Violence in the US Schools - Research Paper Example

 Violence in the US Schools I.                     Introduction A.     Background Information School violence has been a severe problem for societies worldwide. In certain countries, like USA, the expansion of the problem has been controlled, see Figure 1, Appendix; however, globally, the rate of school violence is still high. Only in USA, about 28 cases of school shootings were reported between the years 1982 and 2001 (Kimmel and Mahler439). Moreover, the measures introduced for the control of the phenomenon do not seem to be quite effective, at least not at the level expected. As a result, violence in schools seem to be continuously increased, a problem that reveals the lack of cooperation between the family and the school but also the inability of the state to inform parents on their role in regard to their children’s responses to violence. At this point, different views have been developed: certain theorists believe that violence in schools can be related only to the children’s personal characteristics; however, the majority of studies developed in this field support an opposite view: violence in schools is not related only to children’s personal characteristics but mainly to their environment, referring to family, school and general social environment, such as colleagues in leisure/ sport activities and so on. B. Thesis Statement The increase of violence in school should be related both to the children’s environment and their personal characteristics (such as age, gender, psychology and so on). II.                Reasons that Support the Thesis Statement A.     Family environment affects the perceptions of children on violence 1.      In accordance with a report developed by Srecko (2011) for the Parliamentary Assembly of the European Union, the development of all forms of violence in schools has been quite rapid worldwide. Because of the extension of the phenomenon, measures should be taken for ensuring that children are appropriately informed on the effects of violence both within the school setting and outside. The Parliamentary Assembly has emphasized on the influence of the family environment on children’s perception of violence. This trend is reflected in the ‘Recommendation No. R (85) 4 on violence in the family, the Recommendation 1905 (2010) and Resolution 1714 (2010) on children who witness domestic violence’ (Srecko 2). The existing legislation on child’s protection from violence (for example the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) proves the importance of social environment in the development of violent behavior by children, at the level that children’s personal experiences can affect their view on violence (Srecko 2). 2.      About ‘9 million children in USA have witnessed a serious violent act’ (Vuong, Fabiana and Marchionna 1). The research developed in the particular field has led to the assumption that children who face a violent event are affected by violence in two different ways: they can suffer physically, and they are likely to be influenced as of their perceptions of violence but also as of their tolerance towards violence (Vuong, Fabiana and Marchionna 1). For this reason, it is noted that children living in ‘toxic social environments’ (Vuong, Fabiana and Marchionna 1) are more likely to develop violent behavior compared to children who do not experience such events. More specifically, in such cases, post-traumatic stress disorder can affect children’s psychology leading them to become familiar with violence (Vuong, Fabiana and Marchionna 2), with all the effects that such phenomenon can have. Family environment is the key place where a child can experience violence; therefore, family environment can be regarded as having a key role in the increase of violence in schools. B.     The exposure of children to social activities that promote violence makes violence familiar for children 1.     The use of Internet and the media for the promotion of violence has become a common phenomenon. In regard to school violence also, Internet has been used for urging children to develop violent behavior. An example of this practice is presented in the study of Benbenishty and Astor (2008): scenes from the school shootings in the Columbine school (Colorado) were uploaded in the Internet (Benbenishty and Astor 59); these scenes urged teenagers in Finland to repeat such actions in two different school settings (Benbenishty and Astor 59). Reference is made in particular to the Jokela school shooting in 2007and the Kauhajoki school shooting one year later. In accordance with the investigation developed in regard to the above cases, the perpetrators in both events were influenced by the incident of the Columbine school; for this reason, the shooters, in both events in Finland, ‘posted clips of the events in YouTube’ (Benbenishty and Astor 59), aiming probably to use the Internet as a tool to urge other teenagers in similar activities. In accordance with Ferguson (2008) it has been proved that ‘the shooters in Columbine school shooting have been avid players of Doom’ (Ferguson 26), a video-game that highly promotes violence 2.      The relationship between the exposure of teenagers to violence through video-games and Internet and the development of violent behavior has been set under examination in the empirical research developed by Funk, Baldacci, Pasold and Baumgardner (2004); the research was based on a survey among 150 graders. It was proved that the exposure of teenagers to violence in real-life and the media can affect their perceptions on violence, either in the short or the long term (Funk, Baldacci, Pasold and Baumgardner 23); it has been also proved that the above relationship can be differentiated in accordance with the intense of exposure of teenagers to violence in real – life and the media (Funk, Baldacci, Pasold and Baumgardner 39) C. Schools worldwide have focused on the development of programs for controlling violence 1.      