How to Avoid School Fights

1.

Identify common altercation triggers. According to a Harvard-MetLife survey, you are more likely to be involved in a physical altercation as a student when you have anger issues, are challenged or are involved in negative social issues such as gossip. These are all hot-button issues that you should avoid participating in to reduce your chances of a fight at school. Being bullied or bullying others, for instance, increases the chance that a situation will turn violent.

2

Weigh your options before fighting. Taking time to think about what you can do to avoid a fight will help give you and all parties involved time to calm down and think more logically. Become aware of school programs for conflict resolution. Available are many mediating programs that allow a neutral party to oversee a meeting between you and other parties. Mediators can be other trained students or adults who can help you resolve conflict.

3

Avoid making a current situation worse. Taunting, bullying, gossiping or challenging the other student can cause a situation to quickly balloon out of control. Try to avoid a person you may be at odds with until you have a plan on how you are going to deal with the situation. This may mean being driven to school instead of riding the bus, changing your schedule or even changing your route to classes. Actions such as putting an opposing student on the spot in front of others can make things worse.

4

Involve an adult to help resolve conflict. Most students have a hard time going to adults for help because they may be regarded by peers as a snitch or receive other negative reaction. As an adult, being there for a student is highly important in avoiding school fights. As a student, go to an adult you can trust and feel comfortable with when soliciting help. This can help diffuse a situation before it becomes violent as well as help you avoid the trip to the office after a fight has already occurred.

5

Know when to walk away. It can be embarrassing to walk away when you are confronted by someone who wants to fight you, but thinking about what is at stake may help you to have a cool head. Fights can end in suspension, detention, hospitalization or even death. Using humor to diffuse a situation or talking with disagreeing parties in private can help remove some of the hype that a crowd can bring.

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