Fighting in Houston schools

[Pugdog007]

http://www.khou.com/news/local/crime/stories/khou050913_mh_jonesfight.5342d5ac.html

"You have ladies that have been trying to get on welfare and food stamps, trying to get government assistance, housing. And then evacuees coming here and getting it instantly," said Lewis. "The whole city is a melting pot."

 

[Boston Tea Party]

That would be fighting in Houston SCHOOL. (singular)

Being a melting pot is not something new here.

Now, being a powder keg, maybe.

 

[DawnCt1]

It's not surprising. Its easier to absorb a few kids in many schools rather than many kids in a few schools. They tend to remain in the groups that they came with, which makes sense, that's where they are comfortable but lends itself to alienation from the rest of the student body. I don't see it getting any better anytime soon unfortunately. If the schools' resources are stressed, kids, being what they are (basically selfish until civilized) will become more resentful and whatever honeymoon there was will soon be over.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

When I saw this on the news my first thought was--some of the public schools here in Houston have fights on a very regular basis, without or without evacuees (and so did public schools in New Orleans). I'm not sure this fight had a lot to do with being a melting pot. I suspect it has more to do with kids behaving badly.

 

[Pugdog007]

I'm not surprised at the fighting. What I do find unusual are the comments made by the police officer about the parent's involvement, and his take on why the arguing between parents ensued.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

I don't believe those comments were made by an officer. That melting pot - and I still think he means powder keg - comment was made by some yahoo off the street.

 

[Planogirl]

Did anyone notice this comment in the article?

Witnesses at the scene say today's incident was retaliation for another altercation on Friday.

Of course, we don't know who or what started the earlier "altercation".

 

[lyeag]

The really sad thing is the parents made it worse. I saw video on my local news of moms and other female relatives just screaming at each other and having to be held back. No wonder the kids fight. Just look at how the adults act.

 

[PixieDust32]

The really sad thing is the parents made it worse. I saw video on my local news of moms and other female relatives just screaming at each other and having to be held back. No wonder the kids fight. Just look at how the adults act.

BINGO!!!!! The kids are just a reflection of their Parents!!

 

[andromedaslove]

Whoa!!! I can only imagine how I would have behaved had I been one of these families from New Orleans who had just lost EVERYTHING, and had to be moved to TX, away from my home, and just put through all of the things that these people are facing. These children are being FORCED to go to these schools, where they probably are looked at as outcasts. I remember being in high school, it wasn't that great. There are groups of people that tend to bully others, they're like lions picking out the weakest ones and attacking them physically and mentally.

If my son were to be attacked at school right now, and I were to show up and see the child of the mother who did it defending what happened I would be livid. I would be just as bad as they were. Let alone after everything they have gone through. You guys are sitting here saying how they children will mimic their parents behavior, which in most circumstances I agree with. Let's be reasonable here, this isn't most circumstances these kids and their parents (both from NO and from TX) are under an extreme amount of stress and frustration. How bout we give them a bit of a break and understanding. What would you do if someone hurt your child? How would you behave if someone beat your child up and sent them to the hospital? Now add to that anger and frustration what all of these people are going through.

Dana

 

[lyeag]

Whoa!!! I can only imagine how I would have behaved had I been one of these families from New Orleans who had just lost EVERYTHING, and had to be moved to TX, away from my home, and just put through all of the things that these people are facing. These children are being FORCED to go to these schools, where they probably are looked at as outcasts. I remember being in high school, it wasn't that great. There are groups of people that tend to bully others, they're like lions picking out the weakest ones and attacking them physically and mentally.

If my son were to be attacked at school right now, and I were to show up and see the child of the mother who did it defending what happened I would be livid. I would be just as bad as they were. Let alone after everything they have gone through. You guys are sitting here saying how they children will mimic their parents behavior, which in most circumstances I agree with. Let's be reasonable here, this isn't most circumstances these kids and their parents (both from NO and from TX) are under an extreme amount of stress and frustration. How bout we give them a bit of a break and understanding. What would you do if someone hurt your child? How would you behave if someone beat your child up and sent them to the hospital? Now add to that anger and frustration what all of these people are going through.

Dana

So you are saying you would physically try to attack someone? As an adult, I would be upset by someone trying to hurt my child, but come on, I am not going to try to thrown down with some other mother.

 

[andromedaslove]

Under normal circumstances no, I would never try to physically attack someone. However, these people aren't under normal circumstances. Have you ever felt like your entire world was ripped from underneath you? I have twice. I lost my son in July of 2003, and this past March... well... let's just say that someone really hurt my 3 year old little boy. I felt like I had no control over anything in my life, and like nothing was ever gonna be the same again. During a stressful time like that, and some of these people are going through much worse (lost loved ones, lost homes, lost jobs, they've lost EVERYTHING), it is very difficult to keep your emotions in check. The smallest thing can set you off in an extreme way. You may try your best to keep things under control but sometimes you just kind of lose it, over some of the dumbest things too by the way.

