High school heads blame worsening violence on television and film violence, drug abuse, gangs and the abolition of corporal punishment. Several principals report that old-fashioned playground brawls are becoming serious assaults. In one case, a matric pupil and martial arts expert hit a younger boy so hard after a school dance at SACS in Newlands that he had to have reconstructive surgery. A teacher at a Wynberg school confirmed an incident in which a boy jumping the tuck shop queue during break was stabbed with a breadknife. But police got wind of the imminent war and intervened by closing in on the instigators before the planned battle.
School children are impressionable and easily influenced.
When a famous cricketer appearing on television wears a certain headband or whatever, the next day half the school wears them. A good whack or two on the behind is not child abuse or violence, it is just effective punishment. He said that punishment consisted of detention or picking up rubbish, while teachers had to hire security guards to keep watch on school functions such as discos. The increase in drug abuse in schools and gangsters peddling drugs were also factors that introduced violence in schools, according to a Claremont teacher. Schools in some Cape Flats areas known for gangsterism had a different view of playground violence.