Social problems, such as racism, poverty, addictions, and unplanned pregnancy, occur in educational institutions. Children unconsciously reflect the attitudes of adults who, as members of society, are involved in all of the problems, that is why educational institutes discover the same range of issues. Juvenile delinquency is the problem that profoundly affects educational institutions as its representatives are people involved in education the most. Parks et al. (2020) state that “targeted programs that assess school context and risk factors such as community disorganization could reduce delinquency” (p. 155). Thus, education institutions can both cause the problem and participate in its solution.
Educational institutions’ social problems vastly impact juvenile delinquency as school time is the period when a character and personality form. For example, a child who has been bullied by his peers because of the difference in their identity may develop a delinquent attitude as a form of protest. Moreover, such difficulties as aggressive or outsider behavior might be caused by receiving unfavorable evaluations from educators or classmates. These opinions will stay with a child at a young age and become the root of delinquency. Problems with school adjustment, as well as community environmental issues, are the reasons for juvenile delinquency that causes social problems like bullying at schools. Thus, the social difficulties of education institutions directly impact delinquent behavior. Moreover, aggressive and cruel attitudes among adolescents are the root of these social challenges. Bullying, addictions, and racial intolerance are motivated by the delinquent and spread this attitude to their victims.
Based on the above information, it might be stated that the most convenient way of solving the juvenile delinquency issue in educational institutes is to find and cut the root of it. It is necessary to give children extra attention if their behavior shows signs of delinquency. However, the balance is also essential as an adolescent who received psychological therapy at the early stages might not be capable of developing strong personal qualities for the future. Wright (2017) states that “therapy, and social interventions, the push towards prevention, rather than treatment, cast the juvenile delinquent as beyond help” (p. 62). Moreover, teachers and other educational workers have to praise diversity and teach to value equity since the earliest school stages.
Many of the solutions utilized to work on social problems within education institutes are directly applied to the episodes and not their causes. Thus, if bullying in schools was defined as a social problem back in the nineteenth century, and the solutions mostly included ways to punish an aggressive child. The fact that bullying might develop delinquency in a victim’s attitude was not considered. The main approach to dealing with the social problems inside education institutes is the non-interference from the administration’s side. However, if teachers did not intervene in the conflict, they legitimized such behavior (Smith, 2019). Victims of bullying tend to behave delinquently in older years to protect themselves.
The overall strategy of improving the situation with juvenile delinquency in education should shift the focus from punishment to preventing a crime episode. Today, education institutions have opportunities to pay extra attention to children with lousy family or community backgrounds and praise diversity and equity in an educational environment. The solution to the social problems mentioned above is also in the power of the educational system. The way children are treated at schools and colleges builds their personalities, and the right approaches from the educators can impact building a decent society.
References
Parks, M. J., Solomon, R. J., Solomon, S., Rowland, B. C., Hemphill, S. A., Patton, G. C., & Toumbourou, J. W. (2020). Delinquency, school context, and risk factors in India, Australia, and the United States: Implications for prevention. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 30, 143-157.
Smith, P. K. (2019). Making an impact on school bullying: Interventions and recommendations. Abingdon, England: Routledge.
Wright, K. (2017). Inventing the ‘normal child: Psychology, delinquency, and the promise of early intervention. History of the Human Sciences, 30(5), 46-67.