Dallas high school accused of staging student cage fights

Dallas high school accused of staging student cage fights

www.abc15.com

DALLAS (AP) -- The Dallas school system was rocked by allegations Thursday that staff members at an inner-city high school made students settle their differences by fighting bare-knuckle brawls inside a steel cage.

The principal and other employees at South Oak Cliff High knew about the cage fights and allowed the practice to continue, according to a 2008 report by school system investigators.

"More than anything, I'm in shock and disbelief -- shocked that this could ever occur and shocked that it would be condoned by a professional administrator," said Jerome Garza, a member of the Dallas school board.

(visit the link for the full news article)

What the?!?

Just when I think I've seen and heard it all, along comes a story like this that just further has me scratching my head in disbelief at how low the depths of certain portions of the human species can sink to.

So much for going to school to LEARN...Except if you want to learn about behaving like an animal in a cage fight.

Absolutely abyssmal...

www.abc15.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Nobody goes to school to learn. At least not in the last 40 years or so.

I'm amazed this doesn't happen or we dont hear about it more often. No doubt parents and teachers were placing bets and having a grand 'ol time.

Originally posted by DimensionalDetective


What the?!?

Just when I think I've seen and heard it all, along comes a story like this that just further has me scratching my head in disbelief at how low the depths of certain portions of the human species can sink to.

So much for going to school to LEARN...Except if you want to learn about behaving like an animal in a cage fight.

Absolutely abyssmal...

www.abc15.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Just read the story at lunch in the Dallas Morning News. There was apparently an investigation done about this and the findings were sent to the school principle and the District Attorney's office, though the District Attorney declined to file charges because the "statute of limitations" had expired.

Apparently this happened in the past. Not sure if it's still going on or not. The basketball coach that encouraged the fights is no longer at the school. One of the kids' parents went to the coach to talk to him about it and he admitted that he made the kids fight to settle their differences when they had a difference of opinion.

Now, when questioned, he says there's nothing to comment on because nothing ever happened.

Edit: Here's the story I read - www.dallasnews.com...

[edit on 20-3-2009 by sos37]

It is pretty crazy, but at the same time I could see how some might think it was a good thing. At least they are settling their problems in a manner that can be supervised.

I wonder if it has stopped violence other than the cage at that school. I wonder if there are less fights off campus, and less problems on campus because of this. Though, bare knuckles is pretty harsh. At the same time, they were probably going to do it anyway but with no one watching. How much worse could it be at that point?

When I was in high school, which was an inner city school, there were fights on campus pretty much every day. The one on one fights weren't too bad, it was the gang fights that caused problems. They would go out on the back field and just brawl 20+ people. Many of them would bring whatever weapons they could get their hands on, some of them just being plastic forks and knives from the cafeteria. I wonder if my school had something like this if there would have been less violence in general.

Still, pretty insane.

Wow this is just wrong.

The funny thing is, I can see why they would do it.

When I was in High School there would be alot of back and forth, posturing and smack talk. People would hold them back and if one accidently got loose there might be a 20 second fight.

The reason it went like this is because the guys wanted to look tough without actually fight, because someone will lose and they will lose face in front of their peers. No one wanted to be that guy.

You threaten them that if they fight, then they will be put in an actual ring. Then I can see how it would have kept everyone in their place while at school.

Girls on the other hand just do not care. They will just to hurt the other girl, they don't care if they win or lose.

Then again, I can only speak of my time at school about 13 years ago. I have no idea how kids act in school these days.

reply to post by Pimpish


I was just about to say something like this. As bad as it is, it was supervised, and prevented things from getting carried away. While it is disturbing, it is better than these kids bringing knives, guns, ninja swords or some other weapon and someone dying.

I'm a MMA instructor for the USMC and avid MMA fan and this makes me sick.
Fighters deserve proper protection (Cup'Mouthpiece'Gloves)
Yes, progressivly we could move much further in society if we fought more in the ring or cage. Warriors arnt scared to test them selves. But you should have doctors on hand and be ready with life saving techniques, even though less people have died in the last 20 years from mma than cheerleading.

Semper Fi