I read this article today about a highschool in Dallas, Texas, that is believed to have let boys have cage fights to settle differences. Apparently they would take boys that had a bone to pick with each other, and let them fight, bare fisted in a steel equipment cage. No head/eye protection or anything. I don't know if I like this idea or not. Why not just start teaching boxing and do it the right way?
Uh... Wow. That sounds pretty crazy. What happened to the good ol' "meet at the basketball court/carpark after school"? A valid question.
What's really disturbing is that it meantions a mental retardation facilaty doing almost the same thing. Forced them to fight each other, and recording it for their own entertanment. NOW THAT IS JUST WRONG! Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29774152/?gt1=43001
Yeah, I can only imagine that having this story clarified and backed-up by any evidence is going to be pretty difficult, so knowing whether or not this happened to the extent which it is described in the article will be difficult. I don't doubt that bare-fist fights broke out (happens in all schools), but something tells me that the reality of situation was sensationalised just a wee bit...
I agree that is will be difficult to prove, but it is possible that it did happen. Some messed up stuff happens all the time.
I don't doubt the possibility and yeah messed up stuff does happen all the time.. I'm just skeptical.. I can't really form a proper opinion based on an msn news article.
I don't know if it did or didn't happen. I just thought it would be interesting to discuss if it DID happen. Get peoples opinions if they thought it was wrong or right.
I heard that story as well, and I'm pretty sure there will be criminal indictments if it turns out to be true. From what I heard, it wasn't an "offer." Students caught fighting were PUT in the cage to settle it once and for all. How monumentally stupid.
You would have thought so. Sometimes it's hard to get your head around some of the messed up stuff and people that exist in the World!!
Yeah, there are that sort of people everywhere.There was a boy last year who had to be hospitalised after he was beaten up by his teacher, he was so badly injured. Makes me glad that classroom caning is a crime in India.
I read the article on Yahoo! yesterday. Some pretty sick stuff. That would be because no one wants young people to settle their differences via violence (though if you ask me a every now and then a situation does arise where a good handed fist fight can settle everyone's problems. Venting and what not). For the most part though I don't think this is something schools or any organization really should be supporting. Let them deal with their problems by working it out on their own and if it turns into a fight or anything else serious they can deal with the consequences. In a way. They do things because they have to (survival and what not). Quit often we'll do things just for kicks.
I guess catching students fighting and throwing them in a cage to do it for real DOES send a message...but do schools want to send that kind of a message? Hey, kids, if you're going to fight, do it for real! Like the UFC, only without their safety precautions and a referee...hmmm... Maybe when I have kids I'll homeschool them...
A perfect summary of the entire situation. For a start, schools have a certain duty of care, which they are supposed to honour by ensuring the saftey of students during school hours to the best of their ability. To not only encourage, but - in effect - enforce continued violence between students would them make them liable for injuries etc, wouldn't it? I doubt permission slips were sent out for parents to sign allowing this practice, and waiving any rights for whatever compensation they may be able to claim. I honestly don't understand what it could have hoped to achieve with this idea - short of getting itself either shut down or in severe finacial trouble. What student or parent would find such a school appealing; high school is hard enough without the school itself sanctioning violence. It's in direct opposition to most school policies of discouraging even the slightest amount of bullying/violent behaviour - which are in place for good reason. School is a place for learning, but that is no lesson I would want my child to learn. Sadly, sometimes kids even find school to be a sanctuary from their home life, because it often is a safer, more supportive environment. Where can they go if neither is? The whole thing is just disturbing.
