Would you mind passing these along to me?
But, seriously, when I was in school, many many years ago, the nuns didn't care who was right or wrong; fight and you were in the principal's office. I thought then and think now -- and thank God my old man thought at the time -- that this is dumb as hell. If you want the strong to defend the weak, you need to figure out when someone is being a bully and when they are defending themselves or the weak. My dad would come in and say to Sr. Whatever, Principal: "If my son started it, punish him here, and I will punish him worse at home. If he was defending himself or someone else getting bullied, you can punish him here, but I'll shake his hand when we walk out that door. You can teach a man to "turn the other cheek," but a man only has two cheeks."
From everything I hear from parents with little kids in grade school, school administrators are worried to death about lawsuits, public criticism and how they'll be perceived by their administrative peers, and so have zero tolerance. Kids are betwixt and between; they are afraid to defend themselves, afraid to join with others to defend themselves, AND afraid of being bullied and made a social outcast, with no acceptable remedy. Talk about causes of insecurity and emotional turmoil.