There are many factors for the occurrence of school violence. The two most common factors are substance abuse, association with gangs, and guns. School laws try to prevent these factors from endangering the youths in the schools. Many school officials and citizens are convinced that the growing problems of student disruption and general lack of respect for authorities are attributable directly to an over emphasis on students’ rights. The increase in violence, drugs, and weapons in schools has directed our attention to the need to talk all reasonable steps to ensure a safe learning environment for students and teachers. Some citizens and teacher blame this on public schooling. There are many organizations that try to help end school violence such as SAVE (Students Against Violence Everywhere). Other countries such as Germany and Canada have witnessed school violence in their community. I believe that this is not only a United States problem, but also a global problem that quickly needs to be resolved.
Guns are flooding our school system and the statistics are staggering. More American youths have been killed by guns in the last thirteen year than were killed during the entire Vietnam War. “Every year since 1950, the number of American children killed by guns doubled every two days, the equivalent of an entire classroom of kids (twenty-five) are killed by guns. Every three hours, someone between the ages of ten and nineteen is killed with a gun.”(Day, 1996, pg. 33)
Gangs have also played a large role in school violence. A gang is a group of people, usually of the same ethnic group and from the same neighborhood. Even though many people think of black teenagers when they think of gangs, there are white, Asian, Hispanic, and even Samoan gangs. “For some young people, gangs provide the only emotional and physical security they have ever known such as providing respect, power, family and security.”(Day, 1996, pg. 40). Unfortunately, gang membership can also be dangerous. Gangs continue to be a major problem in schools. Experts say there is no simple solution, but by working together, parents, community leaders, police officers, school officials, and teachers make a difference.
Substance abuse is another reason there is violence in the schools. “In a survey of students in grades nine through twelve, nearly one-fourth of the students had been offered, sold, or given an illegal drug on school property”(Day, 1996, pg.
There are few known active members of street gangs attending district schools. The gang activity that is seen is that of ‘want-to-be’ gang members who are influenced by family members who are involved in street gang activity. Other ‘want-to-be’ members are often swayed by popular culture. Primarily, school administrators and district officials encounter smaller groups of students, anywhere from 3 to 10 students,from elementary to senior high, who band together and give the group a name. The group serves as a support system for members. These groups tend to be fluid and can disband as quickly as they formed. Most of these groups are benign and caused few difficulties. On occasion there have been groups that have caused greater disruption including violence, intimidation, and drug use. This has led to suspension and student transfer. When a student is identified as a street gang member or has shown signs of street gang influence the first intervention the district takes is to inform the parents of the individual, awareness is
Street Gangs are becoming popular in many cities across the country. According to the Department of Justice's 2005 National Gang Threat Assessment, there are at least 21,500 gangs and more than 731,000 active gang members (Grabianowski). Gangs bring fear and violence to neighborhoods, drugs, destroy property, involve youth in crimes and drive out businesses. When you have gangs in a community, it affects everyone in the community. An alarming amount of young adults are joining gangs and becoming involved in illegal activity. Most gangs have a rule that when you join the gang you are a member of the gang for life. Gangs can be removed from our communities with more community involvement and education.
In conclusion, School Violence is a widespread issue that must be addressed. School shootings and bullying are some of the biggest issues in today’s school system. Many times the seed of the issue begins with bullying and ends with consequences like suicide and school shootings. They affect people as early as elementary school all the way to the college level, some even ending with death. Only together can we stop school violence if we take a stand and change the world.
Even since the shooting at Columbine High School caught the attention of America and all the world on April 20, 1999, high school shootings and other forms of violence at schools has been plaguing America during the last ten years. It is also found that most of the violence that occurs in high schools is caused by young men. Students aren’t feeling safe at school anymore and parents are enraged that students could bring the weapons to school in the first place. Many people have brought their own opinions into play about why violence in schools occurs. Such causes range from violence in the media, being treated poorly by peers and administrators in school, all the way to poor parental decisions. Although these are only a few of the possible causes for violence in schools, they are defiantly the most prevalent reasons.
It seems to go hand in hand that while people are being convinced that school murders are occurring more frequently, various types of school violence also seem to be rising. This is once again a myth. The United States Departments of Education and Justice distributed a survey to students both in 1989 and 1995. It was reported that the students only felt a .1% increase in the total level of victimization (Kappeler, 188). As a matter of fact, only one in ten public schools report any sort of violence at all (Kappeler, 189).
School shootings have altered American history greatly over the past two decades. From 1997 to 2007, there have been more than 40 school shootings, resulting in over 70 deaths and many more injuries. School shoot-outs have been increasing in number dramatically in the past 20 years. There are no boundaries as to how old the child would be, or how many people they may kill or injure. At Mount Morris Township, Michigan, on February 29th, 2000, there was a 6 year old boy who shot and killed another 6 year old girl at the Buell Elementary School with a .32 caliber pistol. And although many shootings have occurred at High Schools or Middle Schools, having more guns on those campuses would not be a good environment for children to grow up in. However, on a college campus, the pupils attending are not children anymore; the age range is from 17 to mid 20’s. Therefore they understand the consequences associated to the use of weapons and have gained more maturity. In April 16th, 2007, at Blacksburg, Virginia, there was a shooting rampage enacted by Sung-Hui Cho (23 years, from Centreville, VA) who fired over 170 rounds, killing 32 victims, before taking his own life at the Virginia Tech campus. Colleges and Universities would be a much safer place, for student and teacher, if guns were permitted on campus for self-defense purposes.
