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Violence in Schools
By Marina Torres, Child Education and Development Specialist
First published in Parenting Support, January 2002
Is violence emanating from schools and leaking into society, or
is it the other way around? If we look around us world wide and even
in our own society we see a lot of violence. I think what is
happening in society is being reflected into schools.
Young people are exposed to violence in the cinema, on television
and in video games. If you go into any of the video arcades in the
malls the amount of violent games that children play is amazing.
"Shoot, kill and destroy everything in sight," that is how one man
who sells computers described it.
Many of these video games, especially the hand held games, have a
lot of violence and children are playing these frequently. Parents
are buying children the games, they buy them with their pocket money
and they can go to the video centres and play. So the violence is
all around them. Children do not become violent overnight. They
become violent because they have been exposed to violence.
There is a belief that children are born violent that they are
born with anger, that they are predisposed to anger. But there are
also people who dispute that. "Yes" we all have the ability to
express anger, but how we were nurtured influences how we display
and control that anger.
Why is it that when a child get in school they forget all these
[positive] things that they are learning or seeing - the mannerism
the ways to react to situations?
In our culture we tend to believe that if children are going to
school the teachers will help them learn to behave. Often when
children are acting up, they are reacting to things that are
happening in their environment - whether it is at school or at home.
Now, Dr. Adesh Nanan may be correct in saying that we have a
small percentage of children who may be chronically out of control.
There are a small percentage of children who have behavioral
problems as a result of challenges in their lives. Those children
need special help. While its important that we help children to
conform to rules and to not break rules at school, it is also
important that the children who are in need of special help get it.
Most teachers do not have the skills to help special needs
children, and this is not a criticism of the teachers. Most teachers
are educated to teach a subject. In our system teachers do not get
enough information on children's development and behavioral problems
to be able to deal with a child who needs special help.
Teachers today are taking early childhood courses and informing
themselves so that they can better deal with children with
differences, but a teacher cannot be a psychologist, a teacher
cannot be a school counselor.
Several years ago at the conference on violence, one of the
recommendations made was that schools should not just have deans who
just punish children for breaking rules, but people who are versed
in children's behavior, who understand behavioral disorders, who
understand children who are out of control, and who can help
teachers and help parents to support their children in developing
appropriate behavior and appropriate responses as well as treat
children who need extra help.
There are teachers who manage classes by making sure that the
children are really what they consider respectful, and often the
children are so afraid that they will not dare break a rule. When
they then go into the class of a teacher who has a more democratic
approach, who will give them a chance to express opinions, the
children respond differently. The child who is normally out of
control but was terrified of the previous teacher, will now display
that out of control behavior and then the teacher will be blamed.
It is not the teacher's fault. The child does have a problem.
It's like when you have a big stick and you hold it over some
children and they behave. The minute that big stick is removed the
behaviour changes, because you are no longer using that external
control. When we really teach children self-discipline - because
that's what it's really about - they learn to integrate self
discipline. They are internally driven to behave. They are more
likely to choose appropriate behavior - unless the child has a
problem.
Discipline must not be about a big strap or a big stick hanging
on the wall. When children feel in control, they want to get your
approval, they want to choose appropriate behaviour, they want to be
approved of by the people that count.
When teachers have children who are out of control the first
thing they must do is get help. Parent will not seek help if they
are told “Your child is badly behaved.” They may not respond
appropriately because they feel you are criticizing them.
Systems need to be put in place so that teachers can get help, so
that students can be taught how to deal with feelings and distress
in their lives. We need community and parenting education programmes.
We need centres for teachers to go to when children are out of
control and we need places for teachers to go when they are out of
control. Yes, there are a minority. We also have teachers who were
brought up by the stick and even though they may want to be
different they need techniques and strategies to be different.
The ministry of education needs to take responsibility for
re-educating teachers to deal with children appropriately. If that
happens, and we know how to identify children who need help, and
provide what is needed, the likelihood of violence occurring in
schools will be reduced.
© Marina Torres, 2002 |
