlington criminologist Seokjin Jeong analyzed data collected from 7,000 students from all 50 states.

He thought the results would be predictable and would show that anti-bullying programs curb bullying. Instead — he found the opposite.

Jeong said it was, “A very disappointing and a very surprising thing. Our anti-bullying programs, either intervention or prevention does not work.”

The study concluded that students at schools with anti-bullying programs might actually be more likely to become a victim of bullying. It also found that students at schools with no bullying programs were less likely to become victims.

The results were stunning for Jeong. “Usually people expect an anti-bullying program to have some impact — some positive impact.”

The student videos used in many campaigns show examples of bullying and how to intervene. But Jeong says they may actually teach students different bullying techniques — and even educate about new ways to bully through social media and texting.

Jeong said students with ill intentions “…are able to learn, there are new techniques [and gain] new skills.” He says students might see examples in videos and then want to try it.

According to Jeong, some programs even teach students how to bully without leaving evidence behind. “This study raises an alarm,” he said. “There is a possibility of negative impact from anti-bullying programs.”

Jeong and others like him believe that until the message delivered by anti-bullying programs improves — some programs may be doing more harm than good.

The DARE programs didn't work either, and instead increased the incidence of drug use. Abstinence only sex-ed doesn't work either.

There are programs that do work, but they should be tested for efficacy before being fully implemented. Unfortunately human experimentation is sometimes hard to get approved and there's sometimes 10 years or more to determine if the program actually worked.

Personally, anti-bully campaigns need to be focused on detecting who is being bullied (teachers/parents) and then coaching those who are being bullied into how to face the bully.

The reality is that the world is full of bullies, K-12 is when you should learn how to deal with them, not adulthood. It's essentially the same with fighting. It's far healthier for kids to figure out that fighting sucks at 12 than at 21.

Society likes to pretend that bullies are cowards who do not fight, and if you stand up to them they will back down. It's not really the case. If you stand up to them, odds are - you will get into a fight. This is not necessarily a problem, but an institutional program that can be viewed as basically encouraging confrontation - I see many potential problems. Encouraged victim gets pounded - lawsuit. Bully gets pounded - lawsuit. Something more serious happens, etc. While it may be a good idea, the bottom line is it's only a matter of time before we get a suboptimal result, and everything gets reversed.

Best hope for your program is "Dad", and a school system that does not punish those who stand up for themselves.

By facing the bully I do t necessarily mean fighting them. I more mean learning how to deal with the issue.

My middle & high school had a fairly severe bullying problem. There were about 10 kids (Of which I was one) which were the perpetual target of bullying by just about everyone. (Yes, I got my butt handed to me by a girl at least once) I had my nose broken on 2 occasions. It was customary to punch the kids in the arm as hard a possible as a 'greeting' (My arms were perpetually black & blue )


That changed because of a single incident.

Near the beginning of my sophomore year in high school one of the kids had enough. When one of his tormentors began flicking him in the back of the head in the middle of class, he pulled out a thermos full of gasoline and poured it over the bully. He tried to light him on fire but couldn't get the lighter to light. He pulled out the handgun from his bag, jumped to the front of the class and after threatening to shoot the bully he put the gun to his own head and asked "Who wants to see a bloody mess?"

The teacher managed to talk him out into the hall and eventually convinced him to surrender his gun. There was a (local) media firestorm over the incident with a lot of focus on the fact that it was a bullied kid who was simply pushed too far.

I can't remember a single incident of bullying at my school after that.