Aashik Thakkar
Dr. Jack Beckham.
Eng 102
27th June, 2012

Violence in School.

Violence in school have become a very serious problem from past many years. American Schools are not safe. “An estimated 1.5 million U.S. students between the age of 12 to 18 are victims of nonfatal crimes at school” (Hong, and Eamon 428). There is as much violence inside the school building as it is outside. Not only nonfatal crimes, also the fatal crimes such as sexual harassment, bullying and minor in possession of drugs and guns are on dramatic rise. Priscilla Thompson in ‘The New York Amsterdam News’ reported that “according to educational department recorded 800 sexual offences, 53400 fights, 28000 cases of bullying and more than 8000 weapon possession cases” (31). Whereas, in 1996-97 “Ninety percent of public schools had no ‘serious violent-crime’ reported, [but] those that did reported 7150 robberies and 10950 physical attacks” (Koch 884).

The violence in school have also been upgraded as the time passed by, because surveys and research have confirmed that violent activities like ‘Bullying’ have caused students kill their peers or commit suicide. Most of the time motives behind killings in school are the same ‘Revenge.’ In 1997, “Michael Carneal, 14, Kill[ed] three students and injured five others at his ... high school ... later he says, he felt going to prison would be better than continuing to endure bullying, he was subjected to in school” (Greenya 111). Young students are standing up for themselves to confront the bully, also they are tired of being harassed in school; although, the approach they are taking is life threatening. In 2002, “U.S. Secret Service and the US Department of Educational Services reveal that in two-thirds of 35 school shootings over the last 25 years the attackers have felt ‘bullied, persecuted or injured’ by others before the attack” (Greenya 111). Currently bullying in school is on tops its record for last 25 years, and so are the other violent activities that follow bullying. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development reports that “More than 3.2 million children in sixth to tenth grade- nearly one in six- are victims of bullying each year, while 3.7 million bully other children” (Greenya 104). The social environment surrounded among teenagers is the primary cause of intensified school violence. The impact of media and bullying also motivates violence in school. The best way to defend against such violence is by understanding its causes. Educating teachers, parents and students about the causes and possible methods to avoid risky behavior will help prevent school violence.

One of the obvious cause for increase in school violence is the social environment that school students are surrounded by. The schools that would possibly face most of the violent actions are the ones whose students are affected by their “interactions in immediate settings, such as home and school, and ... environment such as neighbourhood”(Hong, and Eamon 429). The possible cause that would provoke violent behavior in students happen in everyone's daily life at home or school. Many students are neglected at home by their parents, and harassed at school by their peers and teachers; therefore, they approach towards violence to be socially accepted in the community. Parents have made a choice to not to give their children the attention that they deserve, and the covered up violent activities at school team up to steadily increase rate of violence in school. Thus, “the environment the youth as around them, such as poverty drugs, rap music and, the media ... a lot of single parent homes and parents on drugs” are attracted towards being either a victim or a perpetrator of violence at school. (Billitteri 196).

The living conditions of the household plays an important role in school youngsters violence engagement at school. The parents with low living standards tend to be emotionally abusive to their children, and are continuously being pushed away for some reason. This results in a very negative impact on children’s social involvement, especially the one’s around 14 to 18 years of age. Billitteri quotes James Alan Fox, a nationally known Northeastern University criminologists that “lack of supervision, because of single parent families or two career homes ... the attraction of gang pervade the [youth]” (196). Thus the presence of violence in the environment around the school students increases the possibility of their involvement in similar behavior.

One of the unobvious causes of the violence in school is the ‘Media’. The basic human ability is to adapt to the environment, which establishes the human behavior. Media has encompassed young minds with an early exposure to violence by watching it on television. Media has exposed these young minds to violence as a heroic action that prolongs them to acquire their wants by violent methods; furthermore, media has created a significant negative impact by glorifying the usage of guns and bombs. Kathy Koch quotes Barry Krisberg in ‘School Violence’ that “the violence in media and the easy availability of guns [to youth] is driving the slaughter of innocents,” because the young vulnerable minds have started to believe that assimilated violence is justified by all means in the real world.

Media has created a tremendous attraction to youth by intensifying their desire to live raging. One of the very negatively impactful source of media is ‘Video Games.’ Koch says, “When a kind is watching violence on TV, he is an observer, and with video games, he is a participant” (889). Playing video games transforms visual experience of violence to be virtually practical; moreover, “using cutting edge graphics and digital technology make[s] the violence increasingly realistic,” which is eventually incorporated by youngsters in real life. (Koch 889). Moreover, video games are much more popular among the puberty age group, which is more alarming because younger children adapt to such violence more rapidly.

One of the other form of media that spreads violence rapidly is music. Parents can possibly control over the type of TV shows, and video games their children play, but it is hard to control over the type of music they listen. Today, most popular genre of music is hip-hop and rap, and this music “explicitly refers to rapes, murders, sex and reproductive organs,” which is later on is carried over as emotional, verbal and sexual harassment at school (koch 888). This type of violent music is considered very harmful, because as Barbara Wyatt, President of Parents Music Resource Center describes that, “It is not like watching movies, which they (youngsters) might watch once or twice. They listen to music over and over ... until it becomes part of [their] subconscious” (Koch 888). Thus, the young mind exposed to violence through television, music, and video games etc. are prone to violence; and therefore, they commit it more easily.

