American School Shootings
What can we do to make American schools mass murder free?
Over two thirds of American parents are concerned about their children’s safety at school following the Columbine Massacre (Madfis, 2016) and other high-profile school shootings in the US. Are their concerns justified? Having examined a report by (Borum, Cornell, Modzeleski, & Jimerson, 2010) which addresses this question by reviewing a range of empirical evidence, I feel as though it is safe to say that American schools are safe and the publicity of the cases creates a grandiose perception of danger and causes unnecessary fear. The report also explains why there is a miscomprehension regarding the occurrence of school shootings and provides insight on how school shootings could be …show more content…
The stability of school violence rates also shows that the introduction of the zero tolerance policy has little or any impact on violence rates (American Psychological Association, 2008). The zero tolerance policy also aims to establish clear expectations of students, however Peak, 2016) notes that there is no one definition of zero tolerance, each school tailors this policy to suit the needs of the school. So for example, if a child was moved schools, it is likely their zero tolerance policy would differ and therefore there is a lack of clarity for the student as to what is expected of them. (American Psychological Association, 2008)
Lastly, it is important to realize that suspension and expulsion have major impacts on child development, and the child’s ability to be able to get work and succeed in the future. A young teenager being involved in a fight regardless of fault and being expelled due to a zero tolerance policy may restrict their lives in the future. Studies have shown that students who get suspended and expelled achieve lower grades as they are missing out on learning time. While it is important to maintain a learning environment, suspension for minor offenses deprives students of the opportunity to learn which can be detrimental to their education and opportunities to find work in the …show more content…
However, if the teachers believe a student is likely to become a criminal, they may act in a way which could lead the students to become criminals. In Jahoda’s study, the boys born on a Monday were labelled as calm whereas those born on a Wednesday were expected to be aggressive and the results found that the boys born on a Monday had higher crime rates than those born on a Wednesday (Putwain & Sammons, 2013). If American students get labelled as potential criminals, they may feel as though any good behavior they display will not be acknowledged and so they can not escape the label leading them to committing more serious offences. This would defeat the purpose of the zero tolerance policies and therefore provides evidence against the use of these disciplines in
Over two thirds of American parents are concerned about their children’s safety at school following the Columbine Massacre (Madfis, 2016) and other high-profile school shootings in the US. Are their concerns justified? Having examined a report by (Borum, Cornell, Modzeleski, & Jimerson, 2010) which addresses this question by reviewing a range of empirical evidence, I feel as though it is safe to say that American schools are safe and the publicity of the cases creates a grandiose perception of danger and causes unnecessary fear. The report also explains why there is a miscomprehension regarding the occurrence of school shootings and provides insight on how school shootings could be …show more content…
The stability of school violence rates also shows that the introduction of the zero tolerance policy has little or any impact on violence rates (American Psychological Association, 2008). The zero tolerance policy also aims to establish clear expectations of students, however Peak, 2016) notes that there is no one definition of zero tolerance, each school tailors this policy to suit the needs of the school. So for example, if a child was moved schools, it is likely their zero tolerance policy would differ and therefore there is a lack of clarity for the student as to what is expected of them. (American Psychological Association, 2008)
Lastly, it is important to realize that suspension and expulsion have major impacts on child development, and the child’s ability to be able to get work and succeed in the future. A young teenager being involved in a fight regardless of fault and being expelled due to a zero tolerance policy may restrict their lives in the future. Studies have shown that students who get suspended and expelled achieve lower grades as they are missing out on learning time. While it is important to maintain a learning environment, suspension for minor offenses deprives students of the opportunity to learn which can be detrimental to their education and opportunities to find work in the …show more content…
However, if the teachers believe a student is likely to become a criminal, they may act in a way which could lead the students to become criminals. In Jahoda’s study, the boys born on a Monday were labelled as calm whereas those born on a Wednesday were expected to be aggressive and the results found that the boys born on a Monday had higher crime rates than those born on a Wednesday (Putwain & Sammons, 2013). If American students get labelled as potential criminals, they may feel as though any good behavior they display will not be acknowledged and so they can not escape the label leading them to committing more serious offences. This would defeat the purpose of the zero tolerance policies and therefore provides evidence against the use of these disciplines in