What's up with all the school violence?

Kids bring drugs, guns, knives to school. One girl brought a knife to school to commit suicide in the bathrood. One guy brought a GUN to school in his backpack; the teacher had to step out of the room to call security. One girl gave birth in a school restroom. Virginia Tech, 32 killed. Come on, fights happen at ALL schools, but weapon violence? Bringing WEAPONS????? KNIvES???? GUNS?????



What's wrong with today's schools?

Also, one girl once threw a baseball at a substitute teacher. 10 3rd graders once plotted to kill their teacher. What's up with this generation? Is it movie violence? Video game violence?

The level of violence hasn't changed; the media attention it garners has. Any time someone commits a violent act in a school (especially in predominately white schools), it gets national media attention. Violence has been a concern for schools for many years, hence the reason why so many urban school have metal detectors. In the 1980s, there was a huge outcry against the violence in urban schools because kids were killing each other over Starter jackets and Air Jordan shoes (in fact, these killings only happened once but were played out in the media to make it appear that urban youth were out of control). It wasn't until children in non-urban areas started doing mass murders (garnering attention in the 1990s) before it became a national crisis. It is, sadly, not something new, but something that seems to get a lot of attention based on where it occurs.

Violent video games are a questionable contributing factor to this problem; there have been studies that show that violent video games do not have long-term effects on children. And this typical argument fell apart when the girls beat up another girl to get on YouTube, because there is a long-standing (and erronious) belief that girls do not play violent video games, so the media had to come up with a different influence to blame. Sending children to school at young ages has nothing to do with the problem because children have been attending school for too many years for that to be the case [That, and I have a hard time believing that a parent without a college degree is more capable of teaching a child than someone who has a master's degree, but I digress...]. Lack of parental involvement may be a contributor, as we are all so busy that small children have to make "play-dates" just to play with other kids, but it is really hard to say what is going on today.

What we all have to bear in mind is that we live in an age of information. It is far more easy for the violent actions of some teen in Peoria or Japan to be broadcast around the world than it was even 15 years ago. Examples of school violence can be found going back to at least the 1980s (my examples go back even further), and even contemporary shows and movies from the '80s and '70s show that school violence has always been around (even with weapons). As long as there have been bullies, school violence has existed in some form or another.

Teens giving birth in restrooms has been going on for so long that it is now considered a cliche, as used in an extremely tacky manner in a Family Guy epsiode.

Some of these shootings have been done by people who are mentally ill and do not get the treatment they need (i.e. Virginia Tech), and some of these shootings are done by adults in these schools. And to show that it's just not an American problem, some of my examples are from out of the country. One killer committed her crimes because she hated Mondays (see the 1989 entry).

My question for the person who asked this is: Why are you blaming the schools? There is more going on than can be pinned to one thing. The real question is, what are we going to do about it?

Parents aren't doing their job anymore and they want to be their kids' friends more than anything. They don't want to discipline their kids, they don't want to talk to them about sex, and they don't want to set boundaries. They send their kids off to school and expect the teachers to teach their kids everything, which isn't the teacher's job. The teacher is there to make sure your kid knows math and english, not respect and manners.

Our society has gone in the direction of non-religious, kids are brought up without spiritual faith and so they have no fundamental set of barriers to work from. They have no respect for other people because they are brought up without an institution that tells them that in fact other people DO matter, their feelings and physical well-being.

No, it's not video games or movies or even music that is to blame. I grew up listening to Slayer and I've never committed a crime.

I blame the parents. They don't pay attention anymore and they certainly don't discipline. Perhaps it's fear of child services being called or because they are too busy, but the parents need to be aware.

And of course....the media. One kid shoots up a school in Kentucky and it airs across the nation. Effectively giving other children the idea. It's a travesty.

I blame the schools the teachers are just mean and expect too much out of students and harass kids about home work

I agree with you even though I myself is a kid I don't mess with that crap I mean make love not war people

you can't pin it on one factor alone but really it's a socio-economic problem more than anything. Basically if children in disadvantaged situations don't get the support they need from school and government a lot of them will end up turning to gangs/crime in frustation. School and community program spending is the best way to handle the problem as it gives children a sense of purpose and prevents them from having the time to join gangs. In the US the "no child left behind" act has made the problem a lot worse by prying funding out of the schools that need it the most.

Suicides and school shootings are more caused from a failure to recognise mental health problems. Mental health disorders are still a stigma in society and is discriminated against in a lot of circumstances instead by society preventing recognition and treatment.

That being said its not just "this generation" it just appears that way. This is the information age and the more we are connected the more society can see how messed up we all are. Also school violence gets ratings which means that it is overcovered. If one case is reported five times that makes it seem like a bigger problem and society than it really is.

Well, if you want an honest answer, put yourself in these kids' shoes.

At six, sometimes younger, you are taken away from your natural parents. You're told it's for your own good and that "school is fun" (come on, you know you've heard that about ten-thousand times.) No love.

The only real family you have are the kids around you and a teacher who only ever gives you work to do. You have no one to connect to. You see guns, violence, sex, etc. all the time on TV and in video games, so you're surrounded with these things from a young age. They become the only familiar thing in life. No love.

The kids in school have begun picking on you because your hair is too long or you don't wear the right clothes or you're not exactly the same as them. Your teacher is mad because you're not doing your work right. Your parents are detached and don't seem like they could care less. You just want to get back at everyone.

And the one thing that remains constant is the tv in front of your eyes, where the bad guys get shot. Shot to death. No love.

I don't believe it's right. It's not the right solution to their problems. However, WE are destroying our youth. When we put a child in school at six, it's like saying, "I don't really care about you." When we send them away like they're some one else's problem, we deprive them of the love that they need to keep living.

The answer to your question? No love.

P.S. Home school, people.