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By Dr. Harry Tennant
Wednesday, March 23, 2011 Discipline: I Told Him To Stick Up For Himself. That Is All He Was Doing! At school, we tell students not to fight...or even play fight. When there is violence, students often claim their role was merely self-defense. In response, we educators explain that it is only the rarest situation when such a plea on a school campus will hold water. We then typically go through the many other ways each participant could have handled the situation in a non-violent manner. If campus business is being done right, when a child is involved in any kind of violence at school his/her parent/guardian will almost always be called to meet with administrators. Typically a parent will come to school, learn the facts of the matter, hear what 'school' consequence the student will receive, and---we hope---impose (at that time or later) a further 'home' consequence. Occasionally though, and more often than you might think for this day and age, a parent will state that they are "proud" of their son/daughter for sticking up for themselves. They explain that dad (or whomever) taught them that you must stick up for yourself if someone is bullying you...and in their parent's mind, that is all the young person did. "I've always told him that if you don't stick up for yourself it will just continue to get worse." No wonder kids taught this 'old-school' way of thinking cross a line that must never be crossed at school. Violence on campus simply can't be tolerated. At one campus where I was an assistant principal, most any student involved in violence was arrested by the police, at school that day. They then went to court. School must be a safe and secure environment, first and foremost. Please encourage young people to talk to an adult immediately if they feel there might be violence of any sort at school----whether it involves them or not. Student tips have prevented many fights on campus. In the 21st century, only the most arcane adults would advise a student to touch anyone in an aggressive manner at school. The parent in the story below is not in trouble for encouraging her son to fight at school. Nonetheless, she actively promoted a fight in her yard and coached her son how to win. She promised not to call the police. She has a (legal) fight ahead of her. Click the image below for the whole story from CNN  Posted at 10:51 PM Keywords: Discipline , Fighting , Parenting , Violence , Play Fighting 0 Comments |