Cause and Effect of Violence in Schools - Term Paper Example

Cause and Effect of violence in schools Thirty two are reported dead, and about the same number injured, in a massacre at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Va. The campus was "in a state of panic," according to one student. There were apparently two separate shootings on the campus, which has 25,000 students” (When Kids Kill) School violence cases are growing day by day especially in America and other western countries. Schools are supposed to be a sacred place when we consider the value of the service given to the society by schools. It is a place or laboratory in which the young generation is supposed to be shaped as healthy citizens. In olden days, schools were considered as a sacred place where the teachers the priests and the students were the believers. However, schools become hells at present because of the unhealthy activities going on inside the campus and the strained relationships between the teachers and the students. The over influence of media like television and internet, improper care received from parents, child abusing, etc are cited as the major reasons behind increasing violent incidents in schools. This paper analyses the causes and effects of school violence. The major reason for the increasing violent tendency among school, children is the lack of care they receive from their parents during their infancy and childhood period. Most of the parents are professionals and they do not have enough time to look after the child matters or giving enough love and care to their children. Children forced to take shelter in day care centers where nannies take the role of mother. No nanny can give the same love and care given by the mother. Modern parents are comparatively more focused on their careers or profession rather than looking after the needs of their children. Many of them try to spend one or two hours with their children and at that time they try to behave like a friend rather than a parent. They are forgetting the fact that children need the love and care of a parent rather than a friend from their parents. The effect of above behavior is that children will never get the much needed care of their parents whereas they get friendship more than what is required. Children who have been severely and repeatedly abused often become extremely aggressive. Theyre frustrated, angry, in some pain, not getting everything they want. They feel like victims. They have no concern about others -- they dont think about others. Its all about who they are and what they want (When Kids Kill) Some parents often punish their children unnecessarily. Such parents may give more punishments rather than rewards or love and care. Children always like to have more recognitions rather than punishments. There are many cases in which children undergo sexual abuse even from the parents. Such children develop emotional problems over a period of time which will often reflect in school violence cases. Even though, in most of the countries, children are prohibited from using guns, United Sates is not so. Children in United States have easy access to guns and other weapons. Most of the people in America use guns for their self defense. When these guns come in the hands of children, it is not necessary that they may use it for self defense purpose alone. This world is filled with violence and antisocial activities. Moreover, children always worship heroes they might have seen in films and television programs. Taking motivation from heroic act performed by the film heroes, children often try to mimic such acts in real life also. A dangerous weapon in the hands of immature children will always create problems. In schools, often small gangs are formed with children of similar taste and attitudes. These gangs often clash with the opposite gangs in their battle for supremacy in school compounds. Since children has less knowledge or less maturity in segregating good and evil, they often make use of guns in their attack against the opposite gangs. Media plays a huge role in causing school violence. According to Donna Gephart “Today, watching television often means fighting, violence and foul language - and thats just deciding who gets to hold the remote control” (Quotations about Television). The influence of television programs upon the children is more than what one would expect. They don’t have role models either in family or in the society. Under such circumstances, they will try to imitate the role models they might have seen in the television programs. Unfortunately, most of the current television programs are destructive in nature rather than constructive. Television operators need to increase the viewership at any cost. They know very well that sex and violence always attract people irrespective of gender or age. “The creative community or the television program producers are often blamed for the excessive violence, sex and indecent language on television”(Cowan, p.143). Moreover, after examining prime television programs for a 15 year period between 1976-1990, Cuklanz (1999) concluded that “majority of the television channels in America increased the sex and violence related programs during the prime time” (Cuklanz, p.3). Television program producers are keeping a blind eye towards the issue that these violent programs are negatively affecting the children. The entry of new domestic channels and international channels because of globalization increased the competition very much which forced television program creators to fill most of their programs with contents of sex and violence in order to survive in the market. Gordon, (2009) has pointed out the findings of a research published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. According to these findings, “both direct and indirect viewing had a significant effect on childrens aggressive behavior” (Gordon). It is not necessary that the direct television watching alone may influence the children in increasing their aggressive behavior. It is not necessary that the direct viewing of television alone may increase the violent behavior. In fact violent and sex materials are available in many forms at present for indirect viewing. Most of the modern mobile phones have larger memory capacities so that it can accommodate even a full sex or violent movie in its memory card. Mobile phones are essential commodity for the school children at present. They use it for constructive and destructive purposes. LABATON (2007) has pointed out that the Federal Communications Commission urged lawmakers to consider regulations that would restrict violent programs to late evening, when most children would not be watching as the “exposure to violent content has been associated with increased aggression or violent behavior in children, at least in the short term” (Labaton). It is a positive sign that the authorities are currently thinking in the right direction. Earlier, authorities kept a blind eye on such issues; however, the increasing school violence cases, forced them to do something at least on papers. Apart from television violence and sex, internet is another entity which attracts the school children easily. Adolescence is a period which sex hormones develop rapidly. The hyperactivity of the sex hormones forces children to explore sexual contents in television sets and internet. Internet is an ocean filled with sex materials. Parents put no restriction upon the internet usage of the children. They are of the view that internet usage will help their children to accumulate more knowledge and it is essential for the proper development of children in the twenty first century. However, they are unaware of the fact that most of the children are spending majority of their time in visiting sex sites rather than collecting any positive information for the learning process. The increasing knowledge about the sexual activities will force the children to try to abuse fellow students sexually at schools. These attempts often result in violence. To conclude, increased influence of television programs, internet, changing perceptions about life, lack of parental control and lack of love and care received during childhood etc are the major reasons for the increasing violence cases in schools. Children at their younger age are not matured enough to take wise decisions. Emotions rather than wisdom control them while taking decisions during childhood. Influence of emotion in decision making, will always increases the chances of taking wrong decisions by the children. Parents, television programs and internet are the major culprits in causing school violence. Current parents are more focused on their careers and less focused in the future of their children. Whatever the time, they spent with the children is used to behave like a friend rather than a parent. Thus, children are getting parental care neither from home, nor from the day care centers. Moreover, the spreading of sex and violence related programs in televisions and internet motivate children further in engaging in violent activities. Children who were exploited sexually during childhood may develop emotional problems later and their dissatisfaction and emotional problems often come out in the form of violence in schools. Easy access to gun and other weapons is another motivating factor for violence. Works Cited 1. Cowan, Geoffrey. “See No Evil: The Backstage Battle over Sex and Violence in Television”. 1980. Publisher: Touchstone (March 28, 1980) 2. Cuklanz, Lisa.M. “Rape on Prime Time: Television, Masculinity, and Sexual Violence”. 1999. Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (October 7, 1999) 3. Gordon, Serena. “TV May Increase Aggression in Toddlers”. 2009. Web. 28 April 2011. 4. Labaton, Stephen. “Moves to Restrict TV Violence”. The New York Times (2007 April 26). Web. 28 April 2011. 5. “Quotations About Television”.2010. Web. 28 April 2011. 6. “When Kids Kill”. Web. 28 April 2011. Read More