The role of schools in the prevention of violence across their units is critical. Because of this fact, a wide range of initiatives has been developed for ensuring that violence in schools will be limited. These programs are differentiated, focusing either on the introduction of punitive measures or on the introduction of policies for identifying students that would potentially participate in target-violence events (such as shootings) (Reddy, Borum, Berglund and Modzeleski 157); in the last case, critics have been developed as to the potential violation of the civil rights of students (Reddy, Borum, Berglund and Modzeleski 157). 2.      The level of violence in schools seems to be differentiated in accordance with the characteristics of the school settings. For example, in the School Survey on Crime and Safety, a research referring to the years 2005-2006, it was proved that middle schools have more chances to face violent events than elementary schools, where violent incidents have been estimated only to 25 per 1,000 while in middle schools these events are approximately 52 per 1,000 (Suyapa et al. 8). This fact indicates that children within a school setting of particular characteristics are expected to behave differently compared to another school setting, i.e. violence in schools is proved to be related to the school environment. The Violence Prevention Program introduced in USA middle schools by the USA department of Education has aimed to control the increase of violence in middle schools across the country (Suyapa et al. 8); the above initiative proves that school environment can affect the development of violence in schools and that effective measures, if introduced in schools, can control the expansion of the phenomenon across the particular units. III.                 Counter Arguments and Responses to Them A.     It should be noted that the development of school violence in school settings worldwide has led to severe oppositions in regard to the actual causes of the particular phenomenon. Apart from the environment, as a critical factor in the increase of school violence, the personal characteristics of children have been also considered as influencing the perceptions of children on violence. More specifically, violence in schools is related not only to the children’s social environment (family, school and so on) but also to their personal characteristics, meaning the physical characteristics, such as gender and age, but also their mental characteristics, such as cognitive abilities and personal views (Cowie and Dawn 2007). From this point of view, the control of violence in schools cannot be achieved by focusing on school-wide programs but rather on schemes that are appropriately customized for addressing the needs of each child (Titley 2004). In other words, each child should not be regarded as a member of a team but rather as an individual with unique characteristics and perceptions. In the context of the above view the exposure of children to violence in real-life cannot, necessarily, influence the perceptions of children on violence neither it guarantees the development of violent behavior by children who were exposed to violence. Moreover, the above view promotes the idea that the efforts to control violence in real-life, for example in media, video-games but also within families, would not have any result on the limitation of violence in schools (Miller 2008). In practice, the above arguments are proved as faulty; the relationship between violence in children’s environment and violence in school has been verified through many studies based on empirical research. The views of researchers who have studied this field also support the idea that violence in schools is closely related to the children’s environment; under certain terms, it is possible for violent behavior within a school setting to appear with delay, i.e. not immediately after the exposure of a child to a violent event. B.     The psychology of children can affect their responses to their environment. However, children live within a particular social environment; the family environment is of critical importance for the children’s perceptions on social values and beliefs. The perceptions of children on violence are also influenced by the experiences of children in their family (Lampinen and Sexton-Radek 61). More specifically, it has been proved that children who are exposed to negative parental modeling are more likely to become violent compared to children who do not experience violence within their family (Lampinen and Sexton-Radek 61). Moreover, children can develop violent behavior because they consider that aggressiveness is an accepted mode of behavior within their family (Lampinen and Sexton-Radek 61). In other words, in families where violence is promoted as an accepted or common mode of behavior, the chances for children to follow the particular trend are quite high. The study of Lancaster (2008) on the role of the external environment on children’s perceptions on violence led to similar findings. More specifically, in accordance with the findings of the above study, the school environment can highly affect the development of violence both within the school setting as also in the wider neighborhood (Lancaster 19). It has been also revealed that the characteristics of each family, such as ethnicity or socio-economic status, can affect the level of victimization of children both within the