Isn't it sad, that at it's base we have a fight cause by the image of being too smart. Kids don't admire other kids, they bully them and now kids are fighting back.

Who cares about curriculum if we can't be civil?

That is a serious problem that needs to be addressed.Peer pressure is a powerful thing for a teen and facing backlash for being considered "Smart" can cause some to choose being "Cool" over being a "Nerd". Intelligence should be celebrated, but if you look at negative influences in Music and TV, then there is no wonder that there is a problem.

This kids are all from the same neighborhoods in South Baltimore. Cherry Hill, Westport, Lakeland, Brooklyn etc. So it was probably a neighborhood dispute that carried over into school!

One of the problems with housing school's together is that even when one of the school's has figured out how to set a good tone and created a good and positive environment, if the other school has not, there is the potential for a lot of tension. I would implore the school system to think about housing charter schools ONLY with other charters. I am not in any way laying blame here on one school or the other in this incident, but as Sara mentions, this is not the only place where tensions run high.

The problems with muliplexed schools is only tangentially about the cliched arguments of music, TV and some hypothesized uncivil, nihilistic youth culture. That we attempt to explain all things with the "culture" argument exposes our ignorance.

More to the point, the creation of innovation high schools, the break up of the comprehensive high schools and the use of facilities in Baltimore was poorly planned, poorly executed and has made a mockery of what under Russo and with Gates Foundation millions was billed as as a significant high school reform "movement."

In brief: schools without enough resources to begin with go into competition with one another for scarce resources. Little to no thought went into how to establish a functioning and meaningful culture in the new schools, the central office can't meaningfully accommodate "innovation" and you have the classic urban problems of significant turnover in faculty and administration.

But, yeah, the fight was about hip hop and sagging drawers.

The article states: "Students and parents interviewed complained that police were heavy-handed..."

EXCUSE ME?!?! Here is a pretend quote by a pretend parent that would have been more appropriate to show that they found the whole event to be indefensible: "I am ashamed of my child for participating in such a horrid event and s/he will receive the appropriate consequences."

When I taught, the kids with parents who held them accountable for their actions were always the best-behaved and academically strong. These parents would have said the "pretend" quote.

It was the kids with parents who would make the first quote that were always causing the problems. They were also the ones who most perpetuated the anti-academic culture and tried to pull down those children who were clawing their way up.

I'm not yet a parent, but I do know this: STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR YOUR CHILD! It disgusts me and sets up the child for failure.

I am a student from one of the schools. The fight was not as eveyone is saying. It was a fight amoungst the students of the same school and than it went from there. This fight was not caused because of having two schools in one. They do not say anything because we do our work. They just laugh at our uniform and so do we. Most of students at both schools care about their Educations. They came to school to learn not to settle neighborhood disputes.

The fight became growingly worse when the police began to Mase and Tase students from the schools. The officers came into the building and kept everything going. They trashed New Era's Floor. I DON'T BELEIVE THAT MUCH FORCE WAS NEED. They were attacking innocent minors.

Speaking as someone who was actually there it is impossible to try to assign blame on students, parents, or educators. Yes the fight started between students, and yes the situation became to much to for teachers and administrators to handle alone. But when teachers and administrators tried to de-escalate the situation, the police officers who were in attack mode made it worse. Again it is understood that in a situation you have to do what is needed to gain order, but from what was observed the officers used excessive force and did not care who the force was being inflicted upon. A lot of students witnessed their friends and family members being beaten, mased, and tased.This is what scared and enraged the children.The actions of the police made a bad situation worse leaving the students fearful of a place they once considered safe.