Bullying in school

Recently a lot of people have written about the bullying in schools and what not to do about it. (Basically, do not ignore it.) But what to do about it? More specifically, what can a parent do?

I've been bullied at school every once in a while, but not very often. That is, physically. Now that I am looking back at it, there was an attempt at emotional bullying too, but back then due to a slight lack of social skills I totally failed to notice it. Emotional bullying is kind of hard to define (for example, kids who nobody wants to hang out with are usually hurt by the rejection and consider it bullying, although I don't think it is).

I have found that for physical bullying violence is usually a solution, if the kid is capable of implementing it (putting up a good fight works even if you lose). The downside is that if the kid cannot do it the parents cannot do it on kid's behalf. Teachers could do more, since they are there, but they don't usually want to. Why?

I read Rhia's entry on this and also realized that the worst school bullies I've ever known were teachers. More details and names later.

It's also interesting that as an adult I know (both live and online) a lot of people who used to be bullied in school and no people who used to be the bullies. Were bullies that much fewer? Were they of a social class that I don't see much as an adult? Are they so ashamed that they don't admit anything? Have they genuinely forgotten everything? Have I? How often is it an issue of varying viewpoints or selective forgetfulness? Does Natasha who organized about 20 people to chase me for a couple of blocks (never ran that fast in my entire life - ugh) remember only the beating that she received afterwards when I found her one on one? Did she organize the chase in the first place because of some legitimate grievance against me that I have forgotten?