“Bullycide,” a term that has only recently entered the national vocabulary, describes an individual who commits suicide after being tormented and bullied. The spike in “bullycides” in the recent year has forced the nation to quit playing the “see no evil” card and open its eyes to the trauma our students experience every day. Our children are being punched, kicked, spit on, and verbally abused, and they are exposed to this the moment they bounce out of the safety of Mom or Dad’s minivan and into the classroom. Or bathroom. Or hallway. Or playground. America’s schools, once the crown jewel of the international education system, have not only fallen behind in global achievement standards, but have begun to allow our children to torment each other, sometimes even fatally, and excuse it for any number of reasons…”he didn’t mean it,” or “it’s just boys being boys.” Sure, we can educate our students about peace and teach them why it is important. We can tell them all about the peacemakers who made history and how change can be achieved through non-violent measures. But if we continue to make excuses for this violence, none of that talk matters. We condemn peace to become nothing more than abstraction of dusty old textbooks unless we teach our children how to practice peace now.