Violence in schools is a huge problem. It is estimated that in the U.S. about 50 million students are enrolled ranging from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade (Ten Hard Facts about School Violence). School is meant to be a safe haven for children to come and have the opportunity to learn. Violence can inhibit this learning and can even leave children scarred from their experience. School violence includes victimization, teacher injury, bullying, school fights, weapons, and student use of drugs and alcohol. The area is not limited to the campus and also includes walking to or from school or a school event (About School Violence).
Violence is defined as rough or injurious physical force, action, or treatment (Merriam-Webster). While violence is defined as physical force, it can also be in the form of verbal harassment. Harassment is defined as disturbing and upsetting behavior that is characteristically repetitive (Merriam-Webster). Any type of unwanted behavior is harassment and should not be condoned. With the Internet, a whole new window has been opened and it can be used negatively. Cyberspace can still transfer over to the real world and affect students in their daily lives at school. A few rumors posted on social media can ruin a student’s reputation and leave them feeling worth-less. It is very
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27 percent report a prevalent influence of gangs and drug use on campus (Ten Hard Facts about School Violence). Drugs are considered part of school violence mostly because they can lead to violence and a drug lifestyle. Increased measures such as canine police are being taken to keep drugs and violence off campus. These statistics are not limited to but pertain more to U.S. high school students. Private or religious schools have a much lower rate than public schools but they also have a lot less students (Ten Hard Facts about School
Schools are safe places. However, the American public has become increasingly concerned with crime in schools and the safety of students. In part, this concern has been shaped by the highly publicized acts ...
It is a sad time in American history when one can easily recount recent school shootings in their own area. This ease stems from a sharp increase in the number of firearms brought into elementary and middle schools across the country, with an intense focus on the issue beginning after the shooting of 20 children from Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. Most school shooters are male, white, and often upper middle class. They are also more, often than not, under some type of mental stress that is causing them to create this type of violence in our communities. In fact, many school shooters are never suspected of doing any harm to their peers and teachers until it is much too late.
In conclusion, School Violence is a widespread issue that must be addressed. School shootings and bullying are some of the biggest issues in today’s school system. Many times the seed of the issue begins with bullying and ends with consequences like suicide and school shootings. They affect people as early as elementary school all the way to the college level, some even ending with death. Only together can we stop school violence if we take a stand and change the world.
In the United States there have been 142 school shootings since 2013. In Australia there has never been a school shooting. “A school shooting is a form of mass shooting involving a gun attack on an educational institution, such as a school or university”(Wikipedia). According to the United States Secret Service, a school shooting is where the school is purposely planned and selected as the location for the attack. A school shooting may occur between any individual, student, instructor, administrator and staff employed institution (Sinnamon, 2016). There is no one profile to describe a shooter but almost all attackers are students at the school. School shootings occur when anyone enters a campus and begins firing weapons such as a rifle, shotgun
This is such a huge problem as you may know. These days it is becoming way to easy for people to get their hands on guns. With people who are not in their right minds getting their hands on guns they are costing the lives of children. Gun control is becoming a huge issue. We need to find a way to help.
With the many school shootings that have happened, students can have a hard time focusing in class and worrying about their school being next. Students that have gone through a school shooting have been traumatized by what happened and too fragile to speak about not only losing students, teachers, and staff, but also the sense of school not feeling safe anymore. Recovery after just going through a school shooting won’t be easy on the students involved, their test scores lower years after attending the same high school. Many states have already passed the law of allowing trained teachers to be armed under certain ground rules.
Imagine walking into school one day planning to learn, and instead hearing gunshots blare over the voice of your teacher. Since 2013, the United States has experienced an epidemic of mass shootings; many being in schools. Recently the shooting in Parkland, Florida has shone a light on the need for gun control. “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” The correct statement should be, “Mentally ill people with assault rifles kill people.” If guns like the AR-15 were not available to the mentally ill or unfit such mass shootings like the one in Parkland would occur rarely or not at all. Change needs to happen in the form of gun control so parents can send their kids to school worry free, and kids won’t have PTSD because of a school shooting.
