The Russian Bazaar has already written about the problem of violence in U.S. schools. We have been forced to return to this topic by the latest research presented by sociologists from the National Institute of Ethics. In examining the causes of cruelty among students, Professors Edwin MacKelen and Elias Ortiz came to the conclusion that 82 percent of children aged five to 17 have suffered violence at the hands of classmates. This figure is enormous, considering that in 2000, the same figure amounted to only 34 percent.

I have no doubt that parents of adolescents studying in U.S. schools will be horrified if they find out about the sophistication and sadism of bullying in educational institutions.

One teenager at a Los Angeles middle school posted the following to an anonymous Internet forum: "There wasn't a single person in my class who would stand up for me. From the first day of school, I was a laughingstock, not only for guys, but also for girls. It all started when my classmates hid my things as I was leaving the classroom. Then everyone laughed loudly when I had no luck in finding them. The angrier I got, the more they enjoyed it. One day they almost drowned me in the school pool. I swallowed too much water and it took me a long time to recover."

This is just one of hundreds of confessions from adolescents who have been treated cruelly at school. In the majority of cases, children don't tell anyone (even their parents) about the humiliations they have endured because they believe that adult interference will only exacerbate the situation.

"It's rare to find a person who has not experienced peer pressure," stated psychologist Edmund Barden. "But in 90 percent of cases, the tests administered by school counselors that would detect behavioral problems do not show any results. Take 17-year-old Jeff Weise, a gifted and disciplined adolescent who shot nine people during a rampage at school. The teachers, school psychologists and school safety officers were horrified, but Weise's classmates who survived were not the least bit surprised by his actions. It turned out that he had been beaten up regularly over the years and that no adults had been aware of this."

According to Barden, there has long existed an unwritten honor code among kids that designates two groups of adolescents who will always be subject to humiliation by their peers:

1) Students who complain to parents or teachers about bullies and thus make matters more complicated for themselves at school;

2) Students who are not able to stand up for themselves and who consciously prefer to seek protection from stronger kids.

"On the first day of 10th grade, a guy from the other homeroom class came up to me and asked why I had long hair," wrote a teenager using the screen name A. F. "I told him that that's how I like it. He told me I should get a haircut. When he saw that I had not done this the next day, he threw a huge wad of gum into my hair. It got stuck in my hair and he threatened that if I disobeyed him again, he would set my hair on fire.

"I ended up getting a haircut. After that he turned me into his slave. I carry his things, do his homework and obediently carry out his every whim. Now that all my classmates have turned their backs on me, I frequently think about suicide."

The American School Safety Center uncovered shocking facts in studying the blogs of high school students. Almost one-third of adolescents wish for the death of their classmates. Fifteen-year-old Dave R. from Wisconsin recounts over the course of 11 pages about how he would like to kill two of his foes who regularly exact money from him.

I am sure that this story would shock even torturers from the Inquisition.

At first, the teenager enthusiastically discusses the methods he would use to torture his enemies, and then he describes their slow and agonizing deaths, focusing in detail on every element of their suffering.

"If you saw these notes, you would probably think that they belong to a psychopathic maniac behind bars who is pouring out his deepest desires onto paper," states Dr. Scott Nolin of the American School Safety Center. "The main problem for this student is that he sees no solution to his problem other than murder. His psyche is broken."

In analyzing the confessions of students who know what it feels like to be treated with violence and cruelty by their peers, one unconsciously concludes that there is not one safe place in a typical U.S. school. Adolescents beat each other up in locker rooms, cafeterias and empty classrooms, as well as on play fields.

"Fights between girls usually take place in the bathroom. Teachers and school safety officers practically never go in there, so it’s a good place for girls to scream and fight. Also, there aren't any surveillance cameras in there," writes a student from New Jersey. "That's exactly where we set straight a few snobs who were giving us problems during high school. It usually only takes one threat of lowering someone's head into the toilet for them to start doing everything you want."

It's worth noting that school bullies actively participate in all the forums specially created to provide anonymous help to kids.

For example, a 14-year-old forum guest named Tyrone wrote: "Our schools are chock full of suckers who will become homosexuals, traitors, terrorists or members of the dregs of society. I believe that it is my duty to educate my classmates to the best of my abilities. I’ve taught them how to smoke pot and wear normal clothes. I promise you they’ll thank me for this down the road."

Please excuse the slight literary reworking of this posting. In it, student Tyrone used a grand total of 12 swear words.

Dozens of Web sites and print publications dedicated to fighting school bullying are peppered with banal advice that will surely be of little use in reality. Here's an example of five methods to survive school from one of these "useful" sites:

1) Wear clothes that don't make you stand out from the crowd. Try to buy most of your clothes from the same stores as your classmates.

2) Always do nice things for your classmates. Participate in different events. Be active.

3) Never forget to exercise. Go to the gym.

4) Ignore sneers and acts of provocation directed at you. Never get into fights.

5) See your school psychologist if you have been insulted or abused.

I highly doubt that a student considering suicide because of regular indignities will instantly dispose of his or her problems by following this "extremely valuable" advice, with the exception, perhaps, of #3, which could somehow help teenagers stand a real chance against bullies.

Alas, violence in schools remains an unsolvable problem. Psychologist Daniel Sullivan writes in his book, How to Survive School, "You are humiliated. You are beaten. Everyone mocks you. I cannot give you one piece of advice that will instantly rid you of all this. Take school as an obstacle which you must pass through, as a puzzle that when solved gives you a ticket to a new life."

This piece of advice, as we can see, is also not terribly encouraging.

Over the past decade, the profile of the average school sadist has changed dramatically. People used to believe that in the majority of cases these adolescents were from poor, unfortunate families and spent most of their time on the street. After analyzing dozens of cases of eruptions of cruelty at schools, psychologists have now assembled the following profile: "These teenagers grew up in well-to-do families. They love sports and are in good physical shape. They have choleric temperaments and clear leadership qualities."

You must admit that this profile of a sadist is virtually no different from what we would imagine an ideal American student to be like. I'll even go out on a limb and propose that at a minimum, half of all American adolescents fall under the above-mentioned criteria.

Violence in schools is increasing geometrically. Psychologists are having no success at rooting out its causes and offer methods that are not terribly effective at combating adolescent sadism. The only thing left to do is for victims to complain anonymously about their torturers online.

"I can't study in this prison any longer. The same faces surround me everyday. I go into the classroom and see these red-eyed, drugged-out bastards. Now I’ll sit down at my desk and find an offensive inscription directed at me. Then they’ll start throwing small objects at me, and between classes they’ll secretly spit at my back. I hate them all. If only they would die faster. " (Anonymous, 15).