Violence in American Schools
Violence in American Schools
Violence has always in been schools for as long as anyone can remember. However, the days of small skirmishes in the hallway between two students are of the least of problems. Today students are much more hostile in schools, and every time the news hits the TV talking about another school shooting it makes everyone involved with schools paranoid, prejudice, and frightened. But what is even more frightening then the acts themselves is the question “WHY?”. Why did two teenage boys one day decide to go to Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado and murder 15 people, while strapping down the school building with homemade explosives? What was going through those two teenage boy’s head? Why did they do it? Did they do for attention? Did they do it for the “NAZI” cause (As the press made it sound like.)? Or did they do it because they felt that they were never perceived as an individual (an equal), and all they wanted to do was “matter”.
Sadly schools cannot make students not gasp for attention or disapprove of such things as the NAZI belief, however schools can make each and every student feel as though they matter. I believe that this is the problem that state and local governments should be focusing on. I also believe that by focusing on this problem school violence will decrease substantially. Finally I believe that if a teacher a day before the Columbine shooting had pulled one of the young men off to the side and had said “I’m listening, tell me what is on your mind.”, then the incident would have never occurred.
Research on this topic will not necessarily be easy to find. I will spend a lot of time researching the Columbine shooting as well as going into greater depth the understanding of “Savage Inequalities” by Jonathan Kozol. Because in this book Kozol points out that in order for all students to succeed they must first feel as though they “matter”. If a student is surrounded with an atmosphere of poor clothing, poor heating/cooling, and poor facilities than that student feels as though the quality of their character is poor as well.
Bibliography
Bower, Bruce. “Incriminating Developments: Scientists Want to Reform the...