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Show i i Violence Is Not The Answer I have been aware of a problem in our school system for about a year. I never knew quite what to do and so like most people we just don't do anything. We moved here from Connecticut thinking, in part, that we were moving our children out of a dangerous school system. The year before we moved, a boy brought in to my daughters home room class a gun. Two years before we moved, in a nearby rival school, a young man was angry at the principal after being expelled and went home, got a gun and shot and killed the custodian, just missing the principal. There is something happening in our school system that is not as violent as this but I feel should be addressed. There are boys picking on other boys, fighting, punching. One boy here in town has bruises on his face because another boy decided it was neat to beat on him while other boys looked on. Of course, no one dares report the fights because the people who like to fight will turn on them. No girls report the fights because that's not cool. Maybe I missed something but I thought it was school policy to first warn, then expel the ones who fight, but if no one reports anything, its a vicious circle. Some of these boys beating on other boys go to church, others do not. We, as parents, grandparents, school teachers and Sunday School teachers need to teach a little more of the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Love your neighbor as yourself. I recently -taught in the Escalante High School for a few days. On at least three occasions, boys were hitting each other or slugging on someone. The boys seemed shocked that I told them to cut it out. Their response was "we're just fooling around" or "he's my friend, we're just goofing off. Maybe I did grow up in a whole different generation. It just never would have occurred to me to hit someone I called friend. Or maybe because I didn't grow up in Utah or maybe I don't know how real cowboys do things. If it is happening in Escalante, I am sure that it is happening in your schools. Get involved, find out what is happening. Tell your kids that beating on other kids is unacceptable behavior and it will be punished, then follow through. And if they are not the ones doing the beating but see it happening, that also makes them somewhat responsible. We need to teach our children that violence is not right. Beating someone up because he is the wrong color, or because he is a biker, or because he is an outsider or because he has an earring, or -heaven forbid- he does not like basketball, is not a good reason for violence or for looking the other way when violence takes place. I will end with this poem : Every wave of influence set in motion extends and widens to the eternal shore. We must be wary then who go before,. a myriad yet to be. One mistake can wreck unnumbered bark that follow in our wake. Laura Fischer Boulder |