Some are trying to cast the Decatur School Board’s expulsion of seven high school students for fighting into racial politics. But in reality, it is one of fairness. Kicking students out of school for two years is excessive punishment for the infraction.
Back in my high school days at Gordon Tech, fist fights were not unknown, but the school administration was able to punish (and get results) without having to put one’s education on hold. I remember one fight that occurred in my home room. One fellow finally exploded over being referred to by the disliked nickname of “Bermuda Schwartz” and took a swing at the latest guy who called him that. The other guy hit back and a donnybrook was on. The two brawlers ended up on the floor by the front blackboard when a teacher arrived and stopped the fight. The two fighters’ punishment was one week in after-school detention, which students referred to as “jug.” Detention amounted to staying two to three hours after classes in an extended study hall under the ever-sour gaze of Mr. Clark. It also functioned as an involuntary recruiting hall, from which “juggies” could be assigned to do janitorial chores, help set up the gym for a special event or join Brother Frank’s Horticultural Society (uprooting dandelions from Gordon’s ample front lawn). Both brawlers apparently learned their lesson, as neither, to my knowledge, ever did anything again to justify punishment. And the only time I ever heard of a student being expelled for fighting is when a perpetually disruptive student took a swing at a teacher who had assigned him to detention.