family and in school (Lancaster 19). In 2002, a report was developed in regard to the profile of perpetrators of school shootings (Jimerson and Furlong 619). The report focused on 18 cases of school shootings (Jimerson and Furlong 619). It was revealed that there is no clear profile of perpetrators, meaning that the potential development of violence in the future cannot be predicted in advance (Jimerson and Furlong 619). This means that even those children who are expected to develop violent behavior due to their personal characteristics may not do so, even if their profile, as based on their personal characteristics (gender, age, ethnicity, prior exposure to violence) would support such assumption (Jimerson and Furlong 619). In accordance with the issues discussed above, the development of violence in schools cannot be related solely to the personal characteristics of children; rather it is a problem that should be evaluated reviewing also the children’s environment, meaning the family but also the school setting involved. The term environment in the above case can be considered as incorporated the violent events to which each child is exposed daily, either physically, such as family or school, or mentally, such as media and video-games. IV.                Conclusion The development of school violence worldwide has led to the increase of initiatives for controlling the exposure of children to violence in real-life. The literature developed in regard to this subject, as presented above, proves that the daily exposure of children to violent events is high, either directly, within their family or in school, or indirectly, through media and video-games. Through the decades, it has been made clear that the control of violence in schools can be a challenging task; in fact, the results from the measures that have already established in school settings internationally seem to be rather disappointing. The above problem is explained by the following fact: violence in schools is not related only to the children’s environment but also to their personal characteristics. However, the empirical research proved that no such correlation exists, i.e. between violence and the personal characteristics of children, or at least, its levels are quite low, not being able to lead children to violent behavior. Rather, it seems that the increase of violence in school settings internationally has been favored by the lack of appropriate cooperation between the parts involved. The schemes introduced in schools for the control of violence should be supported not only by the state but also by the family; the potential differentiation of real-life experiences of children in school and in their family, meaning the exposure of children to violent events either in family or in school, can lead the children to the development of violent behavior, either in the short or the long term. Works cited Benbenishty, Rami, and Astor, Ron. “School violence in an international context a call for global collaboration in research and prevention.” International journal of violence and school 7(2008): 59-80. Booth, Brandi, Van Hasselt, Vincent, Vecchi, Gregory. (2011) Addressing School Violence. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, May 2011: 1-9 Cowie, Helen, and Jennifer, Dawn. Managing violence in schools: a whole-school approach to best practice. London: SAGE, 2007. Ferguson, Christopher. “The School Shooting/Violent Video Game Link: Causal Relationship or Moral Panic?” Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling 5(2008): 25–37. Funk, Jeanne, Baldacci, Heidi, Pasold, Tracie, and Baumgardner, Jennifer. “Violence exposure in real-life, video games, television, movies, and the Internet: is there desensitization?” Journal of Adolescence 27 (2004): 23–39 Jimerson, Shane, and Furlong, Michael. The handbook of school violence and school safety: from research to practice. London: Routledge, 2006. Kimmel, Michael, and Mahler, Matthew. “Adolescent Masculinity, Homophobia, and Violence. Random School Shootings, 1982-2001.” American behavioral scientist 46.10(2003): 1439-1458 Lampinen, James, and Sexton-Radek, Kathy. Protecting children from violence: evidence-based interventions. Psychology Press, 2010. Lancaster, Illana. Racing, classing, and gendering school-related violence in three Johannesburg secondary schools. London: ProQuest, 2008. Miller, Thomas. School Violence and Primary Prevention. New York: Springer, 2008. Reddy, Marisa, Borum, Randy, Berglund, John and Modzeleski, William. “Evaluating risk for targeted violence in schools: comparing risk assessment, threat assessment, and other approaches.” Psychology in the Schools 38.2(2001): 157-172. Srecko, Gvozden. “Education against violence at school.” Parliamentary Assembly. February 2011. Committee on Culture, Science and Education. Doc. 12513. 13 February 2012 Suyapa, Silvia, Blitstein, Jonathan, Williams, Jason, Ringwalt, Chris, Dusenbury, Linda, Hansen, William, and Rice, John. “Impacts of a Violence Prevention Program for Middle Schools Findings From the First Year of Implementation.” U.S. Department of Education 2010:1-83 Titley, Gavan. Young people and violence prevention: youth policy recommendations. Council of Europe, 2004. Vuong, Linh, Silva, Fabiana, and Marchionna, Susan. “Children Exposed to Violence.” National Council on Crime and Delinquency, August 2009: 1-10 Appendix Figure 1 – Serious violent crime in USA schools [Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), 2007. Cited in Figure 2.2 in Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2007; National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education (http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=1762)] Read More