When I posted my comments on the SHS incident and police involvement, I invited readers to send their comments for publication. Here is one I received from Nancy Darrow. What is YOUR opinion ? Please feel free to join in the discussion.
"Dear Dave,
My opinion? Your insouciant attitude is unwarranted and contributes to an unfortunate lowering of community standards.
It's easy to be dismissive of the perceptions of teachers who are caught between angry adult-sized students trading barbs or swings. We don't know the specific circumstances that caused the SHS administration to call the police regarding a “shouting match.†And who wants to live in a community where the police dispatcher doesn't send a squad car to investigate a report of an altercation on the city streets involving 20 students? Or where officers breaking up a brawl don't issue disorderly conduct tickets? I choose to give the administration and police the benefit of the doubt.
Furthermore, yes, many years ago, in what you dub “the good old days,†schoolboys resolving a dispute with fisticuffs was considered a harmless, “boys will be boys†behavior (although I'm sure that even then, kids caught on the wrong side of a fist or intimidated by their classmates' behavior would disagree with your flippant attitude toward school violence). Times have changed, thank goodness. Most would say that respect matters, even among “mere†schoolchildren, and that allowing children to resolve disputes with violence is not exactly good character training for adult life in the workplace, the community, or the international scene. As a community, we should hold ourselves and our children to higher standards of behavior than brawling in the mud, even if you find such behavior “refreshing.†Surely teenage boys who have the language skills to handle the academic curriculum at our high achieving high school have the language skills to negotiate a resolution to a dispute over an unpaid loan.
Your reasoning reminds me of the ridicule that Mayor Giuliani and Police Chief Bratton received when New York City first began cracking down on quality-of-life crimes, including clearing the streets of menacing squeegee men. As soon as you say the little stuff is “no big deal,†erosion of public behavior begins, and when you address it in a measured way, you see improvement in quality of life. I don't laugh off young people eagerly goading others into fighting, teenagers resorting to fistfights, or weaponless assaults. I think what happened at the high school should lead to making sober assessments, paying attention to what messages we're sending our kids about conflict resolution and what we expect them to do when they see trouble brewing, and thinking again about whether or not we're teaching children the skills they need to be good citizens. I'm glad to hear that the administration is doing just that.
Yours,
Nancy Darrow"
