Three Approaches to Coping with School Violence

Abstract

Some school critics and statisticians have observed that drug-dealing, vandalism, robbery, and murder have replaced gum-chewing, “talking out of turn,” tardiness, and rudeness as the most chronic problems afflicting today’s schools. If the intent of this observation is to shock and rattle the public’s sensibilities, it’s working. Of course, some of us may interpret such suggestions as merely dark, stoic, and cynical—“scare” tactics quite in keeping with the current national mood about many social issues these days. Yet, as a profession (and a society) maybe a little shock treatment now and then is good for us, especially if we ourselves work in relatively “safe” schools and communities. Maybe it’s time to remind ourselves that one school’s problem can become every school’s problem if the profession at large is not watchful and careful. No school is immune to the potential of extreme violence, as many of us, without meaning to, have learned. If you’re a long-time, veteran English teacher, you may never have thought you’d see the day when an issue of English Journal would be devoted to school violence. The idea never occurred to me, either. But here we are, and here that issue is. And, what’s more, it’s high time. While none of us needs convincing that the violence problem is serious in a great many places, some of the statistics are sobering. The National Education Association (March 1994) reports that the number of children killed by firearms between 1979 and 1991 equals the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War; every two hours, a child dies from gunshots; guns kill more black males between the ages of 10 and 24 than any other cause. A 1993 Harris survey (Youth Record, August 3), reveals that 22% of students polled claimed they took weapons to school in the previous school year (and how many declined to admit it?); a Gallup poll conducted for Phi Delta Kappan (Elam 1993, 137–152) showed the public ranking drug abuse, discipline, and violence in the top four of the ten most serious problems affecting schools. And the depressing numbers drone on. Yet, a MetLife teacher’s survey in 1993 shows that 77% of teachers and 50% of kids felt safe in and around their own schools (9). And according to a New York Times article (1994), although violent incidents in New York City’s 1,100 public schools (K–12) rose 26% in 1993–94, no homicides occurred in them—the first year since 1990. Still, in the same article, New York City Schools’ Chancellor Ramon C. Cortines laments: