Blog #2, School Violence
Unfortunately, one of the harsh realities that must be discussed today is school violence. For me, I was fortunate enough to not have to go through any major violence in school such as school shootings or any real lockdowns. This is not the case for many schools around our country in particular. Throughout the past few years, there have been a number of school shootings, and this should not be something that happens. Students should not have to fear for their lives when waking up and going to school in the morning hoping that there won't be an armed intruder in their school, or hoping that none of the other students would bring in a weapon. Not only that, but school violence also includes harassment and bullying, which are unfortunately much more common, but also terrible things for children to have to go through. I was bullied quite a lot in middle school, and I remember feeling so alone. As a future educator, I want to ensure my students safety, and I want them to know that I will always do everything I can to better their experience at school. Not only that, but I will not tolerate any sort of violence or bullying in my classroom.
School violence is a major issue throughout the world. Preventing school violence is something that all schools should strive to do. School violence can be caused by many different factors, but it is also something that can be prevented or avoided; "The good news is school violence can be prevented. Many factors contribute to school violence. Preventing school violence requires addressing factors at the individual, relational, community, and societal levels. Research shows that prevention efforts by teachers, administrators, parents, community members, and even students can reduce violence and improve the school environment" Preventing School Violence (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019). School violence can cause many issues, such as a distraction from learning, the feeling of not being safe, insecurities, trauma and so much more. Bullying and harassment can somewhat go hand in hand with teaching our students that being different is okay. A lot of the time, kids are bullied for their differences in opinions, looks, races, ethnicities, style and so much more. Teaching our students that individuality is beautiful, this may decrease the amount of bullying happening within schools. Not only that, but if schools participated in stricter anti-violence/harassment/bullying programs, we can work together to create a safer environment for our students.
When we look into students worrying about school shootings, this is a much more difficult pill to swallow. Students are fearful everyday that something like a school shooting will happen. I think that some great ways to help decrease the amount of school shooting would be by taking precautions and implementing different things within schools such as metal detectors and bag searches for all students, faculty and staff entering the building. I also think that visitors should have to go through the metal detectors and bag searches as well, to further ensure the safety of our students. From Graf, N. (2018, April), it is clear from the study that a majority of students are worried about school shootings; "Overall, 57% of teens say they are worried about the possibility of a shooting happening at their school, with one-in-four saying they are very worried. About three-in-ten (29%) say they are not too worried about this, and just 13% say they are not at all worried." Not only are the students scared, but the parents are too. Parents should also be having the reassurance that their kid will be safe while going to school. While this is something that students should not have to stress about, it is a harsh reality in todays world. Schools should be taking more preventative measures to help reassure the safety of all students and staff within the building.
Overall, as future educators, we should prioritize the safety of our students. Making sure that we acknowledge their thoughts and feelings would be a great first step, as well as telling our students that we will be there for them when they need it. We should encourage our students to accept one another, and if they see or hear about any sort of school violence, report it immediately. We need to keep our students safe so that they are able to fully receive the education they deserve without having concerns in regards to their safety as a major distraction to them.
Graf, N. (2020, May 30). Majority of teens worry about school shootings, and so do most parents. Retrieved February 14, 2021, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/18/a-majority-of-u-s-teens-fear-a-shooting-could-happen-at-their-school-and-most-parents-share-their-concern/
Preventing school violence |violence prevention|injury center|cdc. (2020, October 28). Retrieved February 12, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/schoolviolence/fastfact.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fviolenceprevention%2Fyouthviolence%2Fschoolviolence%2Findex.html
Comments
Post a Comment