Comment on 6th graders expelled for a fight club

This past week there was a link on Drudge to a story about sixth-graders at a Tacoma middle school who were expelled for setting up a fight club.

I was not surprised at what in my opinion was the over-the-top reaction of the school officials to this fight club, but I was a little surprised at the number of people defending the school in the comments. Most people disagreed with school officials, but a large minority supported the disciplinary action.

I don’t understand. These boys were engaged in organized fighting. The fights were timed, and there were rules such as no hitting in the face. A teacher commented at how awful it was – they were knocking each other down and hitting and slamming each other. So what, you want them to play football instead? And what if they were watching wrestling on TV – should they be expelled for that, too?

I am against violence and I agree that boys should be taught not to fight. But it’s the hypocrisy that gets me. I’m confident that some of the adults who are in favor of coming down hard on these boys are among those who pay good money to watch some of these contact sports.

And don’t think that some of the older youth don’t see through this kind of adult hypocrisy. No, I don’t believe that hypocrisy ever worked well in raising children.



About mesasmiles

By Dr. David Hall. Dr. Hall runs Infinity Dental Web, a small company that does Internet marketing for dentists. He has had a long-standing interest in politics and as a college student toyed with the idea of a political career.
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