Violence in Schools- Speech

Violence in Schools

            On April 16, 2007, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University had suffered 32 deaths in a violent shooting. On December 14 2012, Sandy Hook Elementary School suffered a shooting, with 26 deaths just as deadly as Virginia Tech. And in fact, these two school shootings were the deadliest in U.S. history. Even so, this is not only happening in the U.S.  It's occurring all over the world. Not just shooting, but violence.  Youth violence includes various behaviors. Some violent acts—such as bullying, hitting, or slapping—can cause more emotional harm than physical harm. Other forms of violence, such as gang violence, assault, and shooting can lead to serious injury or even death. School violence is widely held to have become a serious problem in recent decades in many countries, especially where weapons such as guns or knives are involved. It includes violence between students as well as physical attacks by students on school staff. 

            School violence is any form of violent activity or activities inside the school premises. It includes bullying, physical abuses, verbal abuses, brawl, shooting etc. Bullying and physical abuses are the most common forms of violence that is associated with school violence. Youth violence can be displayed through uttering threats. Threats can come in many forms including verbal, written, or online. Some specific examples of threats to school violence include creating or sharing hit-lists, conspiring and planning attacks, or talking extensively about violence, death, and weapons. Really, school shootings are rare and unusual forms of school violence, and they account for less than 1% of violent crimes in public schools, with an average of 16.5 deaths per year from 2001–2008. Just last year, on March 6, a gun was discharged, said to be accidental, in the crowded student centre around 10:45 p.m. at York University. No one was harmed.

            Many people may wonder why school violence may happen.  But, school violence isn't easy to understand. There is no single reason students become violent. Some are just following the behavior they see at home, on the streets, or in video games, movies, or television (although most don't). Sometimes, people who turn violent are victims of teasing who've hit a limit and feel like they would do anything to make it stop. They may feel isolated and rejected by their peers.

            This is recognized in every part of the world. The Education Minister of Queensland (Australia) said in July 2009 that the rising levels of violence in schools were "totally unacceptable" and admitted that not enough had been done to combat violent behaviour. In Wales, a 2009 survey found that two fifths of teachers reported have been assaulted in the classroom. 49% had been threatened with assault. The French Education Minister claimed in 2000 that 39 out of 75,000 state schools were "seriously violent" and 300 were "somewhat violent".

            In my opinion, school violence is serious issue. We should be aware of this social issue, even if this does not affect us much. You can curtail violence- you can avoid alcohol and drugs, resist becoming a member of a gang, learn and practice the skills of communication and conflict resolution, and work on building you self-esteem. And schools are aware of this. Preventing school violence is going underway in many schools. Some schools have re-evaluated their safety needs answering to the concerns of families and communities. Some now require that guests check in at the office or have more guards on duty. Some schools have installed metal detectors, similar to the ones at airports. The greater awareness of problems such as bullying and discrimination also makes schools safer. There were less shooting in the 1990s than there are now today. Stephen Brock of California State University says "Not only are rates of school violence going steadily down, but it's clear that schools are the safest place for a student to be." 

            You're watching the news in your living room, and you see news of the latest shooting in a school, or the suicide from bullying. It's normal to feel sad about these and maybe even worry about whether this incident may happen to you. It's rare that school violence takes place on the scale of what happened at Sandy Hook or Virginia Tech. In general, schools are generally safer than cars. Twice as many 15- to 19-year-olds die in car accidents than in all kinds of shootings. But school violence is a serious global issue. It is important to know about school violence. 

Works Cited

"School Violence." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_violence>.

"About School Violence." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2 July 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/schoolviolence/>.

"Common Menu Bar Links." School Violence. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. <http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cycp-cpcj/violence/sv-ve/index-eng.htm>.

"School Violence: Data & Statistics." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 27 Oct. 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/schoolviolence/data_stats.html>.

Dowshen, Steven. "Should You Worry About School Violence?" KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. The Nemours Foundation, 1 Dec. 2012. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. <http://kidshealth.org/teen/school_jobs/bullying/school_violence.html>.

"Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting>.

"School Shooting." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting>.

"Virginia Tech Shooting." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_shooting>.

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