Today in our world, there is an excessive amount of violence and threats. Whether it be our public lives or our private lives. It seems as if you can't be anywhere without being concerned for your safety. Every time you check what is happening in the world, there seems to be recent occurrences of something tragic that has happened in a school. Sadly, it seems as if most occurrences have been of people taking the lives of the innocent. Just in the month of February there were 17 people who were killed by a gunman who opened fire in a high school. Those kids had no clue of what was to happen and considered school to be a safe place. Therefore, ever since that incident, there have been multiple threats to schools all around the country. Everyone seems to have a problem with how easy it is to buy military grade weapons. We as a country need to learn how to control these situations and what to do to prevent
The issue of school safety has become a controversial topic in the United States, due to tragic acts of violence occurring on a daily basis. American citizens should never have to cope with the negative impact of school violence, no matter how often they hear about the tragedies (Jones, "Parents" 1). In the past, schools were viewed as a safe place for children to get an education. Recently, the concern over violence in schools has taken a toll on many parents, school administrators, and legislatures (Eckland 1). Studies have shown that there are over 3 million acts of violence in American public schools each year. Not all occurrences are serious and deadly, but they occur on a daily basis throughout our country (Jones, “School” 6). This has caused many parents to worry about the well-being of their children while they are in class. This has also led to an increase in questions and concerns by parents and guardians. Many people have asked, “What are you doing about safety and security on my child’s campus” (Schimke 2). School violence is the cause of elevated worry and fear for their children, and school districts should enforce better security.
School shootings are becoming common place in the news as school violence is on the rise. Statistics state that 31.2 percent of parents said the leading cause for choosing homeschool over public school is “concern about the environment of other schools” (Burke, 2014). According to the CDC fact sheet Understanding School Violence, 12 percent of youth in grades 9-12 report being in a physical fight on school property while 5.9 percent reported that they felt unsafe at school and did not attend. Seven percent of teachers also report that they have been threatened or injured by a student (School Violence, 2013). While only 1 percent of all youth homicides occur at schools, violence does not need to result in a fatality in order to be a concern.
Violence in schools is an omnipresent cause of angst for parents, teachers, and administrators. The high rates of aggression, threats, and physical harm at schools have not only been investigated by researchers but have also been regularly covered in the media and hence have drawn additional public attention to the problem. “According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety indicated approximately 76% of schools reported violent incidents for the 2007-2008 school year….65% of the primary schools, 94% of the middle schools, and 94% of the high schools….Physical fights have been noted as the most common form of violence on school grounds” (as cited in Fahsl & Luce, 2012, p.214). Opinion polls “rate school discipline as one of the biggest concerns in U.S. public schools” (Fahsl & Luce, 2012).
The United States is facing an epidemic of seriously violent crimes in middle schools and high schools across the country. At least fifty people have died due to a series of high school shootings. These shooting rampages have occurred across the United States in 13 cities ranging from Pennsylvania to southern Mississippi and to western California. Just when the murder rampages seem to be subsiding, another tragedy occurs. Preventive measures have been taken by the government and school systems. For instance, in 1994, Congress passed the Drug-Free Schools and Community Act, which provides for support of drug and violence prevention programs. However, these programs have not been effective in taming the ferocious dispositions of the particular young kids who have participated in these shooting rampages. Therefore, parents, school officials, and the government are still left wondering what is the cause of the horrific violence and how can they solve the problem.
Bullying has become a serious problem in public schools systems. Being a victim of bullying is a daily struggle for some students. The issue continues to grow, but the question is how to stop bullying from occurring. Many ways have been attempted to stop bullying, but some are more effective than others. Having the students get involved seems to have the most positive effect on the bullying issue in public school systems.
On the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a day does not go by without talking of the violence coming into schools from the streets. Patrick O'Donnell, a reporter for the Plain Dealer wrote a story on a high school in Strongsville where the school virtually shut down classes due to Internet threats of violence made on the school by an 18-year-old boy. Though the student is charged with misdemeanor counts of aggravated menacing and inducing panic among the students, how can we as abiding citizens of society reduce and even eliminate such violence in schools? Furthermore, last week, seven students were suspended at South High School in Cleveland and one of them was arrested after a sophomore threw a chair that knocked out an assistant principal because of a brawl between students. (Reed, 2005) School is meant to be a safe haven for children, a place where you come to learn and not to plan-out who your next victim will be.
I believe that inside every person who is bullied there is a strength and a tenacity to survive. You don’t always know that this strength exists, but if you make it through those dark times, you become aware. You become a survivor, someone whose courage and spirit is far stronger than all of the hate and cruelty of their bullies. The one thing that I want to impart to children with autism is knowledge of their own inner strength, and the belief that one day at a time, they, too, can get through this. (Amy Gravino)