Breaking the day-to-day cycle of violence

Last week, in one day, a teacher-friend of mine was punched in the jaw and in the stomach, in two separate incidences at her school. She teaches in a Chicago Public School on the west side of the city and while it was rare for two separate incidents to occur in one day, the violence itself is not rare.

The first of act of violence was when a 7th grade student hit her, when she politely requested that he stop talking on his cell-phone in the hallway. She asked him politely “please stop talking on your phone”, to which he responded with “no” and a series of profanities. She asked him again, in the same flat non-threatening, but firm tone, and he stepped toward her and punched her in the jaw.

Later in the day, two of her own students were in a physical fight while leaving the bathroom. She immediately asked them to break it up and, upon her own choosing, stepped in between the boys and she and another teacher separated them—at least momentarily. However, the student who she was not with left the teacher he was with, and reached around her and the student she was with and accidentally hit her.

Now, I know that many questions could be posed about this situation, including much criticism for her, as many teachers wouldn’t intervene in ways that she did. However, I fully respect her right to make the decisions she did as an educator. My overall concern about the situation is the fact that “random acts of violence” occur on a regular basis, in this particular school setting and sadly, I’m sure it is not alone. Which leads me to the following question:

HOW and WHY do students think that violence, against each other, against their teacher, and specifically in their school, is an acceptable solution to their problems?

I fully recognize that this is a very large question, one that has numerous implications that include but are not limited to: social, cultural, and socioeconomic concerns. However, I do believe with continued discussion and increased scrutiny, some solutions can be found and the cycle of violence can begin to be broken.

Two Organizations that look at the issue of violence in schools are listed below.

1) The Constitutional Rights Foundation
2) The National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center


The Constitutional Rights Foundation (http://www.crf-usa.org/school-violence/) states:
“Regardless of fluctuations in its rates, incidence, and categories, violence continues to create an ongoing challenge to the nation's educational environment. Violence in our schools demands that educators, students, parents, social service organizations, and concerned individuals be informed about the problems, causes, and effects of school violence and that we all join the search for solutions. We hope that the lessons and resources included in this CRF online site may help to introduce the problem of--and solutions to-- school violence into our schools' educational agendas.”

The National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center (http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/topics/school.asp) has links to numerous resources and articles to assist those who are working at addressing school violence in their schools and communities.

Neither provides all-encompassing solutions, but both do provide honest insight into the many issues surrounding students and violence in this nation.