MODULE 2
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The Truth About School Violence:
Assessment – The Scope of the Problem (see grading rubric below)
1. Define School Violence (cite your source) “The World Health Organization defines violence as ‘’the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation’’. From this definition, school violence could be described to be physical attacks between students or by students on school staff, which could occur on the way to or from school/school-sponsored events, on the school premises or at a school-sponsored event. School violence is a public health problem and may take the form of bullying, shooting, brawls and a host of other physical abuses. The consequences of school violence are grave, as extreme cases have led to the loss of human lives. Other effects of school violence include vandalism and loss of property – especially school facilities, moral decadence, poor human capital development, increase in crime rate, erosion of cultural values and bad reputation for schools as well as societies.”
Violence at school is defined as physical or verbal attacks on a person while on school grounds or on school property ("School Violence essays", 2017), or any activity that is able to create a disturbance in an educational system (Blanco, 2017). In today's societies, School violence is spreading dramatically, which has caused many problems among students, families and faculty of schools.
The somewhat recent event of Sandy Hook has been a major focus of debate among any serious discussion about school violence in America. Yet, just since Columbine, there has been over 100 school shootings, not including stabbing, rape, or even fist fights (in which there was serious injury or death). Despite this unprecedented level of aggression among our nation’s youth, the nation, in its entirety, has not dedicated an appropriate amount of time and energy to coming up with a solution. The bulk of the hard work needed in order to create a safer atmosphere for our children has been left to our teachers. Yet, the workload of a teacher, along with his/her inability to interfere in out-of-classroom affairs, would make him/her extremely inefficient in doing so. What exactly are these expectations? How many of these standards can a teacher feasibly meet?
Violence in society is increasing dramatically and not only is it out in the streets, but it’s in the school systems as well. However, school violence has been becoming more and more of a problem all over the nation in the past several years. School violence needs to stop because no one should be afraid to go to school without feeling like it’ll be their last day.
A sudden increase of youth violence in public schools in early 1990 has caused many to raise concerns about violent behaviors in schools. In the past, the most common form of violence that took place in schools was bullying, physical fights, or
Schools are no longer a safe havens for furthering knowledge; instead violence is occurring at alarming rates. Common occurrences in schools include: physical altercations, severe property damage, and bullying behaviors. According to “ThefutureofChidren.org,” youth violence in schools costs the public 158 billion dollars each year. In this decade, that rate of children inflicting violence on other children and teachers is staggering. Today’s teachers are being trained on gun safety, school lobbies are being installed with bullet proof glass, and counselors hold
Violence in schools encompasses a number of different acts. Whether it’s physical or emotional bullying or even cyber-bullying; violence within schools is a major problem and it’s only increasing. However in a number of cases these may only be the beginning. Sometimes people take it a step further and actually bring a firearm into the school and start shooting it. Unfortunately school shootings have occurred throughout the country at an alarming rate. When someone shoots another (especially within the confines of a school) everyone is effected by this immense act of violence.
As violence in the community makes its way into the schools, it is pertinent that school administrators have a plan in place to help reduce and eliminate acts of violence within their classrooms (Lunenburg, 2011). Becoming proactive, rather than reactive, is crucial because according the to the National Crime Survey conducted in 2004, “the number of crimes committed at or near the 85,000 U. S. public schools was estimated at more than 3 million annually, with 185,580 people injured…on any given day, it was not uncommon for students to carry guns to school” (Lunenburg, 2011, p.
¨School violence refers to criminal acts committed at educational institutions such as elementary, middle, and high schools as well as colleges and universities” (¨School¨ 1). A recent school violence happened on December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut, at Sandy Hook Elementary School. On that day, “twenty-year-old Adam Lanza Adam was armed with a variety of weapons, including two handguns and an assault rifle (“Guns” 17). With those firearms, he killed his mother, six adult staff members, and twenty first-graders (17). When school violences such as Sandy
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School violence is the act that threatens and alters the school environment with harmful consequences on students and educators’ wellbeing and impact students in a negative way (Reininghaus, Castro, & Frisancho, 2013). It is obvious now than ever that we lives in a world where the safety and security of individuals are in question, especially that of school students where safety against school shootings remain everyone’s major concern. The terror of Virginia Tech mass murder in 2007 and Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 traumatized the nation. As of the time when Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting took place, the massacre was considered the second-deadliest school shooting in the United States when Adam Lanza, a Twenty-year-old carried armory of hundreds of rounds of deadly ammo, that was enough to kill nearly every students in the school (Lee, 2013). Thus, the causes of this growing problem of school violence are: Bullying, psychiatric drugs and access to weapon.
It is without a doubt that there has been an increase in violent crimes in schools throughout recent years. School shootings continue to become more and more common, especially in North America. Safety concerns for any and all students and staff in schools are at all all time high due to the high number of fatal and non-fatal occurring incidences. Since 2013 to the present, it is estimated that the United States has seen approximately 205 school shootings. Weekly, that is a shocking one shooting on average. Many of these shootings have resulted in the injuries and deaths of multiple of students and staff members. (Everytown Research, 2017) Evidently, school shootings are tragic events that affect so many more people than just the victims. However, these events are also interesting to look at from the psychological and sociological point of views. Through much research, it can be concluded that school shootings are a complex problem that are caused by a mix of improper brain development and societal and media influences which motivate school shooters to emerge. Psychological factors may include struggling with mental illnesses and/or abuse that leads to damaged brain development. Additionally, being bullied and/or the role of the media are examples of sociological factors.
School violence being addressed by school-based programs designed to prevent, stop, and reduce violent and aggressive behavior in students. Many serious forms of violent crime such as sexual assault, murder, or aggravated assault occur in schools and more today. Conditions such as
It is important to define few key words under this subject of School Violence and the School System as a starting point. “The term school system generally refers to public schooling, not private schooling, and more commonly to kindergarten through high school programs” (Abbott, 2015). Schools are knowledge centers where people receive formal education; that is a form of learning “in which the knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through” teaching, training, or research (Abbott, 2015). School violence is any form of violent activities in the school premises. This situation does not affect students, it affects teachers and parents. Many schools
Totally elimination school violence is nearly impossible. However, preventing or reducing the number of incidents is possible. There are three important strategies that are essential to use in the study of reducing and preventing school violence.
Turning the school environment from a learning atmosphere to a makeshift prison has severely impacted the lives of millions of young adults. Children are placed on a path from a young age that can lead them down a dark hole. The addition of School Resource Officers, implementation of the Zero tolerance program, and mass school violence has allowed schools to take extreme measures on children pushing many into the juvenile justice system from an early age.