School violence - Term Paper Example

Violence in Schools Violence in schools is being viewed more and more as not only a social injustice issue for children but also as a public health concern. For the offender, studies have concluded that there often is a progression of aggressive and violent behaviors over time. Victims of violence, especially young people, carry with them throughout their lives the emotional scars usually in the form of self-criticism. Violence creates an atmosphere of fear that affects the victims, the offenders and the surrounding public.

This cycle of fear and mistrust propagates both antisocial and self-disparaging patterns of behavior. Those kids that perpetually commit violent acts towards classmates are more likely to use drugs and alcohol, to quit going to school altogether and go on to be involved in criminal behaviour later in life. Children who are often the victims of schoolyard violence tend to experience more stress in their lives which leads to higher levels of anxiety, depression, physical illnesses and thoughts of suicide than those that do not.

For both bully and bullied, these actions negatively affect learning potentials and retards personal development. The seemingly never ending cycle of intimidating actions works to tear apart the underpinnings of a civil society from the bottom up. The reason children act out violently towards others is because they have been treated with disrespect or have been bullied themselves. A pattern of poor social adjustment perpetuates itself from one child to another and from one generation to the next.

Factors including an unstable household, pressures from school and the perceived feeling of control as well as the individual characteristics of impulsivity, a low self-esteem and a lack of self control are predictors of violent behaviors. (Morrison, 2006) More than one-third of all school-aged children have experienced violent behavior either directed towards them or initiated by them. The victims of violence, especially those who before that time knew only a world shielded by parental protection, generally display significant posttraumatic and depressive symptoms.

Those that bully others are in danger of developing a wide range of antisocial behavior patterns. Both the victim and aggressor often have heightened difficulties academically as well. While this may seem self-evident, an underlying problem exists in that as children grow throughout their school years, they become increasingly unsentimental to the victimizations suffered by others. More strikingly, up to 20 percent of children admit to a sense of contentment in watching others getting hurt. For example, when there is a fight in the schoolyard, there is always a crowd cheering it on.

(Twemlow, 2004) Victims of school violence often believe that they are the cause of others’ poor behavior and that they are ‘getting what they deserve’ when they are being bullied. Teachers can become more effective in the prevention of violence by identifying at-risk children and then intervening, promoting social and emotional competency and providing a basis for introspection and means of problem solving in non-violent ways. By developing an intervention system and creating a more compassionate and responsive school environment, the school serves the students and their communities as well.

Violence prevention programs should emphasize the ability to listen to our own minds and work to understand what other students are experiencing. This social education enables children to better resolve problems regarding personal interactions not only as children but as adults as well. (Peterson, 2000). Because schools are a representation and mirror of the community at large, the alliances between teacher, parent and community are necessary for the success of any school violence prevention curriculum.

A successful prevention program must also include strong support from school administrators. This should also be reflected at the higher district level by providing schools with the additional resources necessary to help deal with some of these issues. Awareness of the issues and the teacher’s commitment to confronting and solving problems has been proven to produce significant positive effects. Works Cited Morrison, Brenda. “Restorative Justice and School Violence: Building Theory and Practice.

” Center for Restorative Justice. (March 5-7, 2006). April 27, 2011 Peterson, Reece L./Skiba Russell “Creating School Climates That Prevent School Violence” Preventing School Failure. (Spring 2000. pgs. 122–129). April 27, 2011 < http://bhssnell.weebly.com/uploads/5/0/9/8/5098492/3_4_peterson.pdf> Twemlow, Stuart W. “Preventing Violence in Schools.” Psychiatric Times. (April 2004). April 27, 2011