Blog Post #3

School Violence and Identifying the Factors

The broad topic of School Violence affects individuals all over the world, but precisely, American society. Students, teachers, parents, and staff have developed an ongoing fear of attending school due to the numerous amounts of tragedies that have recently taken place. Personally, in my generation, this has become a significant issue that is spoken of daily. The school environment isn't supposed to be one that individuals fear going to, although it has now become one. Attending school might not always be the most exciting thing for individuals to do, but it should be a place where people can feel safe. 

As I analyzed this topic, several ideas were prominent to me, especially the factors that make youth at risk for school violence. While reading the article Understanding School Violence Fact Sheet, a specific area captured my attention regarding the risk factors involved in school and youth violence ("Understanding School Violence Fact Sheet," 2016). Evidently, several components could increase the risk of a child carrying out violent acts in school. Before reading into this topic, I wasn't entirely aware of the prevalent factors that could intensify threats of school violence. Therefore, the first factor I discovered was that,  if the youth had previous experience with violence, whether it be with a peer or family member, this could increase the risk of destructiveness in school. Also, the youth could be at risk due to the type of community they live in or their living conditions. If the child lives in a high crime and poor area, where they are already exposed to violence, it could easily be expressed in school as well ("Understanding School Violence Fact Sheet," 2016). Whether they encounter poor living conditions in-home or outside of their home, they can be severely affected. If inside the youth's house, there is an insufficient family structure, they are more likely to act out violently in school. Along with family structure taking place outside of school, if they have peers who often break the rules, they could also put the child at risk for violence ("Understanding School Violence Fact Sheet," 2016). The risk factor for youth that is the most apparent to me is the association with drug, alcohol, or use of tobacco ("Understanding School Violence Fact Sheet," 2016). Generally, if a young child is on a negative path utilizing substances, their actions could be negative as well, ultimately resulting in school violence. Most youth will fall into these bad habits concerning the other risk factors, especially if their surrounds are insufficient or unmeetable. Lastly, if the child is struggling from school and receiving poor grades, there is a connection to that child carrying at school violence. Without any doubt, most of these risk factors for school violence connect to each other. Overall, if the child is going down the wrong path, action should be immediately taken to prevent school violence from occurring. Even though all these factors are risks for school violence, they also do not ensure the youth will be destructive ("Understanding School Violence Fact Sheet," 2016). 

While reading an article from "Education Week" called What School Shooters Have in Common by Jillian Peterson and James Densley, I drew some connections from the material, Understanding School Violence Fact Sheet. Peterson and Densley collected data about how to prevent school shootings based on real instances they studied. They also found that there's no specific way to characterize a school shooter or predict who they might be, before the action. Therefore, based on the school shootings they studied, they found four traits the individuals had that were similar to one another. These four traits had similarities to the risk factors expressed in Understanding School Violence Fact Sheet, which is where I found connections between the two texts. In the article, Peterson and Densley revealed that school shooters showed the same signs of having severe stress and violence in their early-childhood. This fact directly relates to Understanding School Violence Fact Sheet, since that article expressed that if the youth had previous experience with violence, they had increased risks of school violence ("Understanding School Violence Fact Sheet," 2016). Peterson and Densley also found that the offender had signs of exasperation or irritation for a continuous amount of time, resulting in the individual becoming an offender (What School Shooters Have in Common 2019). The offenders they studied had such high risks, which caused them to have feelings of harming themselves before their actions as well. Another common trait found in the study was that the offenders actually went online and researched to learn about how to carry out a school shooting. One offender actually looked at Columbine attack while conducting research online (What School Shooters Have in Common 2019). Lastly, Peterson and Densley found that nearing the attack, the offender felt confident in carrying out their tactic (What School Shooters Have in Common 2019).

Conclusively, after reading, Understanding School Violence Fact Sheet, and What School Shooters Have in Common by Jillian Peterson and James Densley, my knowledge has dramatically increased about learning what the individual is facing before the act of violence in the school setting for prevention. I've learned a lot about this broad topic that I didn't know before, and these articles bettered my knowledge on the specific signs to look for in students. As I move closer towards entering the teaching field, I feel that I have improved awareness to a great extent. Being successful in protecting and preventing students from going down the wrong path is a must when being a teacher. With the help of these highly factual and influential articles, I now feel confident in instilling prevention in students and the classroom. 

References:

Densley, J., & Peterson, J. (2019, October 08). What School Shooters Have in Common. Retrieved October 08, 2019, from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/10/09/what-school-shooters-have-in-common.html

Understanding School Violence Fact Sheet. (2016). Retrieved October 08, 2019, from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/