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 And
so it is again that the end of another academic year is standing right
before you. It is with sincere hope that your academic standing is
sound and that you are well prepared to enjoy a relaxing and
fun-filled summer.
And so it also is that many of your peers are not in
as solid shape as the rest of you. Hopefully, those peers will attend
to their challenges over the summer and then be prepared to take on
the next academic year, looking forward to greater successes.
Whether you are a current academic success story or an
up and coming one, there remains one particular item of continued
significance to all of you, the issue of violence in the schools. The
battle against it continues to fail. Accordingly, this article is
written on behalf of all those who have been or may yet become an
in-school violence victim.
School related violence and the threat of it remains
rampant, both in your community as well as around the country. The
media and the school boards that believe otherwise are contributing to
the problem. Thousands of kids in school are on a daily basis
frightened of being threatened, accosted and maligned. Take for
example the following excerpts from an April 14 USA Today article, One
Year After Columbine: Threat of Violence Throughout the School Year.
The article reflects a dozens of reported threats and acts of violence
throughout the United States during the last academic year.
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Sept. 22, Tampa - Five children are robbed at
gunpoint of their shirts and shoes while waiting for the bus at
school. Two classmates were arrested.
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Oct. 11, Las Vegas - Two students are shot outside
of their high school in a suspected gang-related incident.
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Nov. 12, Lakeland - A 12-year-old seventh grader
tries to choke a teacher who confiscated his Pokémon cards.
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Jan. 5, Minneapolis - A 13-year-old girl is raped
in a stairwell after finishing gymnastics practice at her high
school. A 16-year-old student is arrested and charged with the
rape.
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May 25, Lake Worth - An honors-level middle school
student fatally shoots a teacher for having him suspended for
throwing water balloons on school grounds. Reports indicate the
shooting was intended for a school counselor, not the teacher.
To believe that you and your classmates are
categorically safe and sound in your school is frighteningly
incorrect. If you remain even remotely aware of the tragic (and
not-so-tragic) violence occurring in academic settings, you have to
believe that it is the student in conjunction with the faculty and
administration that represents the recipe to reduce such calamity in
today's schools. Students by and large possess a keen awareness of
what goes on around them. Research in social psychology confirms that
students who are intending to aggressively act-out often provide
plenty of evidence to others prior to their acts. Many individuals,
for example, were aware well in advance of the propensity for violence
perpetrated on their teachers and classmates by the two Columbine
students. So too were students aware of the Lake Worth lad's intent to
harm a school official.
Parents, faculty and administrators owe it to all of
you to galvanize into your minds how to safely and responsibly report
knowledge that you hold pertaining to violent intentions of your
fellow students. Your assistance and your wisdom will make the
difference. Waiting for legislators and politicians to reframe the
manner in which school violence is handled is merely postponing the
immediate impact of protecting one another's back. Although a dated
cliché, it is true that "the next life you save, may be your
own."
So, there you have it. Be aware, get involved and feel
great about your desire to make a powerfully positive difference in
your school and community.
Until next time, please send your welcomed comments,
opinions and suggestions to The Adolescent Angle via email at <rhkahill911@cs.com>.
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