Growing Problem of School Violence

School Violence has been something that has changed the way we experience school. School violence has been something that's been going on for a long time. School violence has been happening around the world and has just changed the way our safety is at school. School violence is very dangerous and very deadly. In this case school violence may refer to school shootings, stabbings, bullying, sexual harassment , fights and or any harm that causes harm to anyone in the school atmosphere.

School violence has been going on for so long now its seems like its common. "Indicators of School crime and safety" a study by the U.S. department of education and the U.S. department of Justice in 2006 , stated that  public schools experiencing violent incidents increased from 71 percent to 81 percent over a five-year period (1999-2004) .

School violence doesn't only limit itself to the student population. Eight percent of teachers say that they are threatened with violence on school grounds at least once upon a month. Two percent report being physically hurt each year. ( stated in crf-usa.org). Recently there was a stabbing where the teacher was the victim at Trickum Middle School in Gwinnett County. Not only was this situation harmful for the teacher who got stabbed but also the students in the classroom. The suspect had a butcher knife in his bag, who knows who else he could have harmed. One type of school violence is school shootings. School shootings have been going on for the longest. The first school shooting in the US was in 1764 known as the "Pontiac's Rebellion" when native americans sneaked inside a school and killed many kids.Only 2 kids survived in the massacre . School shootings has changed the way that we experience school. This has made school unsafe but has made schools more cautious. We now have to do drills to prepare for school shootings. Some want teachers to have a weapon on them for defense but that could just go a whole other way. A recent school shooting was at Stoneman Douglas High school. 17 students shot and dead. School shooting are very deadly. School shootings are caused by students and or adults. They have made a huge impact in our country.

Making sure that our schools are safe starts by making sure the students ar okay mentally and physically and don't have access to any weapons they should not have. This leaves a huge hole in everyone's heart. This should not be something that we have to face but yet we do. School shootings most of the time is caused by someone shooting someone with a gun intentionally. In the year of 2000 it has been recorded that there was 64 total public shootings and out of those 64 , 94% relates to school shootings. Gun violence took a huge part at school and this society. Our country has tried for the longest to prevent gun violence at schools. Letting underage kids access these weapon is the problem in the first place. This country needs to put more strict rules to owning weapons and firearms. During 2 school year documented in the U.S.  85 young people died violently.How do young people gain access to weapons? According to a report made by the University of Southern California School of Medicine, about 35% of U.S. homes with children under age 18 have at least one firearm, meaning that around 11 million children live in homes with firearms.A National Institute Study interviewed 1,219 seventh and 10th graders in Boston and Milwaukee. Forty-two percent of students claimed "they could get a gun if they wanted, 28 percent have handled a gun without adult knowledge or supervision, and 17 percent have carried a concealed gun"stated from (teens.lovetoknow.com).

Referring to the Case Western-Kent State study, a 2006 report released by the Vermont National Education Association contains that parental alcohol abuse, domestic violence, the presence of guns in the home, may encourage a child to follow in his or her parents' footsteps.Another type of school violence is physical fighting. Physical fighting happens because of many different reasons. One thing that causes school fights is bullying. Bullying can either be physical,verbal,or cyber. When someone is getting bullied they are getting teased or beat up. When someone is getting bullied physically that means they can either get teased by physical contact such as pushing, shooving, slapping, throwing things at them,etc. Verbal bullying is in its name it's when someone is bullying someone by the use of their words. Verbal bullying can be known as cussing someone out, calling them names, exposing them, etc. Last but not least cyber bullying bullying but behind the screen. Someone may post something on their social media or send something to that person via email,text, comments on posts , and even calls. Another reason for school fights are gangs in school. Especially the older kids who deal with drugs and are apart of gangs tend to fight as a culture or just cause its the aftermath of arguments. School fights are categorized as school violence cause physical fighting can lead to someone getting really hurt and or even killed. Another type of school violence is sexual violence with consists of rape,and sexual harassment. I know this topic is something that's not easy to talk about but it needs to be talked about. Rape is a very, very bad thing that could happen to anyone. Its when someone is forced to do something sexual by being forced, sexual intercourse that is forced.

Rape doesn't only happen outside of school but it can also happen in the school environment. According to america.aljazeera.com in a given school year, 58 percent of 7th-12th graders experience sexual harassment and most likely it was the girls who were more developed and or pretty girls. Sexual harassment is something that is very serious and it can change someone's life forever. 1 out of 8 girls in high schools have been raped by a peer and only half of high school rape victims told someone about it.  This is very important and thats why its categorized as school violence. When someone is forced to do something sexual it could lead up to the female getting pregnant and that can change her life forever and that means she has to either get rid of it or take care of the baby. Also that can scar the victim and change their perspective on everything and this could lead up tp depression and suicide. Another reason for school violence at school is influence from parents and home such as parental alcoholism, child abuse,domestic violence,etc. Everyone's homelife is different.What is domestic violence? It is aggressive or violent behavior within the home.

