Dacono school fights
Apparently an individual is picking fights with classmates to build up his own tough reputation. I asked him if anyone stepped in, he explained that if you step in to stop it, you’re not standing up for your friends in the eyes of the on-lookers, you are just being a kill joy. If you band all the ones being picked on together to fight with you, your banded a whimp and are therefore picked on all the more. I was dismayed and surprised to hear that our new “small town” middle school was having the same problems as our big city middle school we just moved from in Lakewood.
I asked him what HE would do to stop it, and he told me, “you can’t". The teachers yell (providing they see it at all), and even if there are police on campus the kids just move the fight off the school grounds to the parks. If you stop it in the parks, it just moves somewhere else that no adults can see it until one of the two loses the fight. From the words of a young boy trying to learn in the midst of raging hormones and teen age angst, I learned that he and most of his classmates have already given themselves over to the idea that if they are next chosen as a target, the only option is to fight. It won’t matter if he wins, loses, gets suspended, or yelled at, society and his school experience to-date has left him feeling like there is no other option. I asked him if he remembered any of the conflict resolutions skills he learned back in elementary school. I was reminded that the course was voluntary, and he doubts this other kid ever heard of resolving anything with words instead of fists. It’s a shame that conflict resolution isn’t a required class starting in 1st grade and every year after until graduation in public schools today. As our children grow up in today’s world that might come in more handy then knowing who the first president was and if he really had wooden teeth, as well as getting our underpaid teachers back to teaching our kids instead of having to referee them.
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I'm reminded of a quote that goes something like this " sometimes you fight so that later you don't HAVE to." Tell your boy to put up his dukes and stand up for himself. No, he may not win, but you need to tell him to fight hard enough so that the other kids don't want to fight him again. Maybe if kids didn't grow up afraid to take a punch, we could avoid some of the mass shootings perpetrated by these bullied/picked on murderers.
Posted by Mike S. on May 3, 2007 01:34 PMBoth good letters.....I'm not understanding the educational establishments' reluctance to impose zero tolerance on bullying.I recall reading of felony charges being laid upon an elementary school pupil for the inadvertent bringing of a paring knife to school in the child's lunch.Seems like hitting would merit similar treatment.
Posted by Jimminy on May 5, 2007 01:27 PM