Reports of violence, especially shootings, in our nation's schools are becoming all too frequent and familiar. Increasingly, the shooters are children themselves, often classmates of those slain. Even more distressing is the age of the shooters: children as young as six have been charged with school shootings.
In response, schools have become virtual fortresses, adding security officers; installing fences, surveillance cameras, and metal detectors; restricting visitors; locking school doors; searching students' lockers; and implementing "zero-tolerance" no-weapons policies.
However, these measures address only symptoms, not the problem itself. Indeed, they overlook the "web of causation" for school violence, which includes living in a violent home; low self-esteem; lack of social skills and friends; being "different"; inability to manage anger or resolve conflicts; ineffective family coping; lack of moral development; access to weapons, drugs, and alcohol; and resulting rage.
Thus, schools have relied on secondary and tertiary prevention to address school violence, while ignoring the ideal approach: primary prevention. The long-range solution to school violence is incorporating anti-violence health promotion strategies into school health programs, including mental health promotion and esteem-building; teaching tolerance for diversity, conflict resolution skills, anger and stress management, and social skills; and providing family support services, including referral to community resources for family counseling, chemical dependency treatment, and treatment of emotional or mental illness.
In short, school systems must act now to adopt anti-violence primary prevention initiatives within their coordinated school health programs. Failure to do so would be unconscionable and will allow the violence to persist, unchecked.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to: 1. Describe the prevalence of violence in American schools based on current national statistics. 2. Evaluate the effectiveness of 3 anti-violence measures used in schools today. 3. Identify at least 3 factors implicated in the web of causation for school violence. 4. Propose 3 primary prevention strategies to incorporate into a coordinated school health program to reduce school violence.
Keywords: School Health, Violence Prevention
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.