I am usually a pretty calm person, who avoids all altercations if possible. I was walking through the mall a few days after my son died looking for an outfit to where to his funeral and accidentally bumped into someone, I said I was sorry, and she decided to call me a few words I can't post here. Well, guess what?! Something that stupid almost came down to blows. When you are at your wits end it is hard sometimes to control your temper.

All I am saying is that these people have been placed under a significant amount of stress, stress that most of us could never even begin to imagine. So instead of talking about how horrible they are for reacting the way that they did, maybe we should just try and be a bit nicer.

 

[lyeag]

Under normal circumstances no, I would never try to physically attack someone. However, these people aren't under normal circumstances. Have you ever felt like your entire world was ripped from underneath you? I have twice. I lost my son in July of 2003, and this past March... well... let's just say that someone really hurt my 3 year old little boy. I felt like I had no control over anything in my life, and like nothing was ever gonna be the same again. During a stressful time like that, and some of these people are going through much worse (lost loved ones, lost homes, lost jobs, they've lost EVERYTHING), it is very difficult to keep your emotions in check. The smallest thing can set you off in an extreme way. You may try your best to keep things under control but sometimes you just kind of lose it, over some of the dumbest things too by the way.

I am usually a pretty calm person, who avoids all altercations if possible. I was walking through the mall a few days after my son died looking for an outfit to where to his funeral and accidentally bumped into someone, I said I was sorry, and she decided to call me a few words I can't post here. Well, guess what?! Something that stupid almost came down to blows. When you are at your wits end it is hard sometimes to control your temper.

All I am saying is that these people have been placed under a significant amount of stress, stress that most of us could never even begin to imagine. So instead of talking about how horrible they are for reacting the way that they did, maybe we should just try and be a bit nicer.

Yes, my husband died only after a year of marriage and we had just had baby. I do know what it is like to feel like your world is imploding. These people were screaming and yelling (on both sides). If my child had been involved in a fight, and it appears this was an ongoing situation that came to head, my first bit of anger would be directed at my own child for being so stupid as to get involved in the first place. There was fighting on both sides. I don't give passes to the parents. You don't show up at school where there are children and start a fight. Period.

 

[Beauty]

This is happening everywhere there are just some MEAN children out there. We have 2 evacuees that have enrolled in our school. Both are precious children. We have a 7th grader who is horrible. Hes always acted horrible. He told this boy, Ha ha ha, you lost your home, ha ha ha you lost everything. Thats soooo funny.

I tell you what I am a grown women but if I had been there when that little (*&& said that I would have had to try HARD to contain myself from popping him. He was punished but his behaviour is just unacceptable. I would have expelled him had I been the principal.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

The radio reported the fights in Houston are between gang members. I don't know if that claim is accurate, but it seems like gangs would be more likely to fight with each other than plain kids.

 

[brerrabbit]

Without going into details about the make up of the school. its, location, or its student demographics let me say this. I graduated from High School in 1977 in Houston and the school where this took place was not far from where I lived. This type of behavior was not at all uncommon at the school in 1977 and these type of incidents have only increased in number since then. The situation involved kids relocated from New Orleans and thats in the news today so everyone wants to blame that, while the reality is incidents like this including the parents getting involved has happen on quite a few occasions in Houston. In the early seventies one of the Junior Highs that fed into my high school made the national news because according to them it was racially motivated because Houston had recently done forced zoning. The reality was (and I know this because I personally knew and played football with about 10 of the guys involved) was that a kid stole another kids lunch out of his locker, they had words and each went and got a group of his friends and they had a fight involving about twenty students. However what the national news failed to report or even realize was that there were blacks, hispanics and whites fighting on both sides. I was not racially motivated at all, just two groups of friends (jocks vs non jocks) fighting. Bottom line is don't try to read more into this than what it really is.

 

[andromedaslove]

Yes, my husband died only after a year of marriage and we had just had baby. I do know what it is like to feel like your world is imploding. These people were screaming and yelling (on both sides). If my child had been involved in a fight, and it appears this was an ongoing situation that came to head, my first bit of anger would be directed at my own child for being so stupid as to get involved in the first place. There was fighting on both sides. I don't give passes to the parents. You don't show up at school where there are children and start a fight. Period.

I'm so sorry for the loss of your husband. You must understand the kind of stress these people are under. Is it possible that these adults didn't go with the intention of "starting a fight"? Is it possible that they went up there just to deal with their children and in the midst of everything a confrontation began, which escalated into this all around screaming ? Is that even remotely possible? All I'm suggesting is to not be so judgemental, none of us were there or know what happened for sure. I just don't feel it's right to say that all of these kids were fighting because their parents were bad influences.

 

[seashoreCM]

For older good students only.

If an older child is having difficulty assimilating into the school system and is also able to help with the decision making (what make and models of sofas are good) as the family is getting resettled, the parent may want to have the child sit out the year and give the parent moral if not consumer educational and protective support.

The child could do the legwork for such purposes as getting the forms to fill out for aid.

>>> stress and frustration

Another strategy is a "reduced course load" in school. The concept is self explanatory and is initiated by the student's dropping of one or more courses or perhaps sitting in on those classes without participating. PM me if you have more questions.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm