ET and Keyser:  To be sure, we've some major problems with the level of civility and respect and "discipline" in our schools.  I spent 28 years working with these very issues.  There are, IMO, ways to address them w/o resorting to physical violence but they take consistent effort from teachers, administrators and, guess what, parents if they are to be effective.  Bottom line....it has to be more "pleasant" for a student to treat others in a civil, respectful fashion than it is to be "crude and rude."  In the "short term" it often seems much easier to just "let things slide"....That doesn't work out very well.  Twenty some years ago I had an OpEd piece titled "Creating Monsters" published in the NYTs which addressed this very problem.  Twenty some years have passed and the problem has only gotten worse....much worse.  Effectively addressing it is not going to be easy...but, it would be worth the effort. Gary Crum