THE FOLLOWING EXCERPTS from students provide many candid insights. Bullying threatens children in virtually all American schools. Understanding the bullied and the bully can stem the tide of this ever-present danger.

Malik P. (age 13, 6th grade):
�I have hurt people�s feelings in the past and made them feel like they were nothing. I would do it physically and mentally, messing with their minds. I would punch or say something like �Shut up, nobody tell you to talk.� Why I did this I don�t know. It just made me feel good and sometimes like your friends, it tests you out. To them you�re a punk if you don�t do it, and I can�t be a punk around my friends. Bullying can make you more popular, the most feared person in class. Like everybody knows me, even kids I don�t know. Also, bullying can get to be like a control cycle. They control me and then I control the people that I bully. 

�A bully targets someone who is not into any crowd. Like I�m a lion and he�s a piece of meat. If he�s just standing there, I�m going to get him. So, if you�re smart and you�re not popular, you�re like an outcast.�

Isaiah G. (age 12, 5th grade):
�I think the reason I bully is because they are smarter than me, and I don�t like people that are smarter than me. So, I just bully them, especially if they�re shorter. Like big people will beat me up and then I will be the one that gets hurt. So I get mine in first! It�s bad for the kids being bullied. When they grow up they�re going to be bullies too, unless someone teaches them not to. 

�You can fight back, but that can be worse. It makes more bullies come on to you and gets you in more trouble than if you didn�t fight back. It�s hard because you lose either way!�

Morris B. (age 10, 5th grade):
�I�ve been teased a lot, and it didn�t make me feel too good. Nobody likes being teased. When someone bullies me, I go around bullying other people. When I get bullied I really get mad and, like, take it out on them (other kids). Sometimes I get nothing out of it, but sometimes I feel better. 

�As for the teacher, most times they don�t see it when it happens and I can keep messing with the person. Even if he goes and tells, I just lie and say I didn�t do nothing. Then the one that�s getting bullied gets into trouble.�

Horace M. (age 11, 6th grade):
�I have been bullied ever since second grade right up to fifth. Some students tease me all the time. It makes me angry because they only tease me so they can give me a worse day, and they�re trying to stress me and keep me from getting an education in school. The teachers do stop it in the classroom. But the students laugh at me, and then say I punched them and then I get into trouble. It�s tough all around. The teacher doesn't know who is lying and who is telling the truth.�

Robert Johnson, psychology staff member at PSI, collected these excerpts from students, all of whom agreed to be interviewed. PSI is grateful to Mr. Johnson, his building principals and to the students for being so candid. Mr. Johnson can be contacted at info@psi-solutions.org.