The recent rise in school violence are incidents that should not go unnoticed. Recently there have been persistent school shootings and school violence does not only account for school shootings alone. After the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, there has been a constant rise in such incidents. Parents and teachers these days are more troubled by all the news and reports of school violence that they expect to hear about almost every day. The question now arises that why is there a constant rise in school violence and is there anything we can do to prevent such horrific incidents like the recent stabbing in the Murrysville, Pensylvennia, Franklin Regional High school? The route to any solution lies in first finding out the reasons why school violence and bullying is on the rise and only then it can be stabilized. School violence and bullying can be prevented by finding out where the problem lies. Many studied show that there can be three main factors contributing to school violence,family dynamics, school dynamics and Media dynamics.
Family is the first relation a person has, a person grows up and learns how to behave by being nurtured by the family. According to the “Addressing School Violence” in the FBI law enforcement bulletin “ Family dynamics include the thinking, traditions, beliefs, and behavior patterns within the home. These play a vital role in the social development of a young child” (Booth, Vincent, Hasselt, and Vecchi). It is asserted here that family plays a vital role in the development of a child’s brain. Children learn most important beliefs like religion and culture from their parents. Although in case of school shootings and violence, it is not certain that the alleged person belongs to a dysfunctiona...
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...with people who are socially rejected and belong to a deviant group (Booth, Vincent, Hasselt, and Vecchi). Thus, when a person is rejected by his/her peers and feels like he/she does not belong to any popular group then that person may join the people who feel left out.They may feel that they are socially awkward as a result they feel they are not a part of the normal social society. Kids like these feel distanced and away from the “normal” people and they begin to lose focus.
Works Cited
Almond, Lucinda. "What Factors Contribute to School Violence?" School Violence. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2008. N. page. Print.
Booth, Brandi, B. Vincent, VAN HASSELT, and GREGORY VECCHI. "Addressing School Violence." FBI. FBI, 22 Feb. 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
Ohlheiser, Abby. "January's Epidemic: 11 School Shootings in 19 Days." The Wire. N.p., 28 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2014
Shen, Aviva. "A Timeline of Mass Shootings in the US since Columbine." ThinkProgress RSS. Center for American Progress Action Fund, 14 Dec. 2012. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Family environment and the press are two major influences resulting in the recent tragic school shootings. As much as society continues to focus the killing rampages on factors such as television and music, what children are exposed to in reality contributes to the violence. The most recent school shooting in Michigan involved a six-year-old first grader who killed a classmate with a .22 caliber pistol. The news coverage had vanished after two or three days, and I was left wondering what had happened. Considering the fact that the media wore the Columbine incident out, I wanted to know why they did not pay more attention to this school shooting. As evidence did arrive, it was discovered that the child lived in a household where cocaine, heroin, and many other illegal drugs were commonplace. Also in this “home” guns were easily accessible to the child. Children growing up in this type of environment certainly are likely to be held accountable for future violence. Even though I am against the news media presenting too much school violence, Americans should have been deeply disturbed by this shooting because of the child’s young age. The Michigan shooting should have enlightened Americans to the dilemma we face in this country. Two weeks after the Columbine High School shooting, information on the mass murder was still being broadcast on television. The press was feeding young viewers ideas on how to kill their classmates. News was reported how the teenage murderers acquired information regarding building bombs, obtaining guns, smuggling guns into the school, and proceeding to kill their classmates. A mentally unstable teenager could simply watch these news reports and write a book entitled, “How to Slay Your Classmates”. This onslaught was ridiculous and the news coverage should not have been permitted to continue for countless weeks. Society has determined three reasons on which to blame the shootings. First, the nation blamed it on television’s violent programs. Following that, Americans gave the music recording companies the evil eye as well as attacking the gun manufacturers. All of these reasons involve material objects that are unable to think for themselves. Televisions and CD players do not control themselves, people control them. Finally, boundaries controlling the television programs children view should be set by the parents. The same explanation applies to firearms. How can it be a gun’s fault that a person killed another human being?
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.
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).
Schwartz, W. (1996, October). An overview of strategies to reduce school violence. ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education. Retrieved October 21, 2001.
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2002). Are America’s Schools Safe? Students Speak Out: 1999 School Crime Supplement. Retrieved April 28, 2005 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp/pubid=2002331.
Koch, Kathy. "School Violence: Are American Schools Safe?" 9 October 1998: 32. CQ Researcher. 30 Nov 2009.
Developments within the past decade have opened up new ways for research that can lead to improvements in the life quality of vulnerable students and families. Not only does school violence create a feeling of fear and emotional uneasiness in a school, it also is difficult for the learning process to develop. Situations at home have a big impact on student's safety in school. Examples are a student not speaking up in class for fear of being ridiculed; being called a faggot because of perceptions of a student's sexual orientation; backbiting; verbal teasing and insults; offensive touching such as throws, slaps and pushes; and racial, ethnic, and/or sexist comments that are based on a student's physical appearance?. A lot of the time this is learned and adapted by children from the parents at home. Parents have the most influence on a child, the way the act, talk, or neglect their child. Children are more prone to repeat these emotions and aggressions at recess or just in class with other peers. Communities are also playing big roles in the safety of stude...
Kalman, Izzy. “Bullying Contributes to School Shootings.” Juvenile Crime. ic.galegroup.com. Web. 2012. Feb. 11, 2015.
Every seven minutes a child is bullied. On average, 68 percent of students say that “other kids pick on them, make fun of them or bully them” (“Statistics”). This causes students to turn to violence. bullied or made fun of which cause them to become violent. How much longer are schools going to sit back and do nothing about bullies? Without punishing bullies, students’ will continue to harm themselves to massive extents. Schools are not doing enough to stop or prevent bullying, as demonstrated by the creation of the group Stand for the Silent.
Bullying, often dismissed as a normal part of growing up, is a real problem in our nation's schools, according to the National School Safety Center. One out of every four schoolchildren endures taunting, teasing, pushing, and shoving daily from schoolyard bullies. More than 43 percent of middle- and high-school students avoid using school bathrooms for fear of being harassed or assaulted. Old-fashioned schoolyard hazing has escalated to instances of extortion, emotional terrorism, and kids toting guns to school. It is estimated that more than 90 percent of all incidents of school violence begin with verbal conflicts, w...
Bidwell, Allie. "Report: School Crime and Violence Rise" U.S News & World Report, June 10, 2014
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.
School shootings are becoming common place in the news as school violence is on the rise. Statistics state that 31.2 percent of parents said the leading cause for choosing homeschool over public school is “concern about the environment of other schools” (Burke, 2014). According to the CDC fact sheet Understanding School Violence, 12 percent of youth in grades 9-12 report being in a physical fight on school property while 5.9 percent reported that they felt unsafe at school and did not attend. Seven percent of teachers also report that they have been threatened or injured by a student (School Violence, 2013). While only 1 percent of all youth homicides occur at schools, violence does not need to result in a fatality in order to be a concern.
Violence in schools has spread widely throughout the nation. This has caused many problems among students, families, faculty of schools, and residents of the area. However, there are many possible ways we can stop all this violence in schools. Almost three-fourths of the United States teens are afraid of violent crime amongst their peers (Apfel 23). Violence in schools has become a big problem in today's society.