Schools have changed greatly from 1950s. Initially, school aggression was a minor issue and attracted little attention. In 1989, the number of violence in schools doubled as the figure of diverse students increased. In 1990s the aggression involved the use of firearms such as the shootings that happened in Columbine Schools in 1999. Approximations in the 1990s on the figure of arms utilized in schools each day were amazing. “The figure of guns taken into schools on a day was above 250,000. The witnessed schools during twentieth century had a broad variety of students” (School Violence, 2009, p. 14). Such students frequently came from diverse social environments. The marked distinctions emerge in stances and conduct that can lead to creation of social cliques or racial tensions. A great transformation was the occurrence of a gang of criminal students which was twofold between 1989 and 1993. The gang of criminal students inside schools recruited new fellow students into the group. This was their basic stage as part of the preparation before the start of aggression. Also illegitimate activities in the environs of the school augmented. These included drug abuse and employment of firearms in school aggression.
The causes of school aggression are intricate and diverse in relation to the causes of national crimes. Forensic psychologists who investigate unlawful conduct consider school killers as very dissimilar from other violent youth like gang members. Such school murderers feel powerless and start preoccupying with thoughts of murdering or injuring others. The violent students make intimidations in open with no fear to their fellow students. Such violent students realize that the other students might be intimidating them in a way. “They frequently express the thoughts and tactics to fellow students. In most cases, the other students tend to give no attention to the comments made by these violent students” (Devine, 1996, p. 7).
The resolution for the violent students to cause harm to fellow students is not an unexpected incidence but a coldly planned one. The exercise of guns gives them the authority they felt lacking. The use of guns by the violent students renders the intimidating fellow students feeble. The violent students with the habit of causing harm to fellow students become well-known as they are frequently broadcasted on TV news countrywide. The aggressive eruption between the violent students and the intimidating students generates atrocious situation and gives the violent students the authority to rule over their fellow students. Violent students who use force especially by guns are male students. Female students progress revenge by using a different approach from that used by male students. The female students hire classmates to strike out against fellow students who offend them. An example of school aggression is the one which happened in Columbine School in 1999. The students mourned their associates and classmates who died after tragic gunfire at their school (Barton, 2008, p. 6).
Each case of school aggression stands for an exclusive amalgamation of factors. These include physical, behavioral, and learned factors. Physical factors comprise birth difficulty. Brain dysfunction and learning disabilities in kids are caused by a lack of adequate oxygen at the time of birth. Aggressive conduct has been connected to certain forms of these abnormalities. “Also head damages have been proved to augment the potential for aggressive conduct in certain persons” (Biggs, Vern berg & Dill, 2008, p. 23).
Behavioral tribulations can be connected to a complicated character. This is a behavior that makes a person not relate in harmony with others. The behavioral troubles cause dilemma of intermingling with others, spontaneity, and not conforming to the manners of fellow students. These kids might not mix in school activities. They turn out to be unnoticed and disobedient. “Some become miserable and take drugs that can generate serious behavioral side effects. Broken family relations also cause problems of kids not mixing well with other students at school. Cruel care given to children is likely to cause aggressive conduct later in their life” (School Violence, 2009, P 24). Being harassed or mocked by fellow students can frequently lead a distressed youth to an act of aggressive revenge. The behavioral factor emerged clearly in aggressive cases such as the Columbine School shootings. This began to occur in the 1990s and subsequent years. “The aggression emanating from behavioral factor received the most consideration from school administrators in the early twenty-first century” (Shelton, Owens & Song, 2009, p. 15).
Learning aggressive conduct can come from dysfunctional or abnormal home life. This could perhaps entail home aggression. Can also be parents who don’t react well to powerful figures like security personnel when answering may be charged against them. From these arrogant behaviors of experience at home, “youth learn to respond to those in power such as school officials with violence” (School Violence, 2009, P 26). Some consider learned aggressive conduct emanate from continual exposure to aggression in the media. This could be in song lyrics, cinemas, TV agendas, and videotape entertainment. Also, 24-hour TV channels giving out aggressive sights. Studies have revealed that youth watching for a long time such sights become extremely violent. Violent youth don’t get disturbed by aggression and its penalty. It is considered that “such kids have a problem in differentiating between actuality and daydream” (School Violence, 2009, p. 29).
References
School Violence. (2009). Causes of School Violence. Web.
Shelton, A., Owens, E., & Song, H. (2009). An Investigation of Community School Security Measures across Geographic Locations.
Biggs, B., Vern berg, E. & Dill, E. (2008). Educator Observance and Its Association to Educator Stance and Scholar Results in a Basic School-Based Aggression Deterrence Agenda.
Barton, R. (2008). Maintaining Safety of Schools via Danger Appraisal. New York: Oxford University Publication.
Devine, J. (1996). Utmost Safety: The culture of Aggression in Metropolitan Schools. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.