Violence in Schools

At schools, violence should not be a main concern. However, the threat of violence in schools is steadily rising. According to a study by the National Center for Education Statistics, the amount of violence in schools is rising—causing a major problem in public schools across the country, not just here in South Bend. Ever since 2017, roughly 70 percent of public schools have recorded incidents of violence. Some have said the cause of these incidents are because of a new generation, while others think it is because of social media trends. Either way, today we’re here to review the causes of violence.

However, violence in schools isn’t a new thing, as it’s been around ever since the school system began. However, the rise of violent cases has been a growing concern, and for many reasons. A big factor in the rise of violence is how our culture has changed a lot from culture just a decade ago when students showed more respect for teachers, school staff, and administrators.

A big rise in street and gang culture may also be affecting schools, as we have seen that it is not going away, but rather it’s more prevalent than ever. Students who participate in gangs are just finding new ways to hide their involvement inside school—that is until it cannot be hidden anymore.

Although gang violence outside of school may be a factor in in-school violence, there is also a pandemic-sized elephant in the room: COVID-19. Even though we are past the e-learning portion of COVID schooling, the trauma is still there.

“I believe that COVID-19 has been a factor in student aggression,” says Mr. Cullen Walton, 1st floor security staff.

Many students have not interacted with others in-person for years, so it could be causing aggression and behavior swings getting re-adjusted to in-person communication again that we saw especially prevalent during the first month or so of school in our building here at Riley HS.

Along with the reasons already provided, many students I spoke with are claiming that social media should take the brunt of the blame for increased violence in school this year and the last decade. Trends on social media have most likely encouraged violence or other criminal behavior such as the “Devious Lick” trend, where students were encouraged to steal from their school. Although this did not promote violence against one another, it did cause destruction of the school property and cause additional procedures to be put in place in order to keep those at school—and their belongings—safe.

Additionally, social media’s virus—cyber bullying—could also increase violence in schools. Unlike just a decade ago, fights can start from text messages, DMs, or even obscure posts barely referencing another student that another student saw online during 2nd period. Although they say that what’s said online stays online forever, what’s said online often makes its way into in-person drama in schools these days.

All in all, social media and the internet is definitely something to blame.

Whether it be neighborhood violence, toxic street culture, COVID, or social media, all of these are combining to make school more violent. Any one of these factors could be the reason for the increased violence in school this year, but it is most likely a combination of all of them.

However, now knowing the causes of the sudden aggression, we need to find ways to make schools safer.

What do you think? Send me an email with your ideas and suggestions.