Israeli schools expressly forbid a student to hit back after being attacked. In a context in which violence and retaliation are magnified, this rule is likely consistent with the local circumstances.An article in Issue #4, 2015 of Journal of School Violence explores Israeli teacher attitudes towards this task of enforcing fair rules & punishment, a task which is challenging enough in all circumstances. "In semistructured interviews,71 Israeli educators were asked for their views on the hitting-back tactic. The interviews compared their attitude toward hitting back as teachers with their take on the matter as parents. The results, analyzed using grounded theory, show that most educators would not object if their children hit back in self-defense when attacked but would discipline students who hit back unless they can prove their claim of self-defense. Interviewees are much less inclined to discipline retaliators who do manage to prove self-defense but feel that investigations to verify self-defense under school conditions are impractical. To deter bullies, they say, teachers must declare their readiness to discipline everyone involved; otherwise, bullies will falsely claim self-defense. The discussion explores the implications of role theory on teachers’ attitudes." Read more>> (An item from the ISHN Member information service)
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