Bullying

[pbrower2a]

The only effective way to deal with bullies is to sock 'em and show them who's boss.

I'm perfectly serious, laws against fighting in school are killing kids' ability to defend and stick up for themselves.

Teachers have their own fear of a fight erupting in their classroom, a fight demonstrating their loss of control of the classroom and hence incompetence.

Bullying behavior that has trivial physical consequences in elementary school becomes more troublesome as kids get bigger and stronger -- and start bringing weapons. The schoolyard bully often morphs into the bar-room brawler, a genuine danger to humanity as a whole because he can put people in the hospital or the morgue.

[pbrower2a]

Bullying should certainly be taken quite seriously. Children have a lot less protection from the schoolyard bully than adults do from a violent/harassing adult. Society blames victims of bullying far more than victimized adults, and does not stigmatize the bully as much as an adult offender even when their actions are identical.

Adults can leave the saloon when anger flares in a drunk. They can even walk away from a job site in which someone gets hostile. The only bullying that adults can't easily walk away from is in a prison.

Leaving the schoolyard in response to a bully has consequences that a child recognizes as unpleasant.   
 

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(1) The teacher may recognize the retribution as excessive. That is especially true for an incompetent teacher, a teacher new to the school, or a substitute. As a substitute I typically had to refer students at the stage of verbal escalation that usually precedes a fight. Profanity itself is ordinarily something with which I can deal -- except for "F--- you", which are "fighting words as are ethnic and sexual slurs. (Most profanity is empty, as in "I don't like this f---ing assignment", to which I begin with having the student say that sentence without the f-word and asking whether the sentence lost anything. Then I explain why the assignment is to be done).

(2) Fights themselves can indicate incompetence of a teacher. If they are hallway disturbances (as a sub I saw more of them than a regular teacher because students didn't realize what I was) I invariably wrote them up. Some other teacher's students? I thought that I was doing someone a favor.

(3) Fights can lead to injuries. High-school students are often close to having adult bulk and muscles. The fists are bigger. Add to that, any mean-spirited kid can get more clever about causing an injury and become increasingly sadistic. Fists are bad enough, but introduce a weapon of any kind and things can get messy.

(4) A teacher might be tempted to break up the fight -- and get hurt. School districts do not like having to pay a salary to a teacher who is inured and unable to work.

(5) Some students are unable to fight back -- especially if disabled.

(6) Above all, non-violence is a virtue. Shouldn't we be teaching that virtue?

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Bar-room brawls and street fights are immature behavior.