Like many witness kids, I used to get picked on at school but was generally well-behaved.
One day though I just had enough and fought back, much to the surprise of the kid who thought I was going to be easy pray again and even more to the surprise of the teacher who was writing on the blackboard as the kid I threw over the desk smashed into it face-first.
After a quick combination of punches made him realise that getting up was probably a bad idea we were sent to the headmistress who was also my English teacher,
As we walked in and she started to say "now I understand you two boys have been fighting in class .." she looked up and with an amazed look on her face exclaimed "Simon! You've been fighting?!". As I was saying "yes, sorry" the other kid tried to get his side of things in first claiming that I'd started it. She told him that he then had detention for the week for fighting and lying to her about who started it and after checking I was Ok I was off scott-free.
For the rest of the day I had all the big tough kids that I didn't normally have much to do with patting me on the back saying "nice one greeny" and chants of "Rocky Rocky" as I walked into each lesson. It felt pretty good and no one picked on my after that!
I think kids should always be taught to avoid conflict if at all possible but if not ... make sure you land some good punches. It's way better than that "turn the other cheek" crap that imaginary dead jew taught