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Violence in Public Schools
By Sahar Kassaimah
19/03/2001
Violence in American public schools has made going to school an everyday nightmare for parents and students. Almost everyone is asking the same questions: Why does it happen? Why are crimes being committed in and around our schools, threatening the well being of innocent students and communities?
Earlier this month, a fifteen-year-old killed two students and injured thirteen others at a school in southern California. The attack was the deadliest school shooting since the April 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado when two students killed themselves after murdering twelve students and a teacher.
When asked to cite the reason for such school shootings, no one can fully explain what happens. But, in general, experts offer many reasons behind these tragedies. And, despite the concerns that these and other shootings have aroused about school safety and gun control, it is a mistake to limit dealing with these crises by looking merely at school safety. All of the facts confirm that it is a reflection of a first-degree social problem.
School violence makes one think back to previous eras in American society - for example, the 1940s, when the top disciplinary problems in public schools were chewing gum and running in the hallways. Instead of teen pregnancy, drugs, rape, and shootings.
So, the questions that must be addressed are: Who is to blame for school violence in these cases, where both the villains and most of the victims are youth? Is it the youth perpetrators or the families who raised them? Or is it school systems that cannot protect pupils? Or is it society at-large that is to blame?
Steven R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Families, wrote, "In the past, it was easier to successfully raise a family 'outside-in,' because society was an ally, a resource. People were surrounded by role models, examples, media reinforcement, and family-friendly laws and support systems... because of this, you could essentially raise your family 'outside-in.' Success was much a matter of going with the flow. But... to go with the wind today is a family fatal."
Experts do not blame the youth. Instead, they say that lack of supervision, desensitization to violence through the media, and access to weapons are the main problems leading to youth violence. They do add, however, that these factors alone are not enough to drive young people to this extreme. Many children spend more time watching television than they spend in school or with their families. And, according to organized critics, by the time the typical child finishes sixth grade, he/she will have watched 100,000 graphic portrayals of violence, including 8,000 murders.
Robert W. Kubey, Associate Professor of Communication at Rutgers State University in New Jersey, said, "It is more or less probable that the school shootings would occur in a society that constantly traffics in extraordinarily violent media images compared, say, with a society where such images don't occur at all."
"Would they have been less likely to occur were, say, even one-tenth of all the shooting deaths we each witness in our fictional media each year replaced by images and storylines where people worked to resolve their differences nonviolently, through talk and negotiation?" he asked.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIH) concluded that violent media do play a role in the behavior of people who are more psychologically at risk than others. At the same time, new theories and concerns are being raised about the connection between youth violence and what is being called "Extreme Music," favored by many young people today.
According to a study presented in 1994 by the University of Colorado, lack of family supervision at home can be the initial cause of violence. "Young people have a lot more freedom now than they have ever had, a lot less supervision than they have ever had," said Hunter Hurst, director of the National Center for Juvenile Justice, a private research organization in Pittsburgh.
Moreover, Stephan Buka, Associate Professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and the co-director for the Program of Human Development and Criminal Behavior, said, "Kids deal with conflicts by whatever means they have available and whatever strategies they see… It is not some horrible demonic kid who is doing this. It is kids seizing the means that are available to them."
In addition, researchers have also found that there is no specific profile for killers as some grew up in the ideal family while others lived in foster homes or were children of divorce. It has also been found that some were honor students, others were failing; and few were loners - most had close friends.
No one can pretend to know exactly what causes these shootings, or where and when the next episode will be, or who will be the next perpetrator and victims. However, as parents, we can do something to protect our children from exposure to violence on television or through video games or "extreme music."
We can also do something to discourage them from" going with the flow" of a violent society - we can do our best to connect them to Allah (SWT) and teach them to be mindful of their behavior. If we succeed in instilling in them a combination of love and fear of Allah (SWT), they will be able to protect themselves from our society's pollution, even when they are not under our supervision.
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