The adults are the kids in Keswick school fight

    As a society we appear to be going collectively stupid.
    Evidence for this can lately be found in the reaction to a schoolyard fracas between two boys in Keswick, Ontario.
    A 15-year-old Korean boy was accosted by another teen who called him a "fucking Chinese" and punched him in the face, cutting his lip. The Korean boy responded with a jab that broke his assailant's nose. Turned out the 15-year-old had a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
    Here's the following sequence of events:

- the 15-year-old, the one who was assaulted, was suspended from school for a month
- the police charged him with assault causing bodily harm
- the principal of Keswick high school, Catherine McGinley, asked the district school board to expel the boy from every school in York region
- the vice-principal wanted to know why the Korean boy would get upset over being called Chinese
- after the boy's suspension, 400 students at Keswick High walked out in his support, denouncing racism and bullying
- that prompted the regional police to investigate whether the teen who insulted and hit him committed a hate crime

    What we have here is a case of extreme overreaction. The adults in this scenario were apparently brought into the world fully formed and missed the kid stage altogether. Growing up in the 1950s and '60s, there were certainly some fights and taunts between kids at school. No one was ever charged. Kids got suspended only if their fighting was chronic. This sort of stuff is normal. These two kids should have had a good scolding and that should have been the end of it.
    Instead, we have a brilliant student with a 90 average spending a month at another school for suspended students where he - a 15-year-old - is complaining of the lack of discipline, teaching and chances for academic advancement. Talk about motivated. He spent his first day playing ping-pong. There's a great way to encourage your best and brightest students!
    I'm at a loss to explain the Spanish Inquisition-like reaction of the school's principal in requesting the boy's expulsion from the entire regional school system. The entire family would have to move so the kid could be close to his new school. I didn't think that sort of hell-and-brimstone vindictive punishment still existed in modern society. If I was a supervisor in that school board, I'd be seriously doubting this principal's judgment and likely be requesting her expulsion from the school system.
    What's with the vice-principal? He asked the Korean kid why he'd be upset about being called Chinese. I'd be upset if someone called me an American, though not enough to punch him. That wasn't all that was involved, though. The descriptor "fucking" was also used and the kid was punched in the mouth. It seems this vice-principal flunked sensitivity training.
    And why are these kids being treated as if they're adults? Having gone too far with the Korean boy, the police are now considering whether to charge the other kid with a hate crime? Take a bottle of valium and settle down.
    One kid made a slur against another kid in a schoolyard and they got into a fight. The kid who started it learned one very useful lesson in life: you don't just walk up to someone and start picking on them. You have no idea what you may be getting yourself into: your adversary may have a black belt. Also, if you don't start fights, you won't get your nose broken.
    The Korean boy learned that if you've attained a high level in martial arts you may not always know your own power so you should be careful how you use it. But in his defence, he was defending himself.
    The adults are the ones who need to be dealt with here. The principal should be fired, the vice-principal should be sent on a training course, the parents should talk to the kids and the police should be given something real to do.
     The Mayor's about the only official showing some sense. Robert Grossi assured the Korean boy's family that they're welcome in Keswick. But that was partly to quell growing concern about racism against Asians in the Keswick area. Some of this was voiced by the Korean boy's father, who's vowing not to give up. If he does, he says, "no other Asian can ever come here [to Keswick] and feel safe".
    My question is: if it's like that, why would you want to go there?

    Also see: Keswick school fight update and Keswick school fight resolution

Comments

[paige]

I grew up in Keswick and my sister was actually involved in the protest. I definitely agree there was an overreaction for the thought of expelling the Korean boy and I feel proud to have gone to Keswick high school and know my fellow students were not standing for what had happened. As for the racist boy who punched him first, I believe an example should be made out of him because he had been bullying the other boy for years and everyone needs to know just because Keswick is small our new and future generations are NOT closed minded and we are not a racist redneck small town. We are full of change, understanding, compassion and we will not allow the future to reflect that of the stereotypical past

[L. Zhu]

Robert Cox, it would be an over-exaggeration on the part of the young Korean-Canadian boy if it wasn't for the verbally and physically aggressive actions that he was confronted with. Your selective reading has made you overlook the fact that he was basically physically assaulted in conjunction with verbally taunted. Perhaps there was something that he'd said to provoke such an action from his schoolmate but its existence was never suggested by any party.

[Robert Cox]

Overreaction it is--on the part of the Korean boy. Knee-jerk reactions to words, especially words that are untrue, will usually get you into trouble.
Suppose the Korean boy had just responded :"Don't be childish! Grow up! You're outa you're mind" and turned his back and walked away?
I gotta hand it to the Korean kid, though. He's showing true Canadian values as represented by the roled models of formerly Canada's national game (the World Champion Russians have taken it over). The NHL teaches kids to resort to fighting to resolve personal disagreements.

[A. House]

Overreaction it is, across the board. And apparently a complete absence of a frame of reference in which to assess undesirable behaviour within the Keswick school. When I was in high school, in the 60s, people occasionally fought, and punches were occasionally thrown in gym classes. When they were, those in charge DETERMINED WHAT HAD HAPPENED, WITH WHO, IN WHAT ORDER. The cardinal sin was throwing the first punch; no matter what was said, and our mouths could be as vile as any today, the line was crossed when the fist was tossed. If the first punch was thrown by the loudmouth the loudmouth was pretty much toast. The reports of this incident, and the reports of the response by a pair of lead balloons (the Principal and the Veep), lead me to suspect something is very wrong in that school. My vote is with the victim of the assault, the young Canadian of Korean ancestry. Expel the principal, detention for the vice ( I suggest 10,000 lines: "Koreans are not Chinese, and people who are punched first and retaliate are victims, not aggressors". Somewhere around the nine thousandth repetition it just may become clear to him (her?) where (s)he went awry.