Abstract:

Abstract:

Currently, violence is commonly thought of as serious physical harm done unto another individual. Recently that definition has been rethought to now include milder forms of aggression. This is redefinition is key as instructors begin taking a fresh look at the problem of school violence, especially when it involves very young children. Aggressive children were once thought of as just going through a phase and eventually out-growing the aggressive behavior. But recent research has discovered that aggression in early childhood leads to much more severe behavior in later life. Because of these new findings, the purpose of this research paper is to discover the impact of early childhood violence prevention programs and if they would be successful in combating the issue of school violence.

School violence is a rising epidemic occurring every day, in varying degrees, at schools across the country. School shootings that are being broadcasted in the media are the most extreme and rare forms that seems to attract the most public attention to the problem, while bullying and other "smaller" forms of violent acts that are happening more frequently don't gain the same type of media attention as the occasional shootings do. Parents across the nation are thinking, “not my child, not my neighborhood.” They do not believe that it could happen in their own backyard or in an expensive private school, but it does. Middle and high school students are finally beginning to receive information from school and community prevention programs that are designed to help them to identify and deal with violence in their schools. But there is an alarming new trend of school violence that is occurring with even younger children in elementary schools which is having a tremendous impact on their behavior as adolescents and adults. Young children are becoming more and more aggressive towards their peers, which is directly escalating the problem of school violence and aggression in middle and high schools. Because of this, school violence prevention programs need to be implemented in early childhood educational settings in order to bring an end to the rising rates of bullying and school violence among kindergarten and elementary school-aged children and to prevent school violence later in life.

Today, the term “violence” in American society is generally reserved for only acts of severe physical harm towards another person. Because of this commonly thought, narrow definition, many educators and parents only see the school violence problem as intentional interpersonal violence between middle or high school students or from a student towards a teacher.