It is quite clear to us that a violent confrontation may result in physical pain (when a fight occurs) and/or in psychological hurt (when being sworn at and called-down) to the students involved in that confrontation. However, pain is not everything a violence user might face. There is a possibility of a continuity of violence. When a student uses violence to treat his/her opponent, the latter may resort to violence for retribution, and then the student takes revenge, and so on. The question here is:
When violence is employed so easily and commonly, will a violence user be drawn into a continuity of violence?
Very few studies on student violence have looked into the continuity of violence;
hence, it is unknown how many violent student incidents in other countries will simply be perpetuated. Yet, in this study, 20% of the survey respondents reported
that their most recent conflict with a peer resulted in a circle of two or more violent clashes, as shown in figure 11 below.
Figure 11: Percentage of students reporting the number of clashes occurring as a result of the most recent conflict between them and their opponent(s) 19
73.1%
20.0%
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
One time Two times or more
As suggested in figure 11, violence is a one-off solution for up to 70% of the most recent peer conflicts as reported by survey respondents, while in the other 20% it resulted in a circle of violence. The students explained this continuity for revenge, and revenge is to keep face. This finding supports the life span theory according to which social acknowledgment is of great importance to individuals during adolescence, so that sometimes they take revenge on their opponents not only because of their hatred but also because of their concern for their social image.
„Revenge is a normal phenomenon, like fighting. It is the manifestation of masculinity. It is to determine our status in society. As you see, that is why just a look can lead to a fight.‟ (Boy, grade 12, academic performance: average)
The continuity of violence is also represented when we asked the respondents about their relationship with their opponents after their violent clash, as shown in figure 12.
19 Missing information: 6.8%.
Figure 12: Percentage of students reporting the relationship between them and their opponent after their clash20
3.4%
1.1%
6.3%
32.6%
38.3%
12.6%
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 One continued provoking on their own
One continued provoking with their friends joining in
Asked a third party to mediate and then ignored each other
Talked and agreed to stop the clash, then ignored each other
Ignored each other Reonciled and made friends with the other
As shown in figure 12 above, 3.4% of the respondents who engaged in student violence in the school year preceding this survey reported that after the last violent conflict between them and their opponent, one of them still provoked the other, and 1.1% reported that one of them even called their friends to join in the conflict between them, suggesting that the violent confrontation between them may continue.
The results, however, show that most violence users (57.2% in total) end their confrontation by ignoring each other. Interestingly, the process of ignoring is not always simply ignoring; rather, this process may involve some kind of negotiation in some cases. Some violence users just felt that the last confrontation was enough for their conflict, and then the two sides automatically ignored each other. 38.3% of the violence users ended conflicts with their opponents in this way. However, 12.6%
20 Missing information: 5.7%.
only ignored their opponents after talking with them and reaching an agreement to stop the conflict. 6.3% even asked a third party, usually a common well-viewed friend to mediate between them and their opponent before ignoring their opponent.
These last two ways of ending a confrontation (i.e. some kind of mediation before ignoring each other) are quite interesting in that they show a certain degree of cautiousness and rationality. They also suggest that the respondents felt their opponents might favour violence as a solution for solving conflicts and that if the respondents wanted to stop the violent confrontation between them, they had do something to ensure that it stopped.
Up to 60% of the violence users participating in this survey ended their most recent confrontation by dropping a relationship (ignoring their opponent) or, even worse, by provoking another violent confrontation, but it is interesting that nearly one-third of them (32.6%) ended up with a new relationship by reconciling and then making friends with their opponent as shown in Figure 12. However, it should be noted that this way of ending a violent confrontation mostly happens among boys. Girls are more inclined to ignore each other once they publicly have a clash. It appears to me over the course of my fieldwork that girls tend to take a clash personally and cannot forgive their opponents for being hostile to them. On the contrary, boys tend to acknowledge violence simply as a way of solving conflicts; hence, they can overlook the clash and make friends with their opponents. Besides, boys often want to network with peers who are more powerful, as claimed by the students.
„Yes, I used to fight another boy. But after that, I thought carefully and then I met him to apologize.
And he accepted your apology?
„Yes, he did. If we had a normal peer relationship previously, after fighting we can return to be friends. If we were not friends before, and if we lost the fight, we boys will feel stressed and fear the opponent. So sometimes the loser of the fight wants to make friends with the winner so that he will not be beaten up again. As for the winner, once he wins, he feels quite easy, so if his opponent wants to make friends with him, he will accept.‟ (Boy, grade 12, academic performance: Average)
In summary, it appears that violence in general does not have hurtful social consequences. Yet, violence sometimes precedes more violence, and most students are aware of where the end should be and resolve their conflict by ignoring each other. Only 20% of them continued provoking further fights. Interestingly, about 32% of violence users ended up making friends with their opponents. However, it should be noted that this study was conducted in three public high schools in Hanoi, among which two schools are good and very good ones. If investigating a more representative sample, the result might be different. The rate of violence users who stopped their confrontation after one fight might be lower.
Hence, while the physical consequences of student violence in Hanoi appear very serious as compared to other countries, the social consequences inclusive of both school punishment and subsequent relationships with opponents appear not so threatening. Theoretically, once the students engage in violent incidents, they may face the severest punishment in school – being expelled from school. However, it is still possible for them to escape punishment in some situations. Even though they
may face retribution, that possibility is not really high. It is more likely that they will lose a relationship, namely their relationship with their opponent; however, this loss is not important for them. If they are the winner of a fight, they even gain more relationships with peers including their opponent.