“Most People Was Fighting.”

A lock-down was caused by a brawl involving more than 600 prisoners- er, students. Although from the pictures, it looks like a prison, it is actually Locke High School in South Los Angeles. Now, I’m not familiar with schools in large cities; the largest school I ever worked in was in Iowa City. However, I just don’t see how a love for learning can be fostered inside this type of environment.

“Some of my kids were crying because they were walking to class with friends and they got jumped.”

If you are moving through the day in a state of fear, you certainly can’t be expected to do well in your studies. Who can concentrate on science or history while wondering when or where the next fight will break out? It seems that, while this was the biggest fight in some time, it certainly wasn’t isolated.

This school year has been particularly difficult, with near-daily fights — albeit on a much smaller scale — during much of the fall and winter.

“There are just fights upon fights upon fights now.”

The school has been especially plagued by tagging crews — the school employs two full-time workers just to paint over graffiti, said Green Dot’s Kelly Hurley.

The school had cut the funding for non-police security aides in half. There were two police officers assigned to Locke High School. It wasn’t nearly enough for this brawl.

the school police force brought in about 60 officers after receiving word of the brawl. The Los Angeles Police Department also dispatched more than a dozen patrol cars and about 50 officers.

Eventually, police began to swarm onto the campus, and White said the students began fighting the officers, who responded with their batons.

You can’t blame the school alone for this one though. Some blame must be placed on the parents who raise their children to think that this type of activity is acceptable, or who abandon their children to be raised by a system that teaches moral equivalence, in which any decision you make is acceptable, as long as you believe in what you are doing. I applaud the parents of those students who were tempted to join in, but stood strong and said no.

“They asked for my help, but I’m graduating,” he said. “I’m done with all that.”

Articles like this illustrate why there has recently been an increased interest in homeschooling among minorities. DREAH at Notes From A Homeschooling Mom has an interesting point of view on why the black community has been slow to start homeschooling, and encouragement for families who would consider keeping their kids at home.

I can only hope that more families follow DREAH’s example, and give their children the education they deserve. We certainly can’t, and shouldn’t, depend on the government to do it.