School Shooting Action Plan - Essay Example

Letter to the Editor on School Shooting The Implications of School Shootings and an Action Plan The Berrendo middle school shooting is an illustration of the gradual increase in school shootings across the United States. The shooter, a 12 year old boy opened fire at the school’s gym wounding two fellow students. He was armed with a shotgun. This event or incidence showed that even schools are no longer safe, and that infractions that happen at school should be harshly and swiftly dealt with by the school administration. My team analyzed and addressed the New Mexico school shooting, and came up with preventive measures to school shootings. Each and every school shooting incidence carries with it the potential of a different way of looking at the past and future implications (Lawrence, 2004). The school shooting issue has become a very serious problem recently. Lives are lost while other people become critically wounded. Moreover, a school shooting incidence traumatizes a lot of other children. As such, the focus on school shootings is very significant. Hagan et al (2002 states that over the years, school violence has increased. In his research, Muschert (2007) found out that a lot of school shootings are directly related to bullying. Subsequently, revenge is the main motive behind shootings that happen in school. For example, the New Mexico shooter was a victim of this vice. The U.S. Secret Service and the US Department of Educational Services reveal that in two-thirds of 35 school shootings over the last 25 years the attackers have felt bullied, persecuted or injured by others before the attack. Additionally, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development found out that approximately 3.2 million children in sixth to tenth grade- on average, a sixth of these are being bullied. The study also found out that nearly there are nearly 3.7 million bullies in American schools (Wang et al, 2009). These reports by government agencies indicate a worrying trend that need to be addressed urgently. Bullying in itself is a form of violence. However, it is the leading cause or trigger for further violence in schools. The social environment surrounding teenagers is often attributed to be the primary cause of intensified school violence. Comprehending the causes of the vice is the best way to deal with school violence. Educating parents, students and teachers about the causes and possible methods to avoid risky behavior will aid curb school violence in the United States. Initially, my preconception about school shootings was very limited and narrow. I understood that school shootings were perpetrated by mentally ill students. In addition to this, I usually thought that the social environment can turn innocent young children into murderers. However, my misconceptions changed after our study. My scope of thinking expanded in great detail during the undertaking of the study. The study grouped school shooters into psychotic, psychopathic and traumatized groups. This is based on their psychological behaviours. These categories had different varying characteristics. For example, the shooters under the traumatized group were mostly influenced by their home upbringing. This implies that parents influenced this group a lot. A child being born in an unstable family where he or she is often abused by the parent will fall under this group. Therefore, a stable family will help prevent the violent behaviours of the traumatized group. Schizotypal or schizophrenia personality disorder characterized the psychotic group of shooters. These were not influenced by the environment they were raised in but, rather they experienced hallucinations that made them violent. The last group was made up of psychopathic shooters. This group lacked mercy or empathy. The school shooting subject is very complex since there is not one specific type, classification or characteristic of a shooter. Therefore, a shooter cannot be identified on his or her looks before he actually commits the crime. Researchers in this field have demonstrated that there is a direct link between viewing acts of violence and committing a violent act. Children who are exposed to violent acts during their adolescent years tend to exhibit aggressive and violent behaviours (Weisbrot, 2008). On the contrary, Muschert (2007) argued that not all children who view violence become violent. The use of interviews improved the quality of the data. This is because we got the information from the source hence data manipulation is minimal. After undertaking the study, my thinking of the subject was altered. Shooters do not show the stereotypical characters most people associate them with. Most of them are normal children who are pushed to the limits or affected by their social environment. During the study, we encountered different critical errors. However, we were able to avoid them in order to make the data more valid. The three CT Meta thoughts are; the similarity-uniqueness paradox, Correlation does not prove causation and the insight fallacy. the similarity-uniqueness paradox states that most things are similar and different at the same time. An individual can find out an infinite number of differences between two things, and at the same time identify an infinite number of similarities. This error arose because of the employment of analogy reasoning. This is a process where one compares a group of facts associated with one phenomenon with the facts associated with another phenomenon and then comes to some reasoned conclusion. The error arises by letting genuine similarities to be primarily obscured by differences, or by letting genuine differences to be clouded by similarities. This error was avoided by the group identifying the criteria that was used for evaluating whether an item is different or similar and then coming to a conclusion. The second Meta thought Correlation does not prove causation implies that a relationship between two values does not basically imply that one causes the other. This error was avoided by not making premature conclusions on the causality after only getting a correlation among two or more factors. Lastly, the insight fallacy is fundamentally defined as the belief that comprehending a problem will totally solve the said problem. This error is avoided by first identifying the underlying problem. Is there a problem at all? Action plan 1. Security a) Implementation of zero tolerance policy in schools Schools in America should adopt a zero tolerance policy on any infraction. The policy should especially deal with drugs, bullying and weapons in the school environment. b) Preventive measures Schools should implement preventive measures in dealing with school shootings. These measures may include random drug dog searches for drugs, metal detectors and video surveillance. 2. Bullying a) Profiling The New Mexico shootings call for schools to start profiling their students. They should look for students who show signs of being bullied, or are bullies. Teachers are best placed to do this since they interact with the students on a daily basis. b) Communication The act of communication is the best way to deal with school shootings. Teachers should be willing to communicate with their students. Moreover, parents have to have an open communication with their children. 3. Incident response a) School system response The school has a basic responsibility not only to students but also to parents. As such, the school should be held responsible for the safety of the children. b) Emergency responder response Emergency responders should be quick when responding to school shootings. In the past, the police just secured the area and waited. Police have to take a more direct approach in today’s society. Police have to confront the shooter immediately and not wait. c) Post response This mainly deals with the psychological effects of school shootings. The community and school should avail counselors to aid teachers and students cope with what has happened. This will help everyone cope and deal with the traumatizing shooting incident (Schwarz et al, 1991). Conclusion The New Mexico shootings were a tragic and sad day for people in the United States. The only way to curb this tragic event is by encouraging more interaction between teachers, parents and students. However, there is no sure way of stopping these incidents from happening in the American schools. This is where the response units come in. each and every jurisdiction should be ready to counter these events whenever they occur. References Hagan, J., Hirschfield, P., & Shedd, C. (2002). First and Last Words Apprehending the Social and Legal Facts of an Urban High School Shooting. Sociological Methods & Research, 31(2), 218-254. Lawrence, R. G., & Birkland, T. A. (2004). Guns, Hollywood, and School Safety: Defining the School‐Shooting Problem Across Public Arenas*. Social Science Quarterly, 85(5), 1193-1207. Muschert, G. W. (2007). Research in school shootings. Sociology Compass, 1(1), 60-80. Schwarz, E. D., & Kowalski, J. M. (1991). Malignant memories: PTSD in children and adults after a school shooting. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 30(6), 936-944. Wang, J., Iannotti, R. J., & Nansel, T. R. (2009). School bullying among adolescents in the United States: Physical, verbal, relational, and cyber. Journal of Adolescent health, 45(4), 368-375. Weisbrot, D. M. (2008). Prelude to a school shooting? Assessing threatening behaviors in childhood and adolescence. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 47(8), 847-852. Read More