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

We humans come perpetu all in ally sought to increaseour personal energy in the only manner wehave cognize by seeking to psychologically steal it from othersan unconscious competition that underlies all human conflict in the world. (James Redfield, 1993, The Celestine Prophecy, New 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 intent of this observation is to bruise and rattle the publics sensibilities, its working. Of course, some of us whitethorn interpret such suggestions as merely dark, stoic, and cynicalscare evasive action quite in keeping with the current national mood most many social turn ups these days.Yet, as a profession (and a society) perhaps a little shock treatment now and then is exhaustively for us, especially if we ourselves work in relatively sa fe schools and communities. Maybe its time to remind ourselves that one schools problem jackpot become every schools problem if the profession at large is not watchful and careful. No school is immune to the say-so 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 employ to school violence. The idea never occurred to me, either. But here we are, and here that issue is. And, whats more, its high time. While none of us take convincing that the violence problem is serious in a extensive many places, some of the statistics are sobering. The National information Association (March 1994)reports that the act of children... ... suffice.Works CitedAnderson, Elijah. 1994. The Code of the Streets. TheAtlantic Monthly (May) 8194.Elam, Stanley M. 1993. The 25th Annual Phi Delta Kappan/Gallup Poll. Phi Delta Kappan (Oct.) 137152.Guns Amon g tender People in the U.S. 1993. Youth Record. Washington, D.C. Youth Policy Institute. (Aug. 3) 10.Jones, Clarisse. 1994. Report Shows frenzy Rising in Schools. The New York Times (Aug. 13) 27.Merina, Anita. 1994. Fighting School force play Means Taking on Guns. NEA Today (Mar. 12) 4.Survey of the American instructor 1993 Violence in Americas Public Schools. New York MetLife.Zimmer, Judith. 1993. We corporation 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.