WE MAY NOT be there yet, but I am convinced we are headed there fast. The rate at which individuals are recording fights involving schoolchildren and uploading them to Facebook is really alarming.
It is now clear to me that viewing this situation as a fad or a phase that will pass will not bring relief any time soon. I am now convinced it is time for firm action on the part of authorities – from the principals all the way to the chief education officer.
Now let me make one thing clear from the start. I don’t believe our children get into fights for the purpose of being recorded and uploaded to the Internet. In fact, I am willing to bet that in the vast majority of the incidents, those who are engaged in the fighting suffer embarrassment and other sanctions that must leave them pondering the folly of their actions.
But I do believe the uploading of these incidents of brutality embolden others who watch because when a video goes viral, the tens of thousands who log on only get to watch the spectacle, they never know of the consequences to the perpetrators.
Additionally, I am also convinced that while the presence of peers with cellphone cameras doesn’t necessarily instigate the fight, it is the source of tremendous inspiration for children on the sideline who cheer on the combatants. Just check any video at random on Facebook and see the number of children who do everything they can to intensify and prolong the battle.
Corrective action
And that, my friends, is where corrective action by principals should begin. Every time one of these videos turns up, I believe the first reaction of principals should be to take punitive action against any child who can be identified as watching or cheering. If you choose to stand up and observe, you should be treated as an accessory to the fact. The only saving grace should be that there is evidence in the video that you attempted to separate the combatants – to make peace.
If our young people are not prepared to walk away from trouble when they see it, then our school administrators should collectively agree on sanctions that compel the action. Eventually they will get the message.
However, a particularly harsh punishment must be reserved for those who record and share these fight videos. In too many instances we see the extent to which they will go to spur on the adversaries for the sake of getting Hollywood-type action.
Just last week I was appalled by a video taken in the Fairchild Street Bus Terminal where the person operating the camera (I can’t say if he was a student or not) turned on the security guard with some of the vilest language imaginable because he dared to break up the altercation between two schoolgirls.
Shift attention
Principals are not private investigators, but you don’t manage a school of 800 students without learning a thing or two about extracting information from them – especially those who believe that they invented tricks and lying. When children from a particular school are seen in fights, administrators can fight back by showing they will not tolerate folly and lawlessness.
When principals shift attention to the crowd and the movie-makers, we will see fewer of these videos popping up on the Internet. It may not end the fights – after all, for as long as there have been schools, children have been fighting – but those who clamour for attention will lose their stage and fade into the background. Schoolyard fights will return to what they really should be – schoolyard events rather than global spectacles.