and reach thousands of daily visitors
19 MAY 2008
NO 1298
School aggression
This study was invited by school administrators who had concerns about aggression in their middle school. We found that just over 21% of male students and only 4% of female students had actually physically beaten up another student in the past year. Interviews revealed that male students frequently engage in play fights and therefore we should be careful about the attributions we make vis-a-vis aggressive behaviour within this school population. An analyses of sex differences in the use of physical, sexual, and relational forms of aggression showed that male students are more likely than female students to engage in all forms of aggression. Whether they use aggression or not, the students in the school seem to be aware of the culture of aggression within the school. The words of the students provide insight into the dynamic, context-dependent centre of their experiences and have highlighted the importance of attending to conditions within the school context in order to understand what influences behaviour.
Competition within the school milieu was a strong theme in students' interviews. The level of competition reported to exist within and between groups of students (e.g., males striving for dominance, male and female students seeking to obtain friends, and female students competing for boyfriends) supports contentions that competitive school climates interfere with students' abilities to communicate, form connections with others, and prompt students to express their own power and strength in efforts to achieve safety from aggression by others (Kohn, 2004; Pelligrini, 2002; Yamaguchi, 2001).
Consistent with the findings of Smith and Thomas (2000), students in this study spoke about engaging in aggressive behaviour as having instrumental value for achieving belonging and acceptance through dominance. Gaining acceptance by peers in the school followed stereotypical gender expectations: for males, respect was derived from displaying physical toughness; for females, respect was derived from physical attractiveness and verbal toughness. A couple of norms for gaining acceptance and avoiding victimization applied equally to both male and female students: looking after one's reputation (never ratting on your friends) and avoiding being seen as a too polite, "goodie-goodie."
The findings suggest that male students are more likely to feel pressure to conform to gender expectations that are not consistent with a peaceful existence in school (e.g., various forms of play fighting, engaging in overt attempts to achieve dominance) (Mills, 2001). Further, evidence exists to support the notion that males are taught through cultural norms to not expect to feel connected to others (i.e., males should be strong, independent, individuals who do not need others) (Garbarino, 1999; Pollack, 1998) and therefore may be a hard group to persuade that they are being denied a fundamental human need.
Students described belonging at school
as arising from feeling cared about by friends and teachers. While peers
were said to have the strongest influence on feelings of belonging, the
role that teachers play in school belonging was also noted. The findings
also highlight that students perceive their role within the school as
generally restricted to classroom learning. Students reports of teachers
yelling at disruptive students suggests that classroom control for the
purpose of academic achievement was
a high priority for teachers. Yelling at students models a lack of
regard for students' feelings and validates a form of social rejection,
and in this way, interferes with students' ability to develop a socially
interdependent consciousness (Beck and Malley, 1998; Chang, 2003; Ohrn,
2001; Roeser, et al., 2000).
Finally, school crowding prompted the imposition of a number of rules (e.g., shorter time for interaction over lunchtime to reduce garbage around the school; no carrying of drinks around the school to prevent bumping and spillage) intended to counter some of the effects of overcrowding (e.g., difficulties with student body movement, the volume of garbage, student safety). However, the imposition of rules without student consultation and participation in decision-making is another way that the school failed to give students experiences with autonomy and competence (Ohrn, 2001). When adults accuse students of having a bad attitude when they voice their concerns, students become at risk of disengaging from school (Baker & Bridger, 1997; Fallis and Opotow, 2003). Additionally, the size of the school inhibits students' ability to get to know one another well, without which, it becomes harder to learn to cooperate and experience a sense of interdependence (Riner and Saywell, 2002).
DIANA NICHOLSON
Nicholson, D. (2006). Taking a second look at
aggression. Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies, 7, 1. pp. 45-47.
REFERENCES
Baker, J. and Bridger, R. (1997). Schools as caring communities: A relational approach to school reform. School Psychology Review, 26, 4. EBSCOHOST. Retrieved April 24 2002.
Beck , M. and Malley, J. (1998). A pedagogy of belonging. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 7, 3. pp. 133-137.
Chang, L. (2003) Variable effects of children's aggression, social withdrawal and prosocial leadership as functions of teacher beliefs and behaviours. Child Development, 74, 2. pp. 535-548.
Fallis, R. and Opotow, S. (2003) Are children failing school or are schools failing students?: Class cutting in high school. Journal of Social Issues, 59, 1. pp. 103-119.
Garbarino, J. (1999). Lost boys: Why our sons turn violent and how we can save them. New York. The Free Press.
Kohn, A. (2004). Safety from the inside out: Rethinking traditional approaches. Educational Horizons, Fall. pp. 33-41.
Mills, M. (2001). Challenging violence in schools: An issue of masculinities. Buckingham. Open University Press.
Ohrn, E. (2001). Marginalization of democratic values: A gendered practice of schooling? International Journal of Inclusive Education, 5, 2-3. pp. 319-328.
Pellegrini, A. (2002). Bullying, victimization and sexual harassment during transition to middle school. Educational Psychologist, 37, 3. pp.151-163.
Pollack, W. (1998). Real boys: Rescuing our sons from the myth of boyhood. New York. Random House.
Riner, M. and Saywell, R. (2002). Development of the social ecology model of adolescent interpersonal violence prevention (SEMAIVP). Journal of School Health, 72, 2. pp. 65-70.
Roeser, R.; Eccles, J. and Sameroff, A. (2000). School as a context of early adolescents' socio-emotional development: A summary of research findings. The Elementary School Journal, 100, 5. pp. 443-471.
Smith, H. and Thomas, S. (2000). Violent and non-violent girls: Contrasting perceptions of anger experiences, school and relationships. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 21. pp. 547-575.
Yamaguchi, R. (2001). Children's learning groups: A study of emergent leadership, dominance and group effectiveness. Small Group Research, 32, 6. pp. 671-697.
