As shown in Figure 5 below, fights between only two students occupy the largest proportion (41.7%) among all types of fight, followed by fights between from three to five students (26.9%). However, it should be noted that if we add up the percentages of all kinds of group fight (fights that involve more than two students), the resulting figure is higher than one-on-one fights (53.8% and 41.7% respectively).
This is a quite different feature of student violence at high school level in Hanoi, as, for example, group fight hardly happen among high school students in the U.S. as reported by Vossekuil and his colleagues (2002).
Figure 5: Percentage of students reporting their most recent fight by the number of fighters in the fight13
1.7%
9.1%
4.6%
11.4%
26.9%
41.7%
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
2 students 3-5 students 6-7 students 8-10 students more than 10 a lot, more than 20
13 Missing information: 4.5%.
Another noteworthy result is the high rate of large sized violent confrontations (fights involving more than 10 students). Up to 9.1% of the most recent violent student confrontations recorded in this survey involved more than 10 students, and 1.7% of violence users reported that their most recent fight involved many students14 (i.e. more than 20 students).
This finding from the survey corresponds to the finding gathered by qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews and group discussion which also revealed that most fights among students are group fights. However, although the survey data showed that group fights slightly outnumber one-on-one fights (58.3% and 41.7%
respectively), when interviewed in-depth, informants tended to overemphasise the extent of group fights. If based on qualitative data only, one may expect that one-on- one fights (or „solo,‟ in student language) occupy a very small proportion of the total number of student fights.
„Solo hardly ever happens. Usually a group on each side will join in.‟ (Boy, grade 12, academic performance: average)
„Normally it [a student fight] is a group fight. No one plays solo. Solo only happens when they are so angry that they immediately attack each other to release their anger. But a group fight is much more common.‟ (Girl, grade 11, academic performance: good)
This difference between the qualitative and quantitative findings here is, perhaps, the result of „recall.‟ In the questionnaire interview, respondents were asked about
14 This is an open question. While some respondents provided the exact number of students involved in their last fight, some just gave general information such as „a lot‟ or „more than 20.‟
an exact event (the most recent fight they were involved in since they entered high school), and their memory would recall specific and exact information. Meanwhile, respondents in qualitative interviews were asked about a general assessment (what is more common according to their own observation, group fights or one-on-one fights?) of several fights of which their recall might lack accuracy and they magnified the things more impressive to them, which is group fight in this case.
The size of high school student fights here is a characteristic that makes this social issue in Hanoi seem very different to its counterparts in other countries. It is critical to note that most high school student group fights in Hanoi are not gang fights. In fact, gang fights hardly happen within the high school student community simply because juvenile gangs rarely operate in school, at least in the three schools where this study was conducted. Most student fights arise from individual conflicts between students, and these students call on their friends, especially those who are good at fighting, despite the fact that they may come from different groups, to fight with/for them. Excluding gang fights, Vossekuil et.al. (2002: 26) reported that most high school student attackers carried out their attack on their own rather than with the involvement of their peers. Zimring (1989) also supported this finding, and revealed that there was sometimes group involvement in juvenile fights but mostly among those under 16 years old. Meanwhile, as shown in figure 3, group fights are very common among high school students aged 16–18 in the sampled high school in Hanoi.
In summary, the common finding about student violence in the US is that if a high school student has a conflict with another student and wants to use violence to settle accounts, it is very likely that s/he will carry out the fight on her/his own. In the
sampled high schools in Hanoi, it is very likely that the student will fight against her/his opponent with the support of her/his friend(s).