In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, two 19-year-old high school freshmen were arrested for attacking their substitute teacher—in front of other students.
Yes, you read that right. Nineteen-year-old freshmen.
Javis McClover and Roderick McQueen were charged with battery on an educator after they allegedly planned and carried out an assault on the teacher.
The teacher ended up with back pain, facial swelling, and bruises.
This wasn’t just some schoolyard scuffle. It was a violent act carried out in a place that’s supposed to be safe for learning.
Two 19 year old high school freshmen arrested for attacking and beating a teacher in Fort Lauderdale. pic.twitter.com/CWK9nvgphY
— PhotographicFloridian (@JackLinFLL) March 18, 2025
Now folks, this kind of thing should make us stop and think: What’s going on in our schools?
How did we get to the point where nearly grown adults are sitting in classrooms with 14- and 15-year-olds—and in some cases, attacking the very people trying to teach them?
The Bigger Picture: A System That’s Failing
This isn’t just about one bad day in one Florida school. It’s about the broken system that allowed this to happen.
Let’s start with the basics. Why are 19-year-olds still in high school?
Sure, sometimes kids fall behind for reasons outside their control.
But when you’ve got adults in classrooms with kids several years younger, that creates all kinds of problems—especially when those adults have a history of bad behavior.
According to a 2023 report from the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly 1 in 5 public school teachers report being physically attacked by a student at least once during the school year.
Compare that to just 6% in 2010. Violence in schools isn’t just happening in big cities—it’s becoming a problem everywhere.
Schools Are Doing Too Much—and Not Enough
One reason things are getting worse is because schools have become more about social experiments than education.
They’re trying to be everything to everyone—counselors, social workers, babysitters, even mental health centers. And while they’re busy doing all that, basic discipline has gone out the window.
Instead of holding students accountable, many schools are more worried about “restorative justice” and not hurting anyone’s feelings.
But here’s the thing: when you take away consequences, you get chaos.
And when chaos happens, who gets hurt?
The teachers. The students who actually want to learn. And the families who trust the system to do its job.
Where Are the Parents? Where Is the Accountability?
We don’t just have a school problem. We have a cultural problem.
Somewhere along the way, we stopped teaching basic values like respect, responsibility, and hard work.
We stopped expecting parents to parent, and we started expecting the government to raise our kids.
But as conservatives know, more government isn’t the answer. The answer is stronger families, local control, and schools that focus on the basics.
We need to get back to the idea that schools are for learning—not for raising other people’s children or managing adult-age students who should be somewhere else.
Critics Say We Should Be More “Understanding”
There are people out there saying we need to “understand” these students better.
They argue that maybe these 19-year-olds had tough lives or didn’t get enough support.
And while we should always have compassion, that doesn’t mean we throw out common sense.
Understanding someone’s background is not the same as excusing their behavior. There has to be a line—and when you attack a teacher, you’ve crossed it.
What We Can Do About It
This is where everyday people—you and me—come in. We can’t just shake our heads and move on. We have to speak up.
Demand that schools enforce discipline. Support teachers who are under attack—literally. Ask hard questions at school board meetings. Push for policies that put kids’ safety first, not woke politics.
And we need to rethink how long we keep students in the system.
At 19, maybe it’s time to offer job training or adult education programs outside of the high school setting—something that helps them without putting younger kids at risk.
Most of all, we have to bring back a culture of personal responsibility. Because when people stop taking ownership of their actions, the whole community pays the price.
Schools should be safe places to learn—not battlegrounds.
What happened in Florida is shocking, but sadly, it’s not surprising anymore.
It’s time to get serious about restoring order in our classrooms. And that starts with holding people accountable, expecting more from parents, and getting government out of the way so local communities can take back control.
Because when teachers can’t teach and students can’t learn, everybody loses.
This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
