Everyone faces conflict, whether it’s a small disagreement, maybe a debate, or even a heated argument. It’s a pretty inevitable part of everyday life.
What shouldn’t be a part of everyday life, is physical fighting resulting from everyday conflict.
If not resolved through mature conversation, things can escalate physically. Fighting as a high school student can lead to consequences such as suspension and expulsion, and even more serious consequences down the road.
Recently, there have been a few high-profile physical altercations at Wilsonville High School as well as at school events. This is not representative of Wilsonville values, or a positive way of handling disagreements.
Junior Vaani Aga seems to agree with this. “I feel very uncomfortable by what’s going on. There are better ways to handle conflict,” she noted.
According to an article from Forbes, conflict can be handled in many mutually beneficial ways. Ways include taking yourself away from the situation into a place of calm and avoiding any escalation that can occur.
Although it seems overly simple, just taking yourself out of a heated situation can eliminate any room for escalation to occur.
Wilsonville High School tries to reduce the occurrence of physical fights, and although sometimes they occur, Aga reflected on some of the ways the school is fighting the notion of well, fighting.
“I think our school is getting to a point where fights are getting eliminated, they’ve hired two new hall monitors in the last few years but I think that’s a really good first step because it shows the school acknowledges what is going on and they do want to make a change, but I think taking a more drastic change might be necessary,” she continues.
Although students such as Aga have noticed the altercations, other students, such as junior Jayden Jeffrey, don’t believe it has a huge impact on their school days.
“Personally, I couldn’t really care less, they aren’t affecting me at all. As long as the people aren’t getting in the way of others learning and they are sticking to themselves.”
Although Jeffrey disagrees, some students report fighting making them feel unsafe in their school environment, which should ideally be a safe and secure space for learning.
One student, who decided to remain anonymous, thinks school fights impact life at school immensely.
“Well if I’m walking in the hallway and I suddenly see a school fight is gonna be like, ‘Oh no, I’m gonna get hit, I need to move immediately! I’m gonna get beat I’m gonna get hit!’ Obviously, I’m not gonna feel safe.”
I feel very uncomfortable by what’s going on.