Security
from school violence lies first in caring
Spare the Rod
After rampage killings like the one at Red Lake,
Minn., the words that parents and students really want to hear from
school officials — “We know how to prevent savage attacks and
shootings” — are words no one can say with confidence. Still, that
doesn't mean officials don't have various ways to make schools as
safe as possible. They do, and since Columbine, many approaches have
been tried. But a new report by the Advancement Project, a national
racial justice organization which studied schools in Denver,
Chicago, and Palm Beach, Fla., contends that many districts have
focused too narrowly on security and discipline. This is especially
true in urban schools, where much of school violence takes place.
The study, “Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse
Track,” zeroes in on the catch phrase “zero tolerance.” It finds
that school districts have overreacted to juvenile crime. Students
were both expelled and sent to juvenile courts for misconduct that,
prior to Columbine, would not have been punished as severely. Such
actions, claims the study, are not likely to prevent more
Columbines.
Punishments that overreach
Public schools are incredibly complex social and cultural
institutions, and overly legal procedures are not the answer to
school violence. Something is amiss when battery charges are filed
against a 14-year-old girl for pouring a carton of chocolate milk
over the head of a classmate, or a 10-year-old girl is handcuffed
and taken to a police station for bringing a pair of scissors to
school that she intended to use on a school project.
Typically, punishment means ostracism. Schools exclude students from
the group: by detention, suspension, or expulsion — solving the
school's problem, but not always the student's. What's lacking is
prevention long before violent behavior occurs.
Sending a signal of support early
Educators should make early connections with all students, and do so
without the threat of punishment. Students heading for trouble know
if someone is fighting for them. Tough love is respected, and that
credibility can be lost if, by word or deed, schools readily
abrogate discipline to police and prosecutors. A constant dark cloud
of impersonal authority can easily be seen by students as “We're not
going to support you.”
A supportive atmosphere is much more likely in smaller schools,
where more personal relationships are possible. For large districts,
that can be achieved by adapting a school-within-a-school approach:
Three thousand students can be broken down into six units of 500
with a core faculty assigned to each.
School officials are all too aware of the negative forces on
children today. But they can't go into a student's home and check
out posters on the wall, guns in the dresser, or hate mail on a
computer. Still, they know that kids often know kids better than
they do. It was no secret in Red Lake that the 16-year-old assailant
was troubled. One legacy of that tragedy might be a willingness by
more students to speak out — to put “two and two together,” as the
boy's step-aunt lamented — and focus on getting help for troubled
kids.
Administrators need students on the front line to notice when a
peer's behavior is more than just strange or aloof. But will
students trust adults enough to say so-and-so said he wants to blow
away people? The cultural norm of not squealing is a great obstacle,
especially with teen boys. Also, kids on the periphery don't easily
mingle with kids in the mainstream.
Asking students to care, too
School officials who make it known they care — and ask all students
to care for others as well — create schools where awareness about a
troubled student can lead to counseling. Like much of education,
there's no formula for bringing this about. But it's as essential as
routine fire drills.
And when a student displays major problems, such as a mood swing
after a family crisis, schools need to sit down and talk through
such issues with the student. One school superintendent, for
instance, at the end of each intervention, asks the student to pick
from a list of teachers and counselors for further talks. He makes
it clear “we care, and here is someone you can go to who cares about
you.”
If schools went beyond mere policing and
disciplining, they'd call 911 less often.
Opinion: Christian Science Monitor
6 April 2005
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0406/p08s01-comv.html
