In the studies conducted by Leonard Eron, Ph.D., and his associates at the University of Illinois, APA (2005)” found that children who watched many hours of TV violence when they were in elementary school tended to also show a higher level of aggressive behavior when they became teenagers. By observing these youngsters until they were 30 years old, Dr. Eron found that the ones who'd watched a lot of TV when they were eight years old were more likely to be arrested and prosecuted for criminal acts as adults.” For the entire crisis’ that happened at a school the “TV” was one of the
many things that people blamed their problems on. According to Dr. Eron’s studies, kids get more aggressive as they age. TV in the United States has a lot more violence, sexual content and gore compared to any other country and can be viewed so easily by kids since these things are so prevalent in a capitalist market where things spreads like wildfire when there is a hit movie or a drama. Doyle (2000) indicated that “violence in the United States is seen as entertaining in every aspect including sport, TV, and video games.” Yes, to many Americans seeing other people get hurt is just a type of entertainment and enjoy watching others get hurt. Also, Dr. Eron’s studies show that kids learn and keep the violent or bad tendencies learned from TV. Not only TV induces violent activity at schools but their involvement in gangs, drugs and type of music also contribute to kids acting violently at schools.
The cause of violence can be blamed on many things and one thing is drugs and gangs. Now that more kids are selling and buying drugs, those kids are making money
and they buy weapons. They see getting gun as an essential for their protection and also think that they are invincible since they have a loaded gun in their hands. Some kids even think all they need are a “kilo of crack, a bitch and gatt.” Gangs, since they’ve been around violence have been increasing steadily. Gangs create an identity for the kids in which they can relate to and get help from when needed. The spread of gangs and drugs has been increasing violence of school youths. The recent shootings in Minnesota CNN.com (2005) showed the kid “Jeff Weise’s connection with the Neo-Nazi and how he admired Adolph Hitler instead of admiring a positive figure”. Also with the popularity of gangster rap, especially 50 cent; 50 cent is a “gangster and rapper” who is idolized by many kids these days. Their music emphasizes misogyny, hatred, and encourages an ignorant individuality, drug use and deadly behaviors such as going out to shooting cops and other very unethical/moral behaviors that would not be considered in the norm of today’s society. The reason the kids are relying on gangs, drugs is for their acceptance. They want to feel a part of something because they are
being neglected at home by their busy working parents.
Another reason behind students being violent is that they do not have a proper mentor to properly discipline them when it is needed. Yes it is true that they contribute in some ways for the safety of the schools by paying their taxes and voting for the laws which are used to suppress their kids who are walked through metal detectors and searched while they walk into their schools. The kids need more than the parents’ financial support but also need to be their support socially and mentally with problems that they have. The parents need to be a part of their kid’s lives, but that isn’t the case in many families that live in the United States of America, a lot of parents are just working, busy trying to keep themselves afloat with some parents who could careless about the good of their children. They don’t take time to talk to their kids about their school life. The parents are more interested in their kid’s performance in school than their well being. All the schools really care about is their reputation as a whole. The schools want students with good grades and no trouble.
Doyle (2000) states that, “We are more likely to find solutions in the quality of relationships that are formed within the school than in safety devices.”
Parents, police and faculty are trying to all approach this problem within schools. But they’ve taken big steps with safety in schools by mainly using fear to control the students with police within premises and metal detectors. I personally think the schools shouldn’t be treating each student as a criminal but should be a place a kid goes interact, play with kids not a place where they have to fear each other. I also think there should be less of a punishment and more awards for kids who actually do good things for the school which would encourage the kids to go out and do such things. This problem of school violence will never be solved there will always be a bad apple all we can do is help form a closer bond amongst students and amongst student and faculty to mentor each other not only academically but also with personal issues that they can’t resolve themselves as it was stated above.