I have managed six years of subbing without having to actively break up a fight. Until today. And among a couple of sixth graders, in a mostly-Arabic school. I'm still twitching as I write this. What the hell are we teaching our kids? How are we living that makes them NOT able to "use their words," as we teachers try to pound into them at every opportunity? And why, when they do "use their words," does it eventually cause fists to fly the way it did today? Are we sending the right message? I don't really suspect I'll get in trouble for doing what I did, which in the end was simply making sure that the aggressor got down to the office to serve her discipline the way she should have. Education is my business, not having to play enforcer, although I find myself put in that situation an awful lot. What the hell is going on? And discipline is getting harder to maintain, year by year, even in districts with shrinking class sizes. And anyone who knows me personally, knows I am no "shrinking violet;" I got involved so nobody got hurt any worse than they already had, which was minimal. I don't consider bruised egos to be a major malady, at least not compared to contusions. As you might have guessed, I don't feel good about this. I had a million things going through my head on the ride home, from the altercations that I had myself growing up, (few, but there were some,) to the part in "Bullitt" where Steve McQueen's Architect girlfriend walks into the middle of a murder scene, and wonders how the hell he can do his job day after day. And at the end of "Bullitt," of course, Frank Bullitt comes home (driving her car after his was wrecked in the mother of all chase scenes,) finds her sleeping and takes his holster off before going into the bedroom. Overall......what I experienced today.....Job hazard, or cultural side effect? I can't tell at this point.