The Inevitability of School Violence: No Need for School Reform

For over thirteen years, I have witnessed an enormous amount of change in education. When I started teaching in New York City back in 2003, I remember being told, “whatever you do, don’t wind up of the cover of New York Post”. The room erupted in laughter and my stomach erupted in panic. Shortly after that announcement our principal handed out an enormous book of our district policies. -As I flipped through book of policies and regulations I thought to myself how could there possibly be this many rules about teaching.

In the past many schools have been victims of gun violence. Shootings, among other violent things are by far the most devastating. A few good ways to prevent gun violence, and violence in general, are timed locks throughout the school, metal detectors on the doors, gun safety programs at home and school, and more devices and policies to monitor students whereabouts. I; however, believe that the best way to prevent school violence, without violating the student’s privacy, is to install timed locks and metal detectors throughout the entire school.

This research investigates definitions of school violence in general and as a subset of youth violence in particular and investigates and the core environmental factors and the individual student risk factors found to contribute to school violence. The research also includes investigation into the effects of school violence on today’s youth in general and the negative outcomes of school violence including poor physical health, poor mental health, poor academic achievement, and a decreased sense of safety/well-being in particular. The research concludes with an exploration of some of the prevention and intervention strategies proven to be effective in reducing violence in other countries—from a school-based bullying/victimization intervention program implemented in Norwegian schools, to a South African social development curriculum to cognitive-behavioral training programs to community- and school-based media campaigns developed for teaching social skills around anger management, impulse control, and empathy—that need to be implemented in American schools to keep our children safe.

School uniforms and dress codes are becoming a popular trend among schools. Most Students and some parents don’t agree with the enforcement with school uniforms, saying that uniforms are taking away self-expression in schools. But, school uniforms are not a negative thing to have. Yes, uniforms and some very strict dress codes limit what the students have to choose to wear to school every day, but it doesn’t limit them from learning which is the main reason they are in school. Some students treat school as a fashion show, so eliminating the size of wardrobe shifts the attention toward their school work. Although requiring students to wear school uniforms may violate their self-expression in some ways, a uniform is supposed to be looked

The horrifying spate of school shootings between 1997 and 1999 has transformed that uneasiness into an almost desperate alarm. Behind the facade of our material comfort,

“The metal detectors and searches caused chaos, with some students missing as many as three class periods while waiting in line to be scanned. In all, over one-third of students were marked late for class. Attendance at Wadleigh dropped about ten percent that day.” (Mukherjee) This quote shows that having metal detectors in schools does help with security, but it also hinders the student’s education by making them tardy and even miss entire classes. “In the wake of recent high-profile campus shootings, schools have become almost prison-like in terms of security and in diminishing a student’s rights.” (Berger) This shows that schools may go too far when it comes to security. To conclude some security pre-cautions are needed, but not to the point of prison like

The mix has become appallingly predictable: volcanic anger, no one to turn to, and readily available firearms. Result: dead and wounded students, teachers, and faculty at schools in all parts of our nation. Violence in our schools, whether it involves threats, fistfights, knives, or firearms, is unnecessary and intolerable. Children deserve a safe setting to learn in. Teachers and staff deserve a safe place to work in. Communities deserve safe schools that educate kids and help keep neighborhoods safer.

Safety is the primary object that schools seek for their students. Without safety, no child would come to school unafraid, and fear of school becomes fear of learning. To defend against an outcropping of phobia, schools are obligated to take any measures necessary to ensure the lives and welfare of their students is protected, up to and including targeted search and seizure of students’ persons and property against weapons and drugs.

The number one goal is to increase physical surveillance. By increasing the physical surveillance in schools, this will help prevent youth from bring weapons on school property. Metal detectors and physical searches of student’s lockers and backpacks are not an uncommon practice in schools these days (“School Violence”, 2015). The larger the school the more common these methods are. However, some schools are not using metal detectors and performing searches because they have found that it increases student’s fears and anxiety levels (“School Violence”, 2015). In conclusions weapons deterrence may increase physical safety, but it may increase psychological problems in the future (“School Violence”, 2015).

School violence situations have increased throughout the years. These events are tragic and can strike at any time. The issues that causes the horrific events are things such as mental health, political events, and also educational issues. These types of issues lead to many disastrous events such as school shootings. Over the years there has been over one hundred school shootings dating back to the year of 1913 which was the Breman school shooting that took place in Germany. As the years have progressively gone by in the United States there has been a high increase in the number of school shooting that have happen on U.S territory. To help stop these type of events from occurring schools across the nation have taken matters and have added

Is school violence increasing or decreasing? There has been a huge debate about is school violence increasing or decreasing? Reasons why school violence is decreasing is that many schools now have rules and policies such as metal detectors and locker checks, these rules and policies help teachers and students realize that for what purpose do these students bring these kinds of items to school. Also when kids understand that they shouldn’t do these kinds of things they think the teachers are right because they notice why to bully this person? Why to bring a weapon to school, therefore making school violence decreasing. But on the other side of the issue why school violence in increasing is because that everyday a teacher a student a

The most recent shooting at the elementary school located in Newtown, Connecticut have shifted our focus on the question of whether or not we are doing enough to protect our students in our schools across the nation. Every morning, parents send their children to school every morning trusting that they will be returning home the same day, but as we all know that isnt always the case for some. The tragedies that have taken place show that we need to pay more attention and provide more resources in improving our school safety. I personally believe that all child have the right to education, therefore have the right to live and learn in a safe environment. Research has been shown that students perform at their best, and that productivity is shown to increase when they feel safe. School’s play an important role in ensuring students physical and emotional needs get met in a safe environment, however there are issues to this day that need to be faced and worked through by the union of a community of students, parents, teachers, and administrators. I call for a reform on the way we handle school safety procedures/policies and one reasonable approach is the role of preventing future school violence.

Violence in American schools is dramatically increasing every day at an alarming rate. Whether it is a generic fistfight between students, or a horrific school shooting, we hear about some form of violence occurring in American schools nearly every day, including in our own local schools, such as my school, the Altoona Area Junior High School. This kind of behavior in our school, AAJHS, is obviously a major safety hazard. In an attempt to lessen this violence and protect students, principals should take action and begin conducting random locker searches to check for guns, knives, and any other weapons contributing to the excessive violence in our school. Taking this action would also help deter the selling and use of drugs and alcohol in our school, and it would also make students, parents, and teachers feel safer in our school.

Lately School violence has become a serious issue in many country, especially when they use weapons such as knives and guns. According to the literature, from july 1, 2007 through june 30, 2008, 43 school-associated violent deaths occurred in the United States. Thirty-six of these violent deaths were homicides, six were suicides, and one was a legal intervention (National Center for Education Statistics, 2009). According to the data obtained from the well-known National Youth Behavioral Risk Survey in 2002, 7.9% of students reported being threatened or injured with a weapon such as gun, knife, or club on school poperty in the preceding twelve months. Seven to eight percent of students of the same age group reported being bullied. Finally, 20%

In the 1990’s the number of school shootings and the overall increase of crime and violence taking place within schools was cause for action to ensure the safety of students. There was an overwhelming majority of staff and students who did not feel safe at school (Mckenna & Pollock, 2014).