At the end of school today, a group of female students started fighting each other. I didn't see the fight because I was in my room and the fight took place outside near the buses (they almost made it home). As I was sitting in my room, I heard this commotion in the hallway. A female was yelling, "My EYES!!!! My EYES!! Somebody HELP ME!!!" I thought it was a fight and I ran outside my room because it sounded as if someone was seriously injured. When I got outside, I saw about 3 female students screaming about their eyes hurting and not being able to see. One student was on the floor wailing. I saw the school officers standing around and figured they had the situation under control.The scene reminded me of Oedipus Rex when he had gouged his eyes out. For some reason, I felt more sympathy for Oedipus than I did for the females screaming as if someone was pulling their eyes out of their sockets. It turns out the police officers had to pepper spray them to break-up the fight.
In retrospect, my lack of empathy for the young ladies bothers me. My initial feelings were, "They should not have been fighting at school anyways;" "That's what they get;" "Hopefully it will teach these kids to think twice before they get into a fight." Am I wrong for feeling this way? Should students be pepper sprayed? One teacher said, "The officers are too rough with the students." I didn't think they were too rough.
I have seen some serious take-downs by administrators and officers. It's kinda like a "by any means necessary" situation. Most students will not stop with a simple, "Hey there. Let go of that students hair;" or "Could you please stop stomping the mess out of this young man's face." In some situations, the students are injured (a female was slammed to the ground last year and scraped her head against the pavement--she had punched an assistant principal in the face, breaking his glasses while giving him a black eye) and in others, the adults are injured. What are we, as educators/school officials supposed to do? At some point, adults also have to think about their own safety.
What do you think?
12 comments:
I have to say that I initially reacted like you, Ronda. Unfortunately, I'm so used to fights in the halls that they don't even phase me now.(As we discussed, I managed to tune this fight out so much that I didn't even know it happened!)
It makes me uncomfortable to realize that I can resort to laughing off students' fights. If we let everything at HHS sink into our souls, we would be miserable, but still...
It was only after hearing other teachers' reactions that it occurred to me that pepper spray might have been overkill. It seems like something that should be a very last resort. And part of me wonders how a few burly officers couldn't seperate some 14-year-old girls by the simple use of force. But then again,I've seen students fighting the security officers just as hard as they are fighting each other, even as they are being dragged away. And maybe, pepper spray would actually do less damage than dragging them apart by force.
But pepper spray? This wasn't exactly a riot.
All this to say, I don't know either...
Question:
When white kids get in fights, do police automatically pepper spray? Wasn't there an incident a year or two ago where a 6-year-old black girl in Texas was handcuffed or something?
The force used with us is DEFINITELY extreme. With that being said, they shouldn't have been fighting. But they aren't animals ... or even criminals. They are children.
YBPguide.com
One would think that a police officer would get in the mix and be able to break some 14 year old girls up from fighting. This is the type of responsiblity that you take on when becoming a police officer. However, some of these kids are crazy. Some may have razor blades or other sharp objects. Would you risk your safety to get in there and stop some kids from fighting? I would say not. Pepper spray is a deterrent, and it also is a safety measure. Instead of possibly getting injuried, or injuring the students, spray a little in the air and their ass will stop. Any other students who may consider fighting in the future may think twice or they too will be squirming on the ground praying for sweet Jesus to save them.
I will play devil's advocate here and say that sometimes the kid that didn't start the fight may unjustly get sprayed too. We are sometimes causalities of war though and in the end ,the officer is probably going to do what is best for his saftey and others. Wow I can't believe I said that, Did i mention I hate the police?
Any police afraid to take down two high school girls needs to turn in his badge. High school fights in Durham are just the beginning ...
Gene, I am sure that in some schools, minority students are treated rougher than other students. But some kids are just hard to handle. On top of that most people say that female fights are the worst ones and they would rather break up a fight between males. And honestly, I don't know about calling these students "children". It sounds too innocent. Everybody in high school isn't a child. Most of them are young adults.
Oh and just to provide a little more info on the story . . .
It turns out that a male teacher tried to step between two of the females who were starting to argue. Then two more females joined in and were circling around the teacher. At this point an officer stepped in and tried to pull one of the females back. Apparently, he lost his balance and fell to the ground with one of the females. Apparently they were punching and swinging around the officer (probably hitting him) trying to get to the girl on the ground. At that point, he pulled out the pepper spray.
And I would like to add that I trust our officers' judgment. This is the first incident that I have heard of in which someone was pepper sprayed.
So no the students aren't animals, but if you are hitting an officer while trying to hit another female, you are out of control. Clearly they had no respect for his authority.
Given the extra details, spray wasn't a bad decision if and only if the officer tried to break up the fight without spray and warned them that if they didn't stop, he'd spray.
I just thinking coming in spraying off the break was unacceptable. What's next, bullets?
YBPguide.com
Hey, they used pepper spray at Northern yesterday, according to the News and Observer.
So it's not just us.
I would say that new taser they (the popo) have would be next. I know I wouldn't be fighting if potentially a policeman was going to hit me with a few volts. However, bullets may be necessary if the gats are drawn.
Tasers probably are next, but I have heard some horror stories about them. I think they would be a deterrent, like pepper spray, to not fight at school.
Bottom line, there is an attack on our youth and we all need to stay in prayer for them and we need to step up as role models for them as well.
I concur with your initial emotions Ronda.
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