According to the information presented to the legislature, our public schools are hotbeds of bullying that the schools cannot control. If that is true, another law against bullying won't help, for we are already lost.

The House Education Committee, headed by Sara Gelser of Corvallis, was told that more than 40 percent of Oregon eighth-graders have reported they are subjected to name-calling, bullying and other forms of harassment in school.

The committee has approved a bill to try to stop it. But it's not aimed at the students. It's once again aimed at the people trying to administer and teach in our schools, who are already hamstrung by laws limiting their options in dealing with unruly children. If they happen to take one by the arm, they might as well hand in their license and quit.

The legislation requires that schools set up a formal system for reporting harassment and acting on complaints. If 4o percent of students report being harassed, you can see how that would work. It wouldn't. Schools would do little else but document and investigate complaints.

The legislation also would set up protected classes, such as gays and other minorities, but it's unclear why. Anybody could file a harassment complaint, protected or not.

What exactly is the problem here?

It's not that the schools don't do what they can, by and large, to enforce civilized conduct among the children in their charge.

The problem is that some of these children grow up in ways that civilization doesn't have a chance.

The answer is not more counselors or diversity training. It is not more policies and regulations, or more investigations to be conducted and reports to be filed.

One answer is for schools to have the authority to immediately punish children who misbehave.

But a better one is to return to a form of education - and a culture that supports it - where children learn to admire and emulate how good people act, with courage and restraint, and how to always do the right thing. (hh)