The Problem With Destroying Cliques to Deter School Violence

With all the recent incidences of school shootings and other acts of violence, school administrators all over the country are trying to think of ways to prevent such incidences from occurring at their schools. You, too, are probably faced with the concern of school-related violence and how to prevent it. Many school administrators are considering forcing students to sit with students who aren't in their group or clique, but is this actually a good idea? Will forcing students to sit with people they don't like and/or don't want to sit with actually help them to get along better, or will it encourage more violence towards persons of other cliques? I believe that more problems will be created than will be solved by following the proposed solution.

First of all, the problem upon which we are deliberating involves the formation of groups in the school. To find a solution to a problem, you first must know the cause(s) and result(s) of the problem. There are many reasons as to why students form groups. One of the largest factors in the formation and choice of cliques is common interests. Students want to hang out with people who like the same (or similar) things that they do. For example, if there are two students in the school, and one likes sports and the other likes drama and art, they most likely won't get along well because they don't have anything in common. If two people have nothing in common, they will get bored if they hang out with each other since they won't be able to find anything that BOTH of them want to do. If you look at all the different groups in our school, most people in each one have something in common - the guys in the football clique all play football, the girls in the cheerleader clique all cheerlead, etc. Although most people who play the same sport or are involved in the same activities are in a group associated with that sport or activity, not everyone in that sport or activity is in that group. Often, these students aren't in the clique because they and the other people in the activity/sport have a major difference. A few such examples could be the middle school they attended or other interests they may have. Often, students who go to the same middle and possibly even elementary schools have already found some good friends and they want to stick with their friends in high school.