According to the work of psychologist David Smith, 57% of anti-bullying policies did nothing, 14% helped slightly, and 29% actually made the problem worse (Smith, Schneider, Smith, and Ananiadou 547-560). Every day we see news reports of “innocent pranks” that degenerate into deadly violence. Yet every day, year after year, schools use the same old methods, attempting to solve this enormous problem with small, temporary fixes. It's no secret that the problem of bullying is not handled properly in American schools. The number one problem with America's "anti-bullying programs" is that schools help the wrong person. The programs focus on helping bullies, mediating bullies, changing bullies. Bullies are not the ones who need help, bullies are not the ones who get hurt, victims are the ones who need help. Bullying will never end, “it is inevitable, a natural byproduct of human nature” (Morgan 1). Even if all bullies were eliminated, new ones would emerge because it's all about power imbalance. Verbal bullying isn't even against the law, in fact it is protected by the first amendment, free speech. In this enigma yet to be solved, the victims are those who kill themselves. The victims are those who bring weapons into schools and shoot people. It is necessary to teach victims to defend themselves. The only way to stop bullying is to remove its power by teaching the victims and leveling the playing field. The idea that American schools often fail to realize is that bullying is almost never just between two kids. Often there is a pack of bullies or even more ordinary bystanders who encourage and “add fuel to the fire”. The results of one study "showed that bystanders were involved in... middle of paper... employees have heavier workloads or have less support from their administrators and are usually less empathetic to victims Now not only are teachers linked to bullying incidents, but so are administrators. If we want to help victims of bullying we need to look at every aspect of the problem. With school shootings and ongoing epidemics of bullying in the media it is obvious American schools are not addressing the problem of bullying correctly. However, there is hope for a better future. When addressing bullying we cannot just focus on one piece of the puzzle. We must mediate not only with the bullies, but also with the victims and with all the other factors that contribute to the problem if American schools re-evaluated their programs, shifted their focus towards changing the old mentality that is imposed on us at a young age and looked at the bigger picture, then we really could be. united as one..