At the start of this school year students at South Broward High School were surprised by one of the changes to an existing rule involving fighting.The new change stated that students who are engaged in a fight and are simply defending themselves by physically fighting back would be punished and suspended. When I first heard about the changes, I was appalled by this new change. I don’t agree with the idea that if you are being attacked and you throw back punches you are consenting to being a part of the fight. I believe that everyone should be allowed to defend themselves and be barred from any punishment that comes with mutual fighting and protecting oneself. BCPS define mutual fighting as if someone throws the first punch and you decide to hit back you are consenting to being a part of the fight.

 According to the Broward County Public School website, during the 2021-2022 school year 11,888 students in Broward County were involved in incidents pertaining to acts against a person.  That is the equivalent to 4.5% of the student population across Broward County. BCPS has 24 sub categories that partain to acts against a person which range from  high level agrivated battery to low level threats and intimidation and anywhere between, even includig sexual assault. Of the 24 categories, three categories are dedicated to fighting; fighting- altercation, fighting medium and fighting mutual combat. Even though the numbers seem small  when comparing it to the over 256,0370 BCPS student population, it is a 0.7 percent increase from 2018-2019 (statistics from 2020-2021 school year are an outlier due to Covid-19).

 In that same year, over 21,000 BCPS students were suspended for behavior ranging from misconduct in class to bringing a weapon to school, but the majority of the suspensions came from fighting. On the surface it seems that the rule should be applied, but I say how many people in these statistics have been punished for merely defending themselves?

 My guess as to why the school board would implement such a change would be to discourage all students from fighting, as the punishment holds anybody involved in a fight accountable for their actions. It would help to maintain order within the school. I’m all assuming that the administration expects us to just run away if someone is approaching with the intention to harm or call for help. But I say, what if that isn’t an option? What if you can’t run away? What if you can’t call for help? It takes security a few minutes to respond to a fight, and a person can get hurt badly in those  first few minutes. Also suspending students can set an example that school is not a place for fighting, but with how the incident rates are going up, I don’t think it is working as intended.

  The school board should take steps such as listing appropriate guidelines for what students should do when fights happen. In situations of  school fights, schools should use all their resources such as eye-witness reports and cameras, especially using the videos of students who record these incidents to determine who was the aggressor and whether self-defense was justified.  

That’s how it would happen in the real world. When someone attacks you, you have the right to defend yourself. Why not in school?