Violence in the School Systems

Violence within this country has been an ongoing problem throughout history. Due to all the media coverage of more recent violent events in school history, such as Columbine, it is of popular belief that violence in school systems is the worst it has ever been. There are many questions about what type of violence occurs most often, what gender and what ethnicity violence is most affecting in schools.

Violence can be defined by any deliberate act, serving no legitimate purpose, which causes injury or which could reasonably be expected to cause injury to another person. To be considered reportable, the conduct should be either intentional or reckless in nature. (Basic Education Circular on Safe Schools, 1996) School violence can also be defined as any school related activity that produces a victim.

The first table was a chart that was drawn up in conclusion to a survey that was conducted in 1999. It was asking children in grades 9-12 different question about feeling threatened and carrying or seeing weapons in school. The chart was broken down into different grades, along with various ethnicities, and gender. (www.nces.ed.gov/crime2001/tables)

Out of all the questions asked in the survey, the highest positive response to a question of illegal drugs on school property. An average of 30.2% of the children responded that they had been offered, sold or given illegal drugs at school. Leading the category was Hispanic males with 36.9% of them having engaged in some form of drug distribution or some one offering them drugs. The next question with a high response was if these children have ever engaged in a physical fight on school property. A total of 14.2% answered yes to the question. In the same category Hispanic ...

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... help the students set goals and come to appreciate the relationship between responsible good behavior and achieving goals. In this program they will earn privileges for good attendance, work accomplishments and goal achievements. This program will be evaluated to determine if similar programs are to be set up in the future throughout the state. (www.msde.state.md.us/juvenilejustice alt.html)

Although violence in the United States is a problem that needs a lot of attention, the amount of episodes is and hopefully will remain declining over the years. Teachers, parents and peers all have an impact on each and every child that goes through school systems. As long as they keep teaching violence prevention programs, the numbers will keep dropping. Although this problem will never fully go away, the percentage of violence in schools will be constantly dropping.