CHAPTER 7 LEARNER- ON- LEARNER VIOLENCE
7.2 Fights 159
7.2.1 Types of fights 159
The common types of fights in the two schools were those which occurred between two learners. However, at THS gang fights was another type which the participants reported. I turn to a discussion of these two fights below.
7.2.1.1 Fights between two learners
One HoD from THS reported that sometimes fights between learners were very violent since they involved the use sharp objects as weapons:
I am not a police, I am a teacher. So I have seen that learners can get very violent.
I have seen a learner taking a bottle and stabbing another learner on the head. The learner was running from one class to another and he took a bottle and stabbed another learner (HTersee1).
Another HoD from THS did not only emphasise the violent nature of fights between boys, but he also indicated that more fights occurred among boys than girls: “Many fights happen among boys. Girls do fight but their fights are not so violent like those between boys.” (HTersee2).
The principal of MHS reported that fights among learners happened irrespective of their sex:
There is also physical violence where you find that boys end up fighting.
Sometimes girls also fight each other because of differences. Sometimes it is a boy against a girl or a boy against another boy or a girl against a girl (PMaster).
The deputy principal from the same school was of the view that there had been a few cases in the school where learners fought using weapons:
The violence that we have in this school is sporadic kind of incidents. Maybe I bumped into you by mistake. Learners fight while on school compound. We had one or two cases where weapons were used ranging from anything like pens used as stabbing weapons. We have had two or more cases where weapons have been brought into the school compound, but this does not happen often. Weapons such as knives and even homemade guns have been brought onto school premises.
Fortunately, these weapons have never been used on the school premises, so usually what happens is that one leaner would report that a certain learner is carrying a gun and the gun would be taken from the learner before it is used in the classroom. There is also sporadic violence where learners are kind of more or less aggressive and defensive. Generally, we had dealt with cases where there were fights not involving weapons (D Max).
HMiller 1 noted that fighting among learners occurred between learners of the same sex or learners of different gender: “Girls have fights as well. In fact, the fights are between girls most of the time. The fights which happen in this school may be a girl and a girl, a boy and a boy or a boy and a girl.”
In order to avoid any form of punishment, in some cases, some boys at MHS denied that they were fighting while in actual fact they engaged in fighting. One teacher had this to say:
Sometimes you see the boys fighting when you approach them and try to find out why they are fighting; they tell you that they were not fighting You see that is a problem because they know the consequences of fighting in the school compound they don’t want to tell the truth. Sometimes they hide their activities. They do these things secretly that even the authority will not understand their codes. They use a lot of slang or street language to communicate among themselves (TMediator 2).
Indeed I observed an incident where two boys from MHS fought, but told me that they never fought. It was during break time and I was on school grounds to observe interactions among learners. Suddenly, some learners were shouting with excitement and running to block C (classroom building) and I followed them. Behind this block, I saw two Coloured boys fighting and I approached the scene. Some learners saw me
approaching the scene and two boys quickly separated those who were fighting. The learners who had assembled to watch the fight dispersed. The two fighters also went their separate ways. I approached one of the boys who separated the fighters and asked him why the two boys were fighting. He told me that there was no fight. The two were just playing. I replied that the fighters looked angry. I assured him that I was a researcher and I was not going to tell the teachers or the principal. He appeared to be relaxed and told me that the two boys were actually fighting. When I reflected on this incident, I realised that researching school violence is a big challenge to the researcher.
Although I approached the area where learners were fighting, I did not have a plan of what I would do if they continued fighting. While the fight presented a situation for my data collection, it would be morally wrong for me as an adult to watch the learners fighting and did not attempt to stop the fight. However, attempting to stop the fight might also be dangerous since I did not know how the fighters would respond to my intervention.
The findings suggest that boys and girls in the two schools could be involved in fighting. However, the nature of fights between male learners differed from those which occurred among female learners. The female’s fights tended to be mild while male learners’ seemed to be harsh. However, fights were more common among boys than girls at THS while at MHS girls fought more often than boys. This difference highlighted the dynamic nature of fights in particular and school violence in general.
The smuggling of weapons into the school by some MHS learners meant that there was a possibility that they could be used during fights and some learners might be seriously injured especially if weapons such as knives or guns were used.
7.2.1.2 Gang fights
The findings revealed that fights among THS learners sometimes took place among groups. The conflict might have emanated between two learners, but at a later stage involved other learners in a group. On the issue of fights among groups of learners, THS principal had this to say:
Sometimes there are groups which fight against each other. Learners from one area come together and fight against a group from another area. The conflict
might have started between two learners and each of these two learners then invites other learners from their areas (PTesco).
Referring to the issue of gang fighting at THS, one teacher narrated a story of a serious fight between gangs which teachers had to invite the police to stop it:
It is worse when learners fight in this school. When I first came here, there was a boy who carried two knives at the school. During break time he tried to stab one learner and when we followed that case we found that the conflict started outside the school. It was a big fight because the other learner called his gangs and the one with knives also called his gangs. The two gangs fought. The teachers could not stop the fight. It was dangerous to try to stop the fight. We had to call the police. That is how far it can go in this school (TTurner 2).
At THS I witnessed when two rival groups of boys were called by three members of the disciplinary committee to the office. The conflict between these rival groups emanated from their support of two boys who fought over a girl. One boy (Buhle) accused another one (Velaphi) of beating the former’s sister. Three boys reportedly coming from Buhle‘s home area supported him and Velaphi was supported by two boys from his home. Buhle and Velaphi actually fought in the classroom during break time; but some learners stopped them before the other boys could join in. The matter was reported to the teachers by some girls upon realising that the two rival groups were intimidating each other and threatening to continue with the fight outside the school compound.
Buhle and Velaphi were given letters to give to their parents. One member of disciplinary committee informed me that the letters given to the two boys invited the parents of the said boys to come to the school the following day. The two boys would be instructed to sign another form declaring that they would not fight again and if they fought they would be suspended from the school.
The findings illustrate that sometimes a conflict between two learners spilled over onto other learners. As a result, two groups emerged where each group supported one of the fighters. The two groups then attempted or actually fought against each other.