According to naasca.com 3.3 million children witness domestic violence in their homes each year. This especially affects the younger ones by changing their mindset on abuse and they start to think its okay to do it outside of school and that they are acceptable. Not only does this provoke school violence but it hurts the victim that is experiencing the domestic violence. Parents are usually supposed to nurture and reinforce positive behavior in the house but if a parents fails to complete that  children often develop negative and sometimes violent behavior patterns. Also, abusive and neglectful family environments can inhibit the development communication skills; self esteem can be affected really badly too.Parental alcoholism can result in the parents getting drunk and leading to abuse to the children in the home and maybe the spouse. Another reason for school violence is really known and important to discuss it's gang violence. This was briefly discussed in the beginning but let's go in depth.  In 2005, 24 percent of students ages 12-18 reported that there were apart of gangs at their schools. However,  few young people join gangs; even in highly impacted areas, the percent of gang participation barely exceeds 10 percent and less than two percent of juvenile crime is gang-related stated in  crf-usa.org. Even though there isn't a direct contact with school violence and gang activity, the act of the gang activity in neighborhoods coincides with school violence.

The act of joining a gang is when someone doesn't feel like they fit in with their family and they want to join a gang that will make them feel like they are part of a "family". Teens and kids are likely to join a gang due to peer pressure. Twenty-two percent of urban 11- and 12-year-olds know at least one person their age in a gang. Being apart of gang is exposure to weapons and physical contact and that's when they mess up the kids minds making them think that this is an acceptable behavior because that's they are all exposed to. Children and teens can be really influenced in a good and bad way and we need to be aware of that. No matter what is happening schools is a place to learn it's difficult for the adults there to be counselors, life coaches, and watch over the kids at the same time. Another very important cause of school violence is video games. There are several gams out that display a very negative and violent theme. As stated in NY times safety on the web and what kids are playing is very crucial. There is a game called GTA which is R. This game shows many habits such as crime, violence,sex, and prostitution. When uderage kids have aceess to this game and play for hours and hours they tend to be influenced. Many games such as this that promotes violence can be very influential to the young minds. Violent video games can ld to school shootings.

Promoting shootings in games can slowly get into young people's minds and change their perspective on everything gradually. This category is mainly known as cyber abuse. Video games are not the only things that can cause school violence but also music too. Another cause for school violence is school protest and riots . Its is proven that several college kids and high school kids like to participate in riots which is fine if your trying to get your point across its just those riots turn into fights and some can get really dangerous and most of the time it happens on school grounds. Riots and protesting lead to things such as physical fights, sometimes involving firearms , and verbal abuse towards someone with a whole different opinion and they just want to hate on the opposing side who has a different view. Trying to get you point across can go in many different directions. You just have to make sure you make sure you are not offending anyone and your thinking before you are speaking. Another cause for school violence is school size. Researchers at the national center for education statistics found that discipline issues are often related to school enrollment size. Larger schools tend to have to deal with more behavior problems. Thirty-four percent of schools with 1,000 or more students reported student disrespect for or assaults on teachers at least once per week, compared with 21 percent of those at schools with 500-999 students, 17 percent of those at schools with 300-499 students, and 14 percent of those at schools with less than 300 students. Middle school students are more than twice as likely than high school student to be affected by school violence. Seven percent of eighth graders stay home once a month  to avoid a bully. Studies suggest two reasons for the higher rates of school violence in middle school. First, early adolescence is a difficult age.

Young teens are often physically hyperactive and have not learned acceptable social behavior. That why it's so easy for teens at this age to be influenced. Second, in middle school the students come with contact with many kids from different neighborhoods and backgrounds. 50 percent of teens in all situation believe that schools are getting more violent according to the Children's Institute International.Whenever there is a big school there tends to be a lot of after school activities. After school is a time where supervision and security is at its worst. School violence rises between 3-7pm when there is less supervision. School violence has also been linked to the transformation of communities. Lastly, the lack of community between parents, guidance counselors, and teachers have contributed to the cause of school violence. Young people really need a strong support system and to hear from someone else just a simple " Great Job!" or " I am so proud of you". So, the teachers, counselors,etc. Need to make sure they ar informing all the information that they observed about the student and be honest cause its better for their parent to know the truth and help fix it than just to not know it all and think their child is fine.

We've discussed so many reasons and causes about school violence. The meaning of school violence is whenever anybody is put to harm in the school environment/ground. Also how school shootings has taken a huge role in society and how often it has been occuring. School violence does not only hurt the kids but sometime the teachers. The teachers can be the victims at times. Gun violence really ties with the shootings but gun violence has been increasing causing that to be a major reason.The fact that young people can access these weapons is another issue that must be fixed and that shows that the country has to be more strict about weapons and the right to access firearms. Bullying is also a huge one. It can often cause students to start fights that can be really dangerous. We talked about cyber bullying which is bullying behind the scenes, verbal bullying is bullying with the use of your words, and physical bullying which is bullying with physical contact. Also sexual abuse. Which consists of sexual harassment and or rape can be a reason or cause for school violence. Parental influence and lif at home is very crucial and can impact the behavior of their kids. Gang violence is also another reason. Listening and watching t violent things can easily brainwash younger people who have not really established a platform to tell what right or what's wrong. This country has a lot to work on to decrease school violence and mak schools a safe place again. It starts with you. Report if you notice anything off with someone or you hear a threat. Be communicative cause that the only way that people will know that something is wrong. Watch what you listen to and what video games you play and what youtube videos you watch cause you may not realize it but it changes you when it becomes a habit. Lastly, understand that school violence is a very serious topic and that if you are dealing with anything from above talk to someone you trust and get some help. If you want change be it.

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