This is an article practicing restorative justice!
Recording a school fight can have many negative consequences for the individuals involved in the fight, the person recording the fight, and the school community.
Videotaping a school fight can directly impact the individuals involved in the fight. First, knowing that the fight is being filmed, the participants may be encouraged to fight harder because they don’t want to be labeled as a “loser” by their peers. In this way the fight could escalate and lead to more injuries. If the videos are shared on social media, this can cause feelings of shame, anxiety, and embarrassment. Shared videos of fights can harm an individual’s reputation and affect their ability of chances later in life.
There can also be negative consequences for the person videotaping the fight. The school may choose various punishments including detention, suspension, or expulsion. Currently, Saratoga Springs High School has a policy of suspension (OSS) for any student videotaping a fight. Suspension remains on a permanent record which can impact college admissions. If a student decides to post a fight video on social media, it can leave a digital footprint that may have a negative impact on them. A digital footprint is a trail of information or data you leave when using the internet including emails you send, accounts you sign up for, and information you leave online. This can damage friendships or relationships, hurt job chances, bring shame to your community, and lead to fights between family and friends. It can particularly affect opportunities that require a background check.
There are a number of ways that filming school fights can have an impact of the school community. One way is that it can normalize violence, it can escalate fights, encourage more fights, and can glorify fights. Filming fights and or posting them on social media can encourage more fights and a hostile school environment, this can cause some kids to fear coming to school and harm the school reputation. A bad reputation can cause the school system to lose state funding.
Filming or sharing fight videos can have many bad impacts to multiple people involved in the situation. Think twice before recording a fight.