You won’t find standing up to bullies in the common core curriculum, but being bullied is a common experience for many kids. Sierra, a 10th grader writing for the Humanity Project for Kids, explains it this way:
“We may think we’re on top of the world, but truth be told, we’ve all been bullied one way or another. It could be that sly comment that comes off as a joke, but has a hidden, hateful meaning. Or it could be straight-on verbal abuse like getting picked on by the kid who is secretly super insecure about themselves so they take it out on other people. Anyway you get it, bullying hurts. It makes you think about yourself in a negative way, like there’s something wrong with you. It makes you believe you have to change to make other people happy, and not yourself.”
Stopping it is more art than science, though; according to a 2013 study by Jeong and Lee, kids at schools with bullying prevention programs are more likely to be victimized by their peers than at schools with no such programs.