One Solution To School Violence example essay topic

A young man in a black trench coat walks into his school. He walks calmly into his classroom and begins firing a loaded shotgun. He shoots at all the students who were ever mean to him. He remembers all the laughing and the way he was teased by his classmates. Finally he reaches the teacher, the grand wizard of his painful school days, who pleads while on his knees not to be shot.

But the young man pulls the trigger, and laughs as his teacher's blood flies all over the chalkboard (Carroll). Although this was just a movie scene in The Basketball Diaries, it became a reality for all too many students and wishful thinking for even more. We will look at the problems associated with school violence and explore steps to make schools safer for everyone. Since the beginning of civilization people have recorded incidences of violence between stronger and weaker groups. Some people have always thought of themselves as being superior to others. From King Henry to the Salem Witch Trials there have always been cases of one person or group using their power to hold it over someone else.

Today this problem has become so ingrained in our society that television often profiles extreme cases to educate the public on this growing problem. These violent tendencies may be human nature or maybe these people were abused themselves, there is no telling for sure, the only thing we do know is that this problem is not going away. Violence is embedded in our school system. In every school handbook there is a specific reference to hazing, fighting and bringing weapons.

There have been an uncountable number of cases of violence in school since the first children went to school in little red buildings. Administrators, parents, and students alike are all familiar with the common occurrences of bullying in school. Bullying at school is an accepted practice by most parents's tankards. Parents and teachers have gotten so accustomed to bullying as an accepted practice they often dismissed bullying as part of growing up. Perhaps so much so now that parents and teachers have just pushed this problem to the wayside.

Most parents will even tell you bullying is a rite of passage. Unfortunately, we all must realize the problem has gotten out of control. The headlines of newspapers are overcome with stories of students massacring their fellow classmates. As long as we choose to ignore the problem, we will never see the all to common examples of school violence. The bullying that children face today is cruel.

Charles Williams was just sentenced to fifty years in prison for a six-minute killing spree at his school. He killed two classmates and wounded thirteen others. When asked why he did it, he claimed that he was bullied. He went on to say that he had been repeatedly burned with cigarette lighters, beaten with towels and slammed into a tree twice, while at school. He will forever have scars to remember his bullies by, because of the fear that these children inflicted on him during his school days (Youth Pl). The biggest cause of school violence is fear.

Some children are scared to go to school because of bullying. These children are teased and tormented, in every aspect of there school day. If there is not someone standing over them, then it's fear that they will. According to a recent poll of two thousand teen-agers conducted by Louis Harris and Associates "one in eight children, almost two in five, in high crime neighborhoods, reported carrying a gun to school for protection". The same study found that one in three students had missed class out of fear (Johnson). These children are scared to show up at school because of the horrors that are being inflicted on them by these bullies.

They do not feel safe even in their own schools. Another cause of school violence is inadequate safety measures. Inadequate safety measures allow violence to occur and make it harder to punish the responsible parties. This problem is most evident in lower economic areas. Poorer schools are less likely to have metal detectors at the front doors, security guards or cameras. Even when schools do provide some of these more common safety devices, they have not proven to be effective.

Metal detectors are easily avoidable and do not prevent violence on the entire school grounds. Security guards are limited because they can only be in one place at a time. Cameras are only as useful as the people who control them, which may not be feasible in a public school setting. The schools are taking any measures to protect the bullied children that eventually end up bringing guns and other weapons. Children who are victims of bullying do not have a lot of options for how to deal with these sometimes very adult situations The effect of this fear and inadequate safety measures is children bringing weapons to school. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 1992 and 1999, one hundred twenty three students used one hundred twenty eight guns in school related homicides and suicides, only 5 percent of those were stolen.

According to the same agency the other 95 percent were accessed from family, friends and relatives. Students have access to all kinds of firearms (Barrios). These scared children do not even need to go out and steal them. The guns they need for protection could be as close as their living room.

Now armed with fear and the availability of weapons, children now more than ever must be supervised. In today's society it may be possible with corrective action for students to go to school without fear of bullying and violence. One solution to school violence is to have parents and teachers more involved in student's lives. Teachers are in the best position to see problems before they happen and to assist students with potentially volatile situations. In addition they could take steps to prevent the violent acts of potential aggressors. Parents can provide a moral structure and help problem solve to give them more options when challenging situations arise.

Both of these groups could work together to watch for signs of prospective violence. The draw back to this solution is that a lot of parents and teachers don't have time to monitor children as closely as they may need. With both parents working, the high divorce rate and overcrowding in schools, it becomes a really tough task to monitor school children. Many times the main babysitter for these children is the television, as is the case with latchkey children. With parents being over-worked while trying to cook, clean, and in some cases bring work home with them just to maintain their job how can they really keep a close eye on their child.

There may also be other children in the home that could make monitoring even more difficult. So while everyone would like to keep his or her kids "under thumb" it may not be feasible. Another solution would be to educate children on the repercussions of bullying. As we all know a lot of the gun violence at school is from bullied children who feel they have no other recourse.

If we educate these bullies on how their victims feel or the possible outcomes of their actions, they would be less inclined to beat up on smaller children. A majority of public school principals (78 percent) reported having some type of formal school violence prevention or reduction programs (Violence). With bully prevention education, violence toward classmates could be drastically reduced, but it may be to soon to see results. This solution may be unachievable children have always bullied other children.

These bullies seem to enjoy what they are doing. Their parents could be the victims of violence themselves and possibly passing that heritage on to their children as well and feel they have no other outlet themselves. People in these situations that would seemingly need the most help are the least likely to get it. Even with sensitivity classes on this there are no guarantees that children will stop bullying their classmates. Ultimately, the best solution to school violence is still to have adults more involved in children's lives. This would include promoting school pride, and having more involved teachers and parents.

Also there would need to be more after schools programs for kids, and more in school peer group meetings. Schools would also need on site counselors that are taking bullying and other aggressive behaviors more seriously (Stephens). With these and other programs, there will be significant reforms in school behavior and a decrease in school violence. We should begin implementation of this plan by looking in our own homes. If we watch our children closely there would be less chance for them to get weapons. The other thing we should be watching for is a sign that this behavior is coming.

One thing that the massacres had in common was there were signs that were dismissed or ignored before the violence ever started. Signs of violence need to be stopped before the violence ever starts. At the heart of implementation parents and teachers must work together to help our children. School violence is a big problem in our society. We, as a society, have pushed bullying to the wayside and dismissed the fear that underlies it.

The theory that bullying is just the way it is in school is simply not acceptable anymore. Even now we are beginning to see the repercussions of passive attitudes towards school violence. Very little is being done to stop this violence in our schools. Children are out shooting each other at surprisingly young ages. When we join together as teachers, as parents, and as a community to start looking for signs we can end violence in schools. Initiation of this plan is a small price to pay for safer schools.