Essay on Violence in Schools: Causes, Effects, and Solutions

This essay, titled "Violence in Schools – Opinion Editorial," examines the pervasive issue of violence within educational institutions. It highlights that violence denies students their fundamental right to education and creates an unsafe learning environment. The essay explores various contributing factors, including media influence, mental health concerns, and access to weapons, while also acknowledging the unique circumstances surrounding each incident. It emphasizes the detrimental effects of school violence, such as fear, mental health issues like PTSD and depression, and decreased academic performance. The essay proposes solutions involving parental involvement, community outreach, stricter school disciplinary measures, enhanced security, awareness campaigns, and counseling. The author stresses the importance of a unified community effort to address and curb school violence for the safety and well-being of students. The essay references several academic sources to support its claims.

Running header: VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS – OPINION EDITORIAL 1
Violence in schools – Opinion Editorial
Students Name
Institutional Affiliation

VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS – OPINION EDITORIAL 2
Violence in schools is a daily reality that is denying more young people and children the
fundamental right to education. According to an estimate given by plan international, about two
hundred and forty-six million adolescents and children experience violence in and around
schools every year (UNESCO, 2019). In a typical setting, every child deserves the right to live
free from psychological and physical violence; however, violence cultivates insecurity and fear
that infringes a pupil’s rights to learn in a conducive and safe environment. Violence in schools
is also regarded as a public health problem and may be expressed through acts of intimidation,
bullying, shooting, brawls and repression.
School violence is caused by various factors. To begin with, media and entertainment
play a primary role in desensitizing children to violence. For instance, violent video games or
movies with suggestive or violent scenes may influence children to some extent (Meleen, 2019).
Mental health concerns and psychological disorders have also been on the rise for some decades
hence contributing to violent behavior. Other factors may include drugs, dysfunctional homes,
access to weapons and personality problems. However, school violence is not only attributed to
the above factors since each scenario features a distinct set of circumstances.
According to science daily, one out of every seven school-age going children is a victim
of violence in schools. Besides, one of the most demoralizing effects of violence is the frequency
of occurrence, which leads to the loss of innocent lives and fear. For instance, after an incidence
of violence, students end up developing fear of going to school. These fears end up to more
severe conditions such as the inability to form secure attachments, Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder, and depression (Cornell, 2017). These conditions may affect the students even more
hence resulting in severe mental health concerns. For instance, looking back at the Australian

VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS – OPINION EDITORIAL 3
National University campus attack in 2017 demonstrates how near-death experiences can be
traumatizing.
Innocent students generally find themselves at the crossfire in most school violence and
therefore end up dead or injured (Price, Khubchandani, Payton, & Thompson, 2016). Most of the
victims tend to be male students since girls are disproportionately affected because they are
perceived not to conform to prevailing gender and sexual norms. Decreasing academic
performance is another effect that cannot be ignored. Due to the disruption caused in violent
incidents, students may not be able to concentrate on educational tasks or rather get sleep hence
leading to lower test scores. However, something can still be done so to ensure learning
institutions are safe havens for learning.
Parents at home are vital to combating and resolving the violence issue. For instance,
parents should avoid normalizing violence by either frequently displaying it hence improving
family relations. This is important to ensuring a child grows with a proper understanding of how
to solve conflicts and communicate in non-violent ways (Cornell, 2017). Besides, effective
communication between children and parents can help reduce perceived pressures that cause
students to act violently. The broader community, such as non-governmental organizations can
also make significant efforts by reaching out to youth and students in order to address issues such
as social anxieties, drug abuse as well as affective/ mental disorders.
Schools can also set effective and robust disciplinary measures so as to make it clear to
perpetrators of the consequences if they fail to obey institution regulations. Schools may also
need to have up to date security measures so as to ensure students are stripped of any weapons
before entering the school premises. School-sponsored events should also be adequately guarded
hence being able to detect any threats of violence. Not forgetting the need for awareness

VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS – OPINION EDITORIAL 4
campaigns, learning institutions should enlighten and counsel students on conflict resolution,
anger management, and character development so as to be able to deal with psychological issues
affiliated with school violence (Ketterer, 2019).
Violence in schools is a social problem that has been there for some time and therefore,
in order to see effective results, the community is expected to work in unison so as to curb the
social ill. However, even though it may take some time to achieve this, the outcomes are much
worth as compared to doing nothing.
References

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Cornell, D. G. (2017). School violence: Fears versus facts. Routledge.
Ketterer, W. (2019). Reducing Anger and Violence in Schools: Applying the Evidence-based
Approach of Healing the Self. Routledge.
Meleen, M. (2019). Causes and Effects of School Violence. Retrieved 7 October 2019, from
https://teens.lovetoknow.com/cause-effect-school-violence
Price, J. H., Khubchandani, J., Payton, E., & Thompson, A. (2016). Reducing the risks of firearm
violence in high schools: Principals’ perceptions and practices. Journal of community
health, 41(2), 234-243.
UNESCO. (2019). School violence and bullying. Retrieved 7 October 2019, from
https://en.unesco.org/themes/school-violence-and-bullying