Fighting Away the Violence

School Violence has never been permitted nor wanted but still hasn't become less of an issue in schools today . Being in High school there were always videos you had to watch about bullying and classes you had to take about how to be helped when violence is being placed on one another. Programs where held associating with troubled students or helping certain students who aren't as focused in school as they should be because of not just problems in school but also problems at home. There are all these helpful associations and programs being made but still today violence in school has been more of an issue than before. If the law itself doesn't want to address the situation profoundly and take it seriously to end such violence, then we the people need to begin to reach out to these students to make that difference happen.

Stats on School Violence

• In 2011, 20 percent of high school students were bullied at school, and 33 percent reported being involved in a physical fight in the last year.
• In one month, nearly 6 percent of high schoolers stayed home because they felt unsafe at or on their way to school.
• More than 7 percent of 9th through 12th graders reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property at least once in the last year. An additional 6 percent admitted to bringing a weapon to school for protection.
• In 2010 there were more than 800,000 nonfatal school victimizations of children and teens ages 12 to 18. Almost 500,000 of these occurrences were thefts.
• Risk factors for youth violence include violent histories, drug or alcohol use, poverty in the community, poor grades, association with troubled peers, and troublesome home life.
• Students aren’t the only ones in danger of school violence. Almost 7 percent of teachers reported being threatened or physically injured by a student from their school.
• Only 39 percent of schools in the 2009-2010 school year took serious disciplinary action against a student for special offenses. Actions included out-of-school suspension, expulsion, or transfer to a specialty school.
• In the U.S., 33 school-associated violent deaths occurred in the 2009-2010 school year including homicides, suicides, and legal interventions. 18 of these occurred on school property.
• Youth and school violence can lead to depression, alcohol and drug use, suicide, anxiety, and fear.
• In recent years, assault by weapon, cases of intimidation and bullying, and alcohol possession have all more than doubled on school properties.
• Drug possessions at school more than doubled from 2005 to 2011. Teachers confirm that violence may not be spiking, but records are being kept much more accurately than in the past.

Most of the time school violence consists of small groups of people fighting amongst themselves. Although this can be considered good news because most students are not involved, it is only a matter of time before the violence bleeds into the general student population and innocent students are injured. This false sense of security made 96% of students in the Class of 2000 feel safe at school. However, 22% of them knew of students who carried weapons to school. Approximately 53% of the students surveyed said they believed a Columbine-like shooting could occur in their school.

How to prevent School Violence

• Anger management- child becomes violent whenever he/she gets angry. So schools should start classes on anger management. These kinds of classes will tell students about the ways of controlling anger.
• Conflict management- these kinds of classes will tell students that the conflicts can be resolved by talking as well. Fighting, threatening and beating are not the only ways of solving conflicts.
• Talk with your child, keep a well understanding of what they do day by day in school and outside of school. Create that bond so that when things do happen it can be easier for the student to be able to be comfortable with telling someone.
• Pay attention to all the warning signs a student gives, including sudden low grades, being lonely or antisocial, behavior issues at home and at school, sleeping problems, or eating problems.
• Being involved in school is a biggie. The more one knows about a certain school the better their understanding is going to be. Teachers, parents, counselors, everyone should be participating in getting to know more about the students and how well they cope with each other.

What Punishment for School Violence really consists of

Most students who were involved in school violence weren't punished enough to stop doing it once and for all. When getting caught fighting in school, the most a student would receive is an out of school suspension that could be from only days out of school to being expelled from that school for the whole year. Another punishment would be to get in school suspension for a matter of once again, only days. Bullying in school got the punishment of having the bully being talked to by the principal and only warned or being "written up". Knowing that bulling has become the first most common issue in schools why is the punishment still the same. These minor punishments are the reasons why school violence needs to be addressed in depth and needs to have more drastically changing rules to prevent this from occurring as often. Having more strict consequences for the action of violence that includes students dealing with what court can show them and what could happen if they keep being violent can send the right message.

Fixing the Problem

Once there is a complete understanding of school violence an act should occur. Learning more information not only about which school is better for your child but more about how to help those schools who aren't known to be so great is a better way of leading our country into a safer place. Getting involved more with your own community and sharing your knowledge with former teachers, neighbors, other parents, and even your own children can also decrease such violence. Communication is the key to success, being able to understand an issue and the person with the issue can be the start of helping fix whatever is going wrong. Helping to stop school violence is a must and we can't only depend on others to fix the issue that we all related to or been through at one point in time. Having secure protection and more eyes focused around these students will prevent this downfall that is happening in schools. The more believers and strength, the easier it will be to change an important unwanted factor, School Violence.


Work Cited
http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-school-violence
http://nssc1.org/more-about-school-violence-statistics.html