Tackling School Violence Paper Example

Introduction

Violence is a common experience among students in schools and a thing that children, staff and parents should own the responsibility of addressing and mitigating as it is one of the various elements contributing to unbearable and unfavorable learning environments. It is the duty of everyone concerned including groups and agencies involved with education matters in districts and national levels to ensure the issue is dealt with as it should. If children are not protected while within and out of their learning places; then they are being denied their fundamental right to education. A report by UNESCO indicates that about 246 million students experience school violence every year with girls being the most affected (U, 2017). Although the world perceptions of gender differences are changing, most female students have to put up with bullies undermining them because of their sex.

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School violence involves different forms such as gang harassment, mental and physical bullying, verbal abuse, cyberbullying, physical fights and even use of weapons. All these forms, regardless of whether physical or mental, inflict fear in the victims disturbing their peace and concentration such that they are unable to perform as per individual expectations as well as that of their parents and teachers. The children feel unsafe and sometimes uncared for making it difficult to pay attention to anything they are being taught, and this turns to be an adverse implication in their academic performance. In some cases, the victims can become the offenders as they try to hide how they were disgraced or else in search of power and respect from others. As UNESCO defines it as its priority to ensure all children are provided with secure, health-promoting, promising and inclusive learning environments, it is everybody's obligation ranging from the students to the top education officials in government to play various roles to make sure school violence is significantly tackled (U, 2017).

Research Questions

The following research is designed to answer the following questions. How can school violence be reduced and what roles should the people responsible play to ensure achievement of the objectives? Why should the issue of school violence be addressed and mitigated?

Purpose

Prevention of violence in schools would create a safe and comfortable environment where children can learn to achieve their dreams and goals in life without having to worry about whoever might be intending to or threatening their peace. Also, it will be a reflection that their right to education is respected and given priority by everyone concerned. Therefore, the essence of this paper is to establish the importance of reducing school violence in and out of the learning environments and also identify the appropriate personnel to utilize and the various strategies that can be implemented to ensure this is achieved. It will be focused on using multiple resources such as records from education agencies to determine what should be done and how the parties involved should contribute to enhancing the accomplishment of these visions.

Background

School violence incidents such as weaponry and physical abuse have declined over the last few decades due to the intervention strategies that have been put in place in an attempt to create a safe learning environment. Various surveys indicate that fatalities and casualties were more in the second half of the 20th Century than in the 21st Century because concerned parties have increasingly adopted effective approaches such as zero tolerance to mitigate the intimidating effects of violence in schools (Conoley & Goldstein, 2004). The implementation of this strategy began in the 1990s where any student found with a weapon in school was given a one-year suspension. Also, school districts were obligated to comply with the policy if they had to qualify for funding under the Elementary and Secondary School Act of 1996. Although the intervention strategy was initially considered to be harsh on the students, it helped much in the reduction of violent acts in schools. However, the decrease was mostly on most serious acts including homicide and suicide, but others such as verbal abuse, racial discrimination, physical and mental bullying, and gang violence among other less intense activities are still prevalent in schools. Studies comparing the nature of school violence in the past and contemporary society have acknowledged that there is an increase in the rate of juvenile crime and aggressive acts amongst youngsters (Smith, 2005). Information obtained from baby boomers has indicated that things in schools were different and better, unlike these days where they have slightly changed due to the increasing cases of violence in and out of the learning environments.

Factors Influencing School Violence

Violence within and around learning premises is triggered by various factors ranging from students, parents, guardians, teachers, administrators to district and government officials in charge of education matters. Some of these aspects include peer group and students' characteristics (Smith, 2005).

Peer Group Characteristics

At a certain age in their lives, especially during adolescence, most young people's activities are influenced by peer pressure. They are driven to do what their friends are doing or telling them since they are afraid to be criticized or victimized for cowardice. It is an age where most teenage students want to showcase their heroism or power over the others; thus, turning into bullies who are always demanding respect, recognition or appreciation from those around them including parents, teachers, and peers. The nature of delinquency or how the youngsters respond to peer pressure depends on the individuals. The highly disruptive are less affected since most of the time they are the leaders of the groups and also the less concerned whose primary focus is academic success and not interested in violent activities (Smith, 2005). The most affected are the less and moderate disruptive since they are taking orders from the team leaders.

