Matthew Walls, a 13-year-old in the 7th grade at Robert Smalls Middle School in Beaufort, S.C., engaged with a classmate in a rather alarming-sounding pastime, namely “the ‘Open Chest Game’ in which two people punch each other in the chest.” You wouldn’t think a kid could get hurt doing that, but Walls did: he struck his head on the way down and ended up in the hospital in critical condition, though he’s back attending school (a different one) now. Donna Walls, Matthew’s mother, has now sued the Beaufort County School District, the state of South Carolina, and three former superintendents personally, and seeks punitive damages. (Jonathan Cribbs, “Mother sues school district over child’s punching injury”, Beaufort Gazette/Island Packet, Jul. 25; more).
11 Comments
Middle school boys have been playing that for at least 2 generations now, and I highly doubt it was new then.
Games boys play at that age often involve pain tolerance – they all want to show how “manly” they. Stop trying to “solve” the “male problem”, people!
I agree with Deoxy. Since putting my boy in school, it seems they’ve discovered a lot things “wrong” with him that I previously had believed to be simply characteristics of being male. What’s up with that? Why does something have to be “wrong” with them just because they’re boys? Why is there something “wrong” with everything boys like to do? Yeah, maybe they are aggressive, or competitive, or like to engage in physical confrontations.. so what? It’s not like this behavior is all of a sudden different from the way it’s been for 100s of thousands of years. What has suddenly and recently changed is the woman’s role… and just because we as women have made these advances for our gender doesn’t mean we should go around trying to “convert” males to be more like us. UGH!
I’d be willing to bet Ms. Walls is a single mom. Any man would’ve told her ALL boys engage in such horseplay. What the heck kind of world do people want? Obviously some unrealistic Utopian society where everyone is medicated, passive and no more than animated automatons.
It also sounds like she wants some “easy” money for what amounts to a non-issue. Her attorney should be sanctioned and she should be fined for filing this frivolous suit.
Could overlawyering be leading us to a “Brave New World” as described by Mo? Stay tuned.
What’s a boy of 13 doing in 7th grade? It sounds like typical teen behavior is the least of his problems.
BTW, we played similar games growing up: Knuckles – you smack somebody’s knuckles with a deck of cards; and Bloody Knuckles – you each make a fist and punch each other in the fist. Both games were played until somebody gives. Neither had any impact on me, although my penmanship is awful.
Adam, I formed that comment out of my memory bank…I read “Brave New World” as a teenager and it apparently resonated with me more than I thought! Simulated happiness, safety and contentment at the cost of intellect isn’t living, it is existing.
This is an example of ATLA being complicit in the proliferation of The New Castrati.
Yep, I remember bloody knuckles real well…that and other stupid acts of pain tolerance with classmates. It’s normal…guys will get harmed on a regular basis as a kid, and guess what? We’ll do just fine.
It’s sad that kids can no longer climb trees, play baseball, tackle football, wrestle, box (my middle school allowed one to forgo physical education to take boxing lessons…I did), or any other potentially harmful activity.
Pain is something I went through and feel other guys need to go through because it helps develop the means to handle it effectively…especially where it matters, like not dropping a large TV set if you rip a knuckle open on a doorframe while moving (dropping said TV may break someone’s foot, which is a far more severe injury). So in a roundabout way, pain tolerance is a safety mechanism that males develop.
Hmm – the article is slanted; it calls cleaning up the accident ‘removing evidence’, as if a school district wouldn’t get sued for leaving blood on the ground (possible slip hazard, possible exposure to communicable disease).
On the other hand, the article is missing key information. A bully is always going to say ‘we were just playing’ when he gets caught. So it might be consensual horseplay gown awry, and it might be assault and battery. It might be a case of adults-can’t-be-everywhere, and it might be a case of criminal negligence.
Tflan – both of my youngest daughters will turn 13 during the 7th grade – because of their birth dates, rather than because they are stupid as you imply.
My 15 year old son is being prosecuted for this silly boys game!! they each punched each other in the arm. The parent of the other child called the school and now the child says he never touched my son back!! My child was suspended and is having to go to court over HORSEPLAY!!! And because my child has been honest he is the one in trouble! At least give them both the punishment!! The school won’t even listen to my son that he has been hit on too!!!