How This School Solved Its Violence Problem Shows We ‘Need More Masculinity, Not Less’
A Louisiana high school discovered that having students’ fathers on campus worked wonders when it came to stemming fights between boys.
SO WHAT
Amid liberal hand-wringing over “toxic masculinity” and “the patriarchy,” the benefits of strong male presences have often been overlooked.
WHAT HAPPENED
After 23 students were arrested for fighting over a period of three days last month, parents at Southwood High School in Shreveport banded together to form Dads on Duty – a group of roughly 40 fathers who take turns spending time at the school.
DADS ON DUTY: After a violent week of fighting at a Louisiana high school, parents knew something had to change. So, a group of dads decided to show up not just for their kids – but for the whole student body – to help maintain a positive environment. @SteveHartmanCBS has more. pic.twitter.com/Uux3qx48sd
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) October 22, 2021
The program has been a wild success: Zero incidents have taken place since the dads started showing up, CBS News reported Friday in a segment that has been viewed over 11 million times on Twitter.
- “I immediately felt a form of safety,” one of the students told CBS. “We stopped fighting; people started going to class.”
- Another student partially attributed the dads’ “power” to their stern stares: “You ever heard of ‘a look?'” she said.
Dads on Duty participants said they have no plans to stop showing up at Southwood and want to expand the program to other schools in Louisiana.
- “Because not everybody has a father figure at home – or a male, period, in their life. So just to be here makes a big difference,” the dads told CBS in a statement.
THE REACTION
Anthony Bradley, a professor of religion at Kings College in New York City, and other commentators on Twitter said the story highlights fathers’ critical societal role, which progressives often downplay for ideological reasons.
So, here we are. We know that dad-deprivation is the cause of “toxic masculinity.” We know the best mom in the world cannot replace the unique role of fathers. We know that #dadsmatter. Yet, the religious worship of political/social ideology keeps us from real solutions.
— Anthony B. Bradley, PhD (@drantbradley) October 23, 2021
“Solutions call for *more* masculinity, not less,” Bradley said. “Yet, the religious worship of political/social ideology keeps us from real solutions.”