Violence in Schools

 

    Ever since the events that took place on April 20th 1999 in Columbine High School there has been a rise in school violence and the students' worry that it may happen to them. To understand what school violence is you have to understand that it is not limited to just school shootings. School violence also consists of  "bullying and cyberbullying, fighting, weapon use, gang violence, sexual violence" (Preventing school violence, 2019). With that said school violence does not only have to happen in the school. "School violence occurs: on school property, on the way to or from school, during a school-sponsored event, on the way to or from a school-sponsored event" (Preventing school violence, 2019). 

    

    To understand how this country was changed you have to look back at Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999. On this day one of the deadliest school attacks have transpired. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were the shooters. Not only did they shoot their classmates but they had also built bombs and tried to blow up the school, but the bombs didn't work as expected (Moore, 2002). This caused schools, parents and students to react to what they have just witnessed. This caused schools to institute safety precautions such as metal detectors as well as increased security around the premises (Moore, 2002). Anyone would want increased security in their schools to feel safer especially after the events of such a traumatic event. This is similar to how the country reacted to the events of September 11th, 2001. There was tighter security at airports as well as major tourist attractions and government buildings. Before September 11th, 2001 airports didn't have the same tight security that we see today. 

    You would think that after the events of Columbine we would see a change in school violence however that is not the case. "There were 93 incidents with casualties at public and private schools in 2020-21, compared to 23 in the 2000-01 school year. The record year included 43 incidents with deaths and 50 with injuries only." (St. George, 2022). There were 50 more incidents during the 2020-21 school year than in the 2000-01 school year. You would think that after 20 years there would be stricter laws or practices in place to make the number of incidents decrease instead of increase. This makes me wonder if these practices that are in place do not change anything since these events are still taking place. Maybe the increase in technology usage is contributing to the rise in incidents. "Twenty-seven percent of gay, lesbian or bisexual students in grades nine to 12 reported being targeted by electronic bullying during the previous 12 months, compared to 19 percent of students unsure about their sexual identity and 14 percent of heterosexual students, according to 2019 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System." (St. George, 2022). The increase in people being able to express themselves through social media as well as being more comfortable to express themselves can be due to the increase in technology usage. However students that are part of the LGBTQ community are at risk of being bullied due to the availability to see how everyone expresses themselves through social media which is a form of school violence.

The PEW research center conducted research after the shooting in a school in Parkland, Florida (Graf, 2018). They wanted to see how students and parents felt about their safety in their schools after the shooting. There was a total of 743 teens and 1,058 adults that participated in this survey. 38% of adults say that they're very worried while the other 62% are somewhat worried (Graf, 2018). On the student side almost 44% of students are very worried while the other 56% are somewhat worried (Graf, 2018). For the most part both teens and the adults that have participated in this survey seem to be somewhat worried but not very worried. I believe that this is a result of every school being different in every neighborhood. The survey only talked about race, ethnicity and income levels to determine how everyone feels. I believe that each school is different. Some people may think their school is safe and has enough safety precautions in place as opposed to someone else who may view the school differently. Ever since the incident at Columbine High School had taken place there has been 359 school shootings with 9 of them coming from New York (Woodrow Cox, et al., 2022).

     As someone from New York City I have had experienced my share of threats both inside and out of the building ranging from a homemade potato launcher that resembled a grenade launcher found on school grounds to a man holding his family hostage in his house across the street from the school. My high school had metal detectors and that did not stop students from bringing in weapons and lighters into school. My school was a safety transfer school and there were fights almost every single day. Even with the metal detectors students were able to bring in lighters, knives, and  other concealable weapons. One morning someone brought in a can of mace and it went off in the lobby and caused everyone that didn't make it through scanning yet wait outside and were late for class. I have always felt safe in my school even with all of the gang members and hearing gunshots during class and after school during football practice. We had one football game in the Bronx where the game was delayed by an hour because the refs had to check the field for glass, blades and other sharp objects. During that game we were told that we have to move our bags away from the fence because people would come steal our things or make a bomb out of it. To most outsiders they will not feel safe through these same situations. Students that are gang members doing gang initiations in school, wearing their colors and completely disrespectful towards the teachers and staff. To me that was everyday and I felt safe. Not once in my schooling career did I feel unsafe in my schools. As bad as they may seem to others they are not that bad.

References

Graf, N. (2018, April). A majority of U.S. teens fear a shooting could happen at their school, and most parents share their concern. Pew Research Center. 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/Links to an external site.

Moore, M. (Producer & Director) (2002). Bowling for Columbine [Film]. United States: Dog Eat Dog Productions/ YouTube https://watchdocumentaries.com/bowling-for-columbine/ Links to an external site.Links to an external sit

Picture from https://www.tc.columbia.edu/continuing-professional-studies/programs/all-offerings/school-violence-prevention--intervention/

Preventing school violence. (2019). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/schoolviolence/fastfact.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fviolenceprevention%2Fyouthviolence%2Fschoolviolence%2Findex.htmlLinks to an external site.

St. George, D. (2022, June 28). School Shootings Rose to Highest Number in 20 Years, federal data says. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/06/28/school-shootings-crime-report/

Cox, J. W., Rich, S., Chiu, A., Thacker, H., Chong, L., Muyskens, J., & Ulmanu, M. (n.d.). More than 331,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine. The Washington Post. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/local/school-shootings-database/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_13