Moreover, peer pressure deviance depends on the type or the cultures shared by a particular group of youngsters. For instance, it has been revealed that children living in poor neighborhoods are more likely to engage in crime than they would have if they were in more favorable environments (Dodge, Dishion, & Lansford, 2006). Here they have the exposure to form and join street gangs that they use to fight and bully other individuals without backups in and out of school. It is, therefore, evident that it matters how and who the children interact with because it could have a significant influence on their behaviors and actions.

Students' Characteristics

According to Smith, victimization of children reduces with age while the perpetrators of violence increase because some victims end up being the offenders (2005). As the youngsters grow, they become stronger and more skilled such that they can defend themselves from bullies. While some reform and move on with their lives as normal and peaceful students, others tend to change as they enter adolescence and start engaging in violent acts as a way of taking revenge for what was done to them. Relatively, it has been revealed that sexually oriented behaviors such as teasing, bullying, and harassment are minor issues until the secondary school level where the young people have already grown physically and mentally. Most of the children in elementary school are yet to learn about what the differences in their sex entail; hence, they are mostly engaged in acts such as verbal use physical and mental bullying depending on environmental influence around them.

More so, children's behaviors in and out of school highly depend on family backgrounds. Parents with a history of violence and have poor monitoring qualities are most likely to influence their children to engage in aggressive and bullying behaviors while those raised by over-protective guardians probably become victims whenever they are amongst their peers (Smith, 2005). Young people usually become and do whatever they observe the adults around them doing or saying, so parents, guardians and even teachers have a significant influence on the position of students in matters of school violence. Also, it is noted that disabled children and those with special education needs are vulnerable to victimization and most of the time they lack the support of their peers whenever they are being bullied or teased by others. In some cases, however, students with disabilities tend to respond aggressively to violent acts such that they may end up hurting others. Therefore, children's characteristics implicate their contribution significantly in cases of school violence and how they respond to them.

Importance of Preventing School Violence

Notably, school violence has been associated with several negative consequences including the creation of an unfavorable learning environment where students are unable to concentrate on their studies; thus performing below average. Also, it denies the children a vital human right to education since they find it difficult to tolerate in premises where their security and peace are unguaranteed and opt to remain at home or relocate to other areas. Hence, it is important that necessary strategies such as guidance and counseling, zero tolerance and punishment of the offenders be utilized to ensure learning environments are conducive and favorable to all children. The importance of reducing school violence includes the following.

Creation of School Safety

Reduction of violence in and out of school brings about peace implying that the students will have a safe and comfortable environment to learn and enhance their academic performance. The victims and vulnerable children including the disabled will be guaranteed security from potential perpetrators. Hence, everybody in the school including the learners and the teachers will have a favorable climate to study and teach without having to be concerned with unnecessary issues triggered by violent acts such as injuries and hostility among the children in and out of the premises.

Ensure Children Develop To Be Responsible Adults

Some of the factors influencing students to engage in violent acts are irresponsibility of the youngsters, parents, teachers or any other adults around them. So, employing intervention strategies is a way of ensuring that young people do not carry on what they learn and observe around them. Instead, they become responsible individuals who are driven by success and self-esteem (Skiba, Boone, Fontanini, Wu, Strussel, & Peterson, 2000). They are mentored on the importance of following school rules that include prohibition from hurting others either physically or mentally. Also, they are guided on how to use peaceful ways such as mediation to solve conflicts that might be affecting their relationship with other students in and out of the learning environment. Thus, they will be able to utilize the knowledge they learn regarding dispute resolution and healthy and peaceful integration with others even as independent adults.

Personnel and Strategies to Reduce School Violence

Prevention of school violence requires professionalism since it is a responsibility that demands tolerance, persistence, persuasiveness and motivating qualities. Therefore, the best and most suitable persons to assign the task of tackling the issue are school counselors. They are professionals trained to observe and understand the students' interests, worries, behaviors, and reactions to certain aspects including conflicts. Unlike other adults associated with the children's lives such as parents, teachers, and administrators, counselors can evaluate the youngsters' emotions, behaviors,...