School violence is a serious problem that affects scholars, teachers, and the whole school community. It can include fights, bullying, threats, or bringing weapons to school, and it often makes people feel unsafe and/or stressed. Violence can happen because of kids' anger, peer pressure, problems at home, or not knowing how to handle emotions in a healthy way. When schools begin to feel unsafe, it can affect the students' learning environment, students may have a hard time focusing, and could cause an increase in absences.
One major reason fights escalate is instigation. Even though many people do not realize how big of a role it plays. According to the NBPC, "Peer pressure occurs when a peer group or individual encourages others to change their attitudes, values, or behaviors to conform to those of the influencing group or individual." Instigation can cause serious problems in different ways. For example, instigating can include talking about someone, or repeating other people's comments that target specific people. Another reason people could have a fight in school is because their mental health isn't stable. Most of the time, their life at home isn't as good as you would expect it to be, and they have stress or problems to worry about. The final reason that could cause a fight to start would be because of arguing over social media. Most schools have anti-bullying laws or no-tolerance laws, but they don't always work. As you can still see, kids are in dangerous environments and exposed to violence in school because they are sometimes not secure enough. Some people say that school fights are a normal part of being a kid, but in this day and age school fights are getting way out of hand, and even going beyond just school fights to the point of the violence escalating more than it should be.
what causes school violence?
Spreading rumors
Stress
Bullying/Cyber Bullying
Peer and Social Influence
Mental Health Challenges
Media and Environmental Exposure
Conflict Resolution Deficits
Family Environment
Exposure to violence
Revenge and Recognition-Seeking
There are already rules and laws that try to deal with school violence, like zero-tolerance policies, anti-bullying laws, and having school resource officers on campus. This shows that the government knows school fights are a serious problem. Although, not everyone agrees on how schools should handle it. Some people think schools are way too strict, while others think they’re not strict enough. That is why the government needs to be involved. Public schools are supposed to keep students safe and make sure everyone can learn in a secure environment without having to worry about dangerous situations occuring. Since school violence affects students, families, and the whole community, it is the government's responsibility to protect its civilians.