Remember fifth grade? Remember trying to make friends? Remember that kid who shot up the place … wait, that didn’t happen back then.

Well, maybe it did, but not in my school. Now, though, some kids that age, and younger, have started to expect it. Schools have too, eliciting responses such as zero-tolerance and anti-bullying policies to the recent shootings in Georgia, Pennsylvania, California and Colorado.

Where is this leading? Well, school principals say violence statistics are looking up. According to a TIME article, an elementary school in Fort Collins, Colo., reduced its behavior infractions by 66 percent after principal Sherry Workman started “bullyproofing” tactics in her school. Kids are coached on how to walk confidently and react verbally to would-be aggressors.

In my middle school, we had conflict resolution courses that were, as I remember, a huge joke among students. Those who fought each other had to do puzzles and spend massive amounts of time in the detention room, affectionately called “the hole.”

So are these measures a joke in schools? Maybe, but maybe not anymore. Kids are mean. Everyone’s been there. Teasing, taunting, being made fun of, making fun of others & it’s been that way since before our parents went to school (the Dark Ages). Saying you want to kill the person in the next desk isn’t taken as a joke anymore, no matter how annoying everyone finds the kid. Now, teachers call the police.

According to a Chicago Tribune article, more parents are worried about their kids making friends. Some Chicago schools are spending more time teaching social skills. At one elementary school, a guidance counselor spent a half-hour with a fifth grade class answering questions about how to make friends and be polite.

Wow. I don’t remember that kind of thing. But the article outlines the problems: Too many activities and not enough friend time.

Of course, some parents have gone the other route, arming their kids & in one case in Connecticut, with a screwdriver. Maybe everyone needs a hand in figuring this stuff out.

Violence and the emphasis on bullying and caretaking in schools raises a number of questions.

1. What is the role of a teacher these days?

Part parent, teacher, coach, guidance counselor, support person, discipline person and role model seems to be the request. That’s quite a lot of shoes to fill each day. Not to mention that each kid needs something different. Wait, this sounds a lot like … what we demanded out of our teachers. Maybe the difference isn’t so great.

2. What are kids learning from their school experience?

It’s starting to turn into a kid version of “Survivor.” Kids have to start fending for themselves … or have they been doing that all along? Has the world just realized how hard school really is on kids? Hmmm …

3. Are kids really that bad?

No. They never were, either.

What these shootings have done is cause a great amount of pain to individuals who shouldn’t have had to experience it. It caused the senseless death of many children and teachers, who were mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and friends of many others.

But if any good can come of it, the U.S. has heard the cry for help. And help is on the way, with school after school on the bandwagon. Maybe we shouldn’t have scoffed at confo-reso back in the day. Maybe it really helped somebody.

Maybe that was the point Brian Head of Woodstock, Ga., was trying to make when in 1994 he screamed, “I can’t take it anymore!” and shot himself in the head. It was just too much.

A psychologist, Peter Fonagy, who developed an antibullying model said bullying is a drama supported by an audience.

“The theater can’t take place if there’s no audience,” he said.

Rest for the weary of teasing is on the way. And it’s about time.