Gang violence is a growing problem in this world. No parent would like to imagine their kids dealing with weapons or being threatened by them. These violence’s affects each child individually and their families as well. These gangs recruit multiple different individuals for many reasons such as bribery, family traditions, or even threatening. Although, many kids feel like they have to be a part of it but there are many resources out in this world to prevent them from believing so. Gang violence has been a problem in society for several of years and is a growing problem each and every day.
Gun violence, have the tendency for youths to experience hardships of violence by other youths. Continuous studied on firearm show the increase of death that’s occurring with children in the U.S., ranging from ages 0-20 needs to be rectify (Children Defense Fund). In 2007, more recent studies by Children’s Defense Fund provided more statistical information on children and young adults of all races, who are subjected to gun violence, has triple since 2007. These finding suggest that vulnerable children are dying from the lack of gun control. Adolescence is a time for continue growth development, which many of the risk factors involving teenage violence is becoming more prevalent with children of all ages. More children and young adults are killed by firearms than from all other death related issues combine (Irwin, Berg & Cart, 2002). In other words, the numbers of violence inflicted upon children are generated by oth...
It is true that due to the positive learning atmosphere, schools have been regarded as a safe place for many years. Even today students and parents believe that schools are safe. If violence is increasing in youth culture, schools would be considered a dangerous place, but yet it remains known as secure. In addition, security has increased tremendously, within airports, major league sporting events, and upgraded police surveillance at American schools. Knowing this a logical assumption would be that violence has decreased. However, in my opinion, youth’s culture is changing and as a result violence is rising.
School violence has become an increased peril, affecting not only those involved, but the society in itself. The underlying reason for this phenomenon is that it is derived from bullying and easy access of weapons. It can even happen by the hands of a person who does not attend the school where the act takes place. Bullying has become an epidemic in America amongst school children. Though there are rules enforced about weapons at school, the weapon is usually not detected until the incident takes place. I have witnessed violence in the form of fighting while in school, however, I have never imagined that it has become so aggressive and affects children at younger ages. We must take a bold stand to stop these incidents from occurring!
While school violence can increase through neglect, it can also occur at any spontaneous moment. The alleged growing surge of school violence led the general public, state, and government to demand a higher need for security and harsher rules in the twentieth century (Packaged Facts 2000 as cited in Simmons, 2009). These strict rules and security produces the birth of a neo prison industrial complex within schools through heightened forms of surveillance and SROs.
Currently with easy access to guns, gun violence occurs all too commonly on our streets, in our schools and workplaces. A child or teen is killed or injured by guns every 30 minutes. (3) Young children and teens have become insensitive to this gun culture, and in many neighborhoods, children expect to die violently, probably by being shot. Despite living in the world's richest, strongest, freest nation, children often do not have the freedom to believe one day they will ...
In this article Emmett Tyrell informs us about gun violence in schools and what the NRA has proposed to stop the gun violence, and mass shootings across America. While the gun control debate rages, many schools have become war zones, and all school zones are vulnerable. The National Rifle Association's has come up with a 225-page report contains dozens of recommendations to improve safety in our nation’s schools. The NRA’s National School Shield program will train and enable school personnel to carry firearms to protect our nation’s children.
The issue of school safety has become a controversial topic in the United States, due to tragic acts of violence occurring on a daily basis. American citizens should never have to cope with the negative impact of school violence, no matter how often they hear about the tragedies (Jones, "Parents" 1). In the past, schools were viewed as a safe place for children to get an education. Recently, the concern over violence in schools has taken a toll on many parents, school administrators, and legislatures (Eckland 1). Studies have shown that there are over 3 million acts of violence in American public schools each year. Not all occurrences are serious and deadly, but they occur on a daily basis throughout our country (Jones, “School” 6). This has caused many parents to worry about the well-being of their children while they are in class. This has also led to an increase in questions and concerns by parents and guardians. Many people have asked, “What are you doing about safety and security on my child’s campus” (Schimke 2). School violence is the cause of elevated worry and fear for their children, and school districts should enforce better security.
Although gang members insist that gangs are the only way to ensure success today, others maintain that the only way to survive is to eliminate them. Many gangs threaten the safety of everyone in their 'hood (territory or neighborhood). Innocent people living in gang war-torn towns live in constant fear of death. However, for children who have no one to look up to and no future to look forward to, gangs can become their surrogate family. Gangs are not only a set of friends or a nights activity. Gangs are a way of life. There is no way to eliminate them, but changing the violent nature of many gangs is possible. Admittedly, gangs cause many serious problems, but they could end up helping more people than they hurt.