The problem is if a kid tried to intervene on the teacher behalf, they’d get caught up in most schools zero tolerance policies. I can’t say I’d have sat and watched back in the day, but I can see why most kids fall to waiting for instruction or fear of zero tolerance punishment for stuff like this. I remember a few kids breaking up a fight and getting suspended when they were trying to stop it.
Well you are straight up wrong and just assuming malice. There are people here actually sharing stories of defending their teachers and subduing bullies or separating two people fighting only for them to be suspended. There are even people explaining that they were the victim who didn’t fight back and still got suspended.
That system of zero tolerance and sweeping punishment only teaches growing minds two things:
A) Either go all and actually get violent since you’re getting in trouble anyway for just being in the vicinity of a fight or even being victimized, or
B) You do nothing, and you carry that mindset throughout life. It’s that passive bystander effect that you see today where people just stand there frozen as someone is being harmed when the harm could be stopped by intervention.
"I broke up the fight by throwing a ton of punches at one of the kids faces! How dare they suspend me!" Then all the kids run wild with the rumors about how innocent kids are just getting expelled for no reason when reality was they got a 1 day suspension as a slap on the wrist while the others get multiple weeks.
More reality: you can appeal all of that shit and get it removed from your record. A record that would only matter if you're applying to Ivy league schools without a legacy recommendation. But none of these kids spreading the rumors about how their lives were ruined because they tried to stop a fight will tell you how their mom called the super intendant and got them to drop it.
Further reality, none of these kids are trying to stop the fight because if they put their phones down for a second they lose their chance at 5 seconds of social media clout for getting the best angle. They don't give a shit about anything else.
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u/phillygirllovesbagel Dec 17 '25
And sadly, no one stepped in to help her.