Three Approaches to Coping with School Violence Essay -- Exploratory E

We humans have always sought to increaseour personal force in the only manner wehave known by seeking to psychologically steal it from othersan unconscious competition that underlies all human conflict in the world. (James Redfield, 1993, The Celestine Prophecy, spic-and-span York Warner Books,6566)Some school critics and statisticians have observed that drug-dealing, vandalism, robbery, and murder have replaced gum-chewing, talking out of turn, tardiness, and rudeness as the most chronic problems afflicting todays schools. If the feeling of this observation is to shock and rattle the publics sensibilities, its working. Of course, some of us may interpret such suggestions as merely dark, stoic, and cynical weary tactics quite in keeping with the current national mood about many social issues these days.Yet, as a profession (and a society) perhaps a little shock treatment now and then is good for us, especially if we ourselves work in relatively safe schools and communities. Mayb e its metre to remind ourselves that one schools problem can become every schools problem if the profession at large is non watchful and careful. No school is immune to the potential of extreme violence, as many of us, without meaning to, have learned. If youre a long-time, veteran English teacher, you may never have thought youd see the day when an issue of English Journal would be devoted to school violence. The idea never occurred to me, either. besides here we are, and here that issue is. And, whats more, its high time. While none of us needs convincing that the violence problem is serious in a great many places, some of the statistics are sobering. The National Education Association (March 1994)reports that the number of children... ... suffice. twists CitedAnderson, Elijah. 1994. The Code of the Streets. TheAtlantic Monthly (May) 8194.Elam, Stanley M. 1993. The 25th one-year Phi Delta Kappan/Gallup Poll. Phi Delta Kappan (Oct.) 137152.Guns Among Young People in the U.S. 1 993. Youth Record. Washington, D.C. Youth Policy Institute. (Aug. 3) 10.Jones, Clarisse. 1994. Report Shows delirium Rising in Schools. The New York Times (Aug. 13) 27.Merina, Anita. 1994. Fighting School Violence Means Taking on Guns. NEA Today (Mar. 12) 4.Survey of the American Teacher 1993 Violence in Americas Public Schools. New York MetLife.Zimmer, Judith. 1993. We Can Work It Out. Culver City, CA Social Studies School Service.Denny Wolfe is professor of English Education andDirector of the Tidewater Virginia Writing Project atOld Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.