EDITORS' CORNER
OPINION: What would we do without studies?
It’s always … fulfilling when an official bit of research reflects what teachers (and normal people) have known for decades, but hey, here we are.
The abstract of the paper “Violent Peers at School: Impacts and Mechanisms” by Victor Lavy and Assaf Yancu of the University of Warwick and Hebrew University of Jerusalem states in part:
[V]iolent peers disrupt learning environments and lower teachers’ productivity, reflected in lower job satisfaction and perception of higher workloads. Violent peers also significantly increase the likelihood of other students engaging in physical fights, and reduce their homework time, especially for girls and students from low SES [socioeconomic status].
During my tenure here at The Fix I have written, let’s say, quite a few articles about the travails teachers — those who actually want to teach, that is — face every day in the classroom, but are continually thwarted by moronic school-based and central office administrators … as well as state legislators.
School-based admins refuse to take real action against continually disruptive students mainly for two reasons: pressure from the central office, and fear of being called “racist.”
Central office admins don’t take action also for two reasons: fear of being called “racist,” and/or they’re part of the progressive educational-theory cabal that insists upon doing things contrary to reality and human nature.
Legislators usually fall into that last category, although they may not have an education background. For example, the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson (who did work in education), provided a perfect example of what I’m talking about just the other day:
My favorite part about this clip is when he says incarcerating our way out of violence is racist.
— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) November 26, 2025
Does he realize what he’s admitting to there? 😂 pic.twitter.com/kXj5WDAp9B
“We cannot incarcerate our way out of violence,” Johnson says. “We’ve already tried that. We ended up with the largest prison population in the world without solving the problems of crime and violence […] its is racist, it is immoral, it is unholy, and it’s not the way to drive violence down” (emphasis added).
Note Illinois Governor JB Pritzker there with Johnson, along with other idiots in the back clapping with approval. All are hardcore liberal Democrats, to whom the largest teachers’ unions regularly give over 95 percent of political donations.
All are agents of the state, yet they’ve forgotten that “the first duty of government is to afford protection to its citizens.”
On the contrary: They believe law-abiding, rule-following people must tolerate those who do the opposite, else they are racist, uncaring and otherwise bigoted.
This comes from an “oppression studies” mindset, meaning the advocacy of alternatives to actual punishment (cashless bail, probation, fines instead of jail time; in schools “restorative practices,” prohibitions on suspensions) is a form of “retributive justice,” so to speak … a form of reparations for centuries of white supremacy and other supposed evils.
To be sure, Johnson’s, Pritzker’s, et. al.’s collective inaction against actual criminals and chronically misbehaving students doesn’t mean they don’t enforce laws. They will, and do — but against you.
If there were live cams at public schools parents would pull their children out ASAP:
— Michael Strong (@flowidealism) November 24, 2025
“I once removed a student because he threw a chair at me. It missed me by inches but destroyed my hover cam. I wrote the referral. He was sent to the office.
Twenty minutes later, he returned… https://t.co/lHFtNjyD72
They’ve already showed their hand: Look at how the last administration tried to get concerned parents labeled “domestic terrorists” because they dared to oppose cretinous school board members who enacted harebrained policies. Or the progressive school board CEO who suddenly didn’t like that board members were elected by voters — because candidates whose views she finds distasteful had started winning. Etc.
Normal, hard-working Americans do not have to endure this. Let Chicago, New York City, Seattle, and anarchic deep blue states like Oregon and Washington destroy themselves on the mantle of self-congratulation and alleged compassion. If you can’t move to a red state, seek out a no-nonsense charter school. Or a low-cost private or parochial institution.
Or keep your kids at home and teach them yourself.
MORE: Why Americans are fleeing public schools – a case study
MORE: The end of ‘restorative discipline’? Parents, teachers are fed up
