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The Oxford Observer

Vicious Violence: Countless Causes?

2/27/2014

2 Comments

 
I will state this now: I do NOT condone any types of violence at all. Please keep this in mind throughout this post.
This week's tutorial paper posed a question which is at the heart of a heated debate: Who is responsible for school violence?

Toshio Ohsako (1997) took ten separate studies on school violence from countries on every continent. While they all had different types of violence depending on certain factors, Ohsako (1997, p. 12) classified violence into three broad groups:
Physical Violence (hitting, kicking)
Physical Violence
Verbal Violence (name-calling, insulting)
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Psychological Violence (isolation, ignoring)
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Similarly to Ohsako, I determined violence can be caused by five different sources. Depending on the country, state/province, and community, these factors can vary in degree and applicability. Many of these come from Ohsaka (1997, p. 13-4), although some other studies by Oliver and Candappa (2007) and Yaakov Iram (1997) are represented.
Student Relations
Personality clashes, bullying, alienation of a cultural or socio-economic group, isolation of an individual or sub-culture, gender clashes, gang violence
Teachers and School Environment
School culture that condones violence, existing violence, how teachers recognize/handle bullying, poor pupil-teacher relationships, poor academic performance, culture of bullying, irrelevant curricula
Societal Problems
Media's intensifying coverage of school violence, political coups or general unrest, civil wars, gang violence, overcrowded or irregular transportation, alcohol and drugs
Parental/Familial Issues
Broken homes improper parenting, lack of "family values with good moral and religious guidelines," poor parental support, inconsistent or unjust discipline,
I would largely blame society and bad parenting for American school violence. Here's why:
Society because of the widespread media attention given to perpetrators of violence (which I think exacerbates the problem and lays blame in the wrong areas) and the culture of student coddling (pushed mainly by developmental psychologists afraid of damaging self-esteem)
Parents because of poor parenting (sheltering their child, providing a bad example), nonexistent or inconsistent discipline (give in to their child's "demands," cater to their every whim), and lack of supporting teachers (side with their children and assume the teacher is at fault: what I call "angel-child syndrome)
Like I said, there are many different causes of school violence, all unique to certain communities, cultures, and societies. I think the absolute worst thing we can do is blame violence on one thing (like gun control) and widen our scope, looking at all possible causes and solutions. I also think we can realize that many districts take preventing violence "to the max" and adopt useless and ridiculous "zero tolerance" policies which do nothing but encourage overreaction and knee-jerking. For their part, the media should not rile the public up about how one thing is causing the destruction of our schools when clearly that's not probable: it will always be a multitude of causes which impact schools.
2 Comments
B.D.
2/27/2014 10:25:41 am

You make several good points. There are also cases of "angel child" syndrome with teachers too. I had an experience where a teacher believed that one student could do no wrong, and as such turned a blind eye to another student being bullied by the first because of this.
Also, wish you were going to be with us in Atl. this year.

Reply
Brian Keough
3/27/2014 12:28:41 am

I'm glad that you see this issue as having many sources -- too often in education, we are quick to blame one source of an issue, "demonize" that source, and respond by saying -- "it's their fault -- nothing we can do."

Great educators recognize that when a problem has multiple sources, such as school violence, there is no one magic "quick fix" -- instead, a strategic plan, based on fact and not supposition, grounded in research, and executed with passion is always more effective -- both long-term and short-term.

What can we do as educational leaders? Promote solutions for both the long-term and short-term. It is my belief that violence is part human nature (from the survival "fight or flight" instinct), and part taught and reinforced. Anything that is learned can also be un-learned -- and as teachers and administrators, it is our job to help students "un-learn" violent behaviors.

Is this in the Common Core State Standards ? Absolutely not! Is it one of the most important lessons we can teach our young men (and women) early in life for short-term and long-term success ? Absolutely.

Thanks for sharing your insights James :-)

Reply



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