Violence in Schools: What are we doing right?

          With all the horror stories you hear on television about school shootings and bullying in the last few years, it may lead you to believe that violence in our country's school systems have increased, but statistics show rather the opposite. In fact, violence has steadily decreased in our country since the 90's, and is now at its lowest point in the last 15 years. In places like the Bronx, school violence has decreased 73% since 1990. The media rarely reports these type of facts, as tragedy is what tends to produce the most attention getting stories. However, parents should not fear for their children's safety at schools anymore than they would have in previous decades.
          Since schools are statistically safer than they have been in a long time, they must be doing something right to keep their students on a good path. A major way violence in schools is prevented, is through conflict mediation programs. These types of programs involve a third party working to resolve an issue between two or more people, and get them functioning reasonably and logically before they turn to violence to solve their problems. Another thing that has helped prevent violence in schools is after school programs which help keep kids off the street. Programs, like operation SNUG for example, help youth escape gang or violent life styles and set up jobs and educational mentoring for them.
         I think that preventing violence is half of the battle to making our schools safe. The other half comes from stopping violence that already exists, and helping kids who are gang members or bullies to turn their lives around.  With these things in mind, I believe we can continue to have a future in which school violence steadily decreases.



http://www.npr.org/2012/03/16/148758783/violence-in-schools-how-big-a-problem-is-it

http://www.mediate.com/articles/asherman.cfm

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/uptown/streetwise-mentors-harlem-kids-streets-article-1.1016033

http://bronxda.nyc.gov/misc/decline.html