Dan Lennington and Will Flanders write for the Federalist about a surge in school violence nationwide.

Ask any public high school student: violent in-school fights are on the rise and discipline is on the decline. Just consider one public high school: Madison East in Madison, Wisconsin.

In late September, local media reported a series of “disturbing” cell phone videos depicting vicious fights and beatings occurring in class and on school grounds over the course of several days. Then, several hundred students walked out of school twice in one week protesting the school’s sexual harassment policies.

The protest apparently spilled over to other local high schools, resulting in marauding groups of students causing “harm to others,” damaging “property in the downtown area,” and publicly “calling out” suspected sexual harassers, according to an email from one of the area school districts. …

… Madison East is no outlier. A simple Google search reveals similar headlines from around the country. …

… So what could be causing such a spike? Or perhaps more frighteningly, is this a new normal? Many factors may be contributing to this upward trend, but a few probable culprits require serious scrutiny.

Even before COVID, the trend was towards more violence in schools. The number of violent incidents on public school campuses increased a staggering 185 percent from 2016 to 2019, according to a recent study. But following months of lockdowns, closed schools, and virtual learning, this trend accelerated as kids returned to school. …

… In addition to COVID policies and their impact on socialization, schools are contributing to the problem by intentionally weakening discipline policies. Largely in the name of political correctness, school districts around the nation have been working to reduce racial disparities in suspensions. …

… Relatedly, anti-police curriculum is increasing. Nationwide, examples abound of teachers portraying police officers as racist murders, displaying banners such as “F-CK THE POLICE,” and even teaching children as young as three that police are racist because a “white-supremacy fairy” whispers evil thoughts into their ears.