One of the other non obvious cause of violence in school is ‘Bullying’. Bullying is one form of school violence; however, it is also a leading cause of further violence to erupt in schools. Sanford A. Newman, President of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a Crime-Prevention Organization confirms “bullying is an early warning that bullies may be headed towards more antisocial behavior” (Greenya 107). Bullying is a human behavior that provides pleasure to the bully by giving pain, playing practical and emotional jokes and hurting people. Bullies are usually stronger and bigger then their victim, and they have believed that because they are bigger they can hurt the weaker. However, bullying develops anger in the victim against the perpetrator and feel alienated in the school. Every day built up social inequalities encourages the victim to enact violent, life threatening acts at school. Greenya quotes from National Institute of Child Health and Human Development that “Bullies victims are more likely to commit crimes: Boys who were victims in the middle school are far more likely to commit crimes as [young] adults than boys who were neither bullies, nor victims” (108).

Bullying is a low-level violent behavior in the American schools, and has become a part of everyday life. Today, “On typical school day 3 out of 10 American teenagers are involved in bully as perpetrators, victims or bystanders and an estimated 160,000 children skip school for fear of being harassed”(Greenya 101). People bully in school because they are seeking attention from others, even negative attention will comfort them. Although, extensive bullying on daily basis evolves the desire for revenge to victim that leads to incidents like :Virginia Tech Massacre and Columbine Shootings. In these happenings, bullied individual stood up against their perpetrators for vengeance, and aggressively killed 32 and 12 students respectively, of their own peers. Revenge against bullying have caused many incidents in past two decades that resulted in deaths of students and teachers at school all over the country. Bullying has become the main cause of violence in school and it is “cited as a [dominant] factor in subsequent school killings, according to the U.S. Secret Service Study”(Greenya 103).

School violence is an important issue, because the school is place where people’s kids are sent to study so they can make something out of their life. Its not in anyone’s interest to send their kids to school to become criminals. Everyday occurring violence in school is progressing youngsters in an opposite direction from a better future. Therefore, the school violence needs to be diminished, and the best way to defend against such violence is by understanding every aspect of its cause. Thus, Educating teachers, parents and students about these cause and consequences of school violence. Hence, promoting possible methods to avoid risk behavior in youth that will help prevent school violence.

Educating teachers, parents and students about the causes of violence in schools will help prevent their children and friends from causing violence. Parents and teachers are unaware about thoughts that develop in young minds about creating violence in school. Along with ‘anti-bullying act’ government should also introduced the educational program in every school. Government can immediately introduce this program in school by having schools give lectures on regular interval to students, and at every parent-teacher conference with new updated information. School counselors and social workers could be the organizer of such program at every school. Every day updated information should be provided to them so they can pass it along to the teachers, the parents and the students at school. Counselors can also recruit public speakers for their school, who have experienced violent incidents at their schools.

The education will provide knowledge about the type of social environment established at home as well as school, and their effects on students that can lead to their violent behavior at school. The program will also educate the necessity of parental guidance and support to avoid violence at school.The educational program will acknowledge the teachers and the parents about the impact of media on young minds and their decision making ability. The program will provide with reasons for restricted material, and its negative effects on students. The program would present with illustrated methods to the teachers, the parents to establish control for underage, and help students to establish self control. The program will also provide everybody involved with information on effects and causes of being a bully and a victims. It will indicate every negative aspect of bullying that would cause possible harm to its victim as well as the perpetrator.

One of the reason education will be a better solution to school violence is because it make the teachers, parents and the students more responsible to avoid as well as fight against the school violence.When students face violence in schools, they look up to their elder; for instance their teachers and parents to help them stabilize the situation. The education program will help them consider beforehand preventive measure to avoid violence are more efficient to protect young lives. Study has shown that “14% statement [from students] suggest that what is important to stop [school violence] has to do with adults intervening”(Frisson, Jonsson, and Person 757). Thus, such a small number of adults helping their children to be safe and fight against school violence is not enough. Adults taking a stand for their children against the most frequently experienced violence at school ‘Bullying’ would “help stop bullying at an earlier stage.” (Frisen, and Holmqvist 124).

Many people argue that the technology method to decrease school violence because, not many schools can afford such type of advanced technology because it is expansive. Also,the schools that can, doesn’t only requires the softwares, computers and cameras, it also requires people that can easily work on it, and they are not free either. Secondly, putting cameras every five feet in schools will make it a prison instead of school. The initial motive for students to go to school is get educated and not be under radar, all the time. After the school day is over, violence doesn’t stop from happening during sports either, in locker room, in school restrooms, some places where school cannot put cameras at. Thus, educating students and teacher will places knowledge of causes and effects of their behavior for them and other, which will promote a better rate to reduce school violence.

Educating students will help the victims to take their attention away from stress of being bullied to something they are interested in, and that no bully can take away from them. It is necessary for parents to know that their children are not immune to school violence, neither fatal nor nonfatal. Thus, this program will help them be aware about how to handle daily situations of school violence at home that do not result depression or suicide and even more harmful violence that can cost lives of innocents. “Education not only promotes the knowledge about violence such as sexual harassment, It also helps take steps in order to avoid such hazardous incidents in young life.”(Poland 68).

The trauma of school violence never ends, once suffered, and education provides hope of relief against young people using guns in school and sexuall harrasing their peers. It will also help to avoid insults and bullying from both other students and teacher. Education will help victims stand up for themselves with a surety that there are their parents and Law behind them to support them, to fight violence.

There are various cause of school violence being diagnosed, which could be dangerous for the students in school as well their teachers and parents. School is place to study and not create violence; therefore, the educating everybody against low-level violence that occur on daily basis in school will promote violence free environment. Also, low-level violence is a staircase to fatal crimes, avoiding these minor violent actions in school will help prevent those crimes.