So school was violent

was it, so violent the police had to be called? What in the heck is going on in our schools if the police had to be called to sort out a disagreement?

I cannot actually remember as much as a serious playground "fight" at school. We had our disagreements. All children have disagreements. There were some punches landed occasionally, almost entirely among the boys. Behaviour like that left them in front of the teacher. There might be a wack on the backside with the cane but "being kept in" was considered a much more severe punishment.

The Senior Cat detested the cane. He used it for two offences and two offences only. One was extreme insolence to a teacher and the other was throwing stones. In his time as the headmaster of a school he caned less than five times. He did not ask anyone else to do it for him and he did not allow anyone to do it. I don't know whether he just ran particularly well disciplined schools but I do know that on the two occasions I can actually remember the offences were very serious indeed. Both involved throwing stones and injuries. On each occasion there was a head injury, one close to an eye. 

The Senior Cat came home with a severe headache each time. The teachers were upset. The other students were upset. One of the boys  responsible left school soon afterwards. He was not expelled as such but he went back to work on the farm...and on his temper. The other boy was very, very quiet for the rest of the term. 

We just did not disagree so badly that there was ever any need to do much in the way of discipline, let alone call the police to the school. It is apparently "different" now. One of the local children will go on to secondary school next year. Her parents are looking at schools and looking at whether they should pay the fees for her to go to a fee paying school if she cannot get a place at the only single-sex school available. It is not because they want her to have a single sex secondary education but because the other two schools have had "incidents" that have left them concerned. When her mother was talking to me I did not inquire too closely about the "incidents" because I was not sure how much she really knew and how much would just be gossip. 

What I do know is that the two local high schools do have a drug/vaping problem. They also have some serious bullying issues. These issues seem to exist everywhere but they are much more pronounced in some schools than others. It is little wonder the police get called in from time to time.

I would like to know why these problems have developed because, although there was some bullying, the problems were not the same when I was at school. Calling the police into a school then would have resulted in something appearing in the news and I cannot recollect that happening more than once. The perpetrator on that occasion was not even a student at the school.  

I am glad I am no longer a teacher. The Senior Cat would come home with more than a severe headache every night. I suspect many school principals and teachers go home with more than headaches too.