Although school violence has actually declined in this decade, Columbine and other school shootings have forced schools and communities to move past the mantra "It can't happen here" to planning strategies that will reassure parents, teachers, and students that schools are indeed safe (Kalb 1).  These strategies have resulted in a wide range of plans--from metal detectors, to training school personnel, to clear plastic lockers.  The difficulty is that no one really knows what will work and whether or not such safety could have stopped a Columbine or a Jonesboro tragedy.
 

PREPARATION FOR IN-CLASS WRITING OF ESSAY

To argue a position on this issue, you need to become informed on all of the points of view.  You must build an understanding of what you believe and what anyone who disagrees with you might believe.  A place to start is to read the attached six articles and excerpts.  They offer a wide-ranging set of approaches and options toward the school violence issue.  But, don't stop with these articles.  Once you have evolved some possible thesis sentences, search for additional sources to support your ideas.

As students, you can approach this topic in a number of ways, but the following five strategies will help you generate discussion and develop ideas about school violence.
 

1. Freewrite for five or ten minutes about your experiences and thoughts on school violence.  Have you ever been involved in a violent incident at school?  Did you watch the coverage of the Columbine shootings?  How would you feel about metal detectors and security cameras everywhere in the public schools?  Do you see more to this issue than devices for physical safety?  Has the moral climate in schools gotten worse?
2. Read the attached articles about school safety.  Summarize the main points of each article.
3. Find more information on the subject by searching one of the library databases (collections of full text magazine and newspaper articles found on the library's periodicals page) at http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/LMC/PERIODICALS.html.  Or, see the English Department's Useful Web Sites and Search Engines (http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/English/enga3.html) page for internet/web page search engines and other site options.
4. Focus on the information in the box above, and then compose some possible thesis sentences that could result from the issues mentioned.
5. Work in groups and compose summaries of the articles and post them in the online discussion areas.
6. Go to In the Mix, the website for the PBS program about teen issues.  On the menu at the bottom of the screen, click on SHOWS.  Click the arrow on the pop-up box to see the selections.  Click on "School Violence: Answers from the Inside".  Available resources include student and teacher interviews, audio files, and the transcript from the PBS program.

BIBILIOGRAPHY FOR ATTACHED ARTICLES

This is a bibliography of the attached fulltext articles.  As you work with these sources, notice the differences in content depth and writing style between the newspaper articles and the magazine articles.  This will help you understand how important it is that you use a variety of sources to do balanced research.

Chaddock, Gail Russell.  "Save Schools, at a Price."  The Christian Science Monitor  24 Aug. 1999: 15.  EBSCOHOST MASTERFILE PREMIER.  28 Sept. 1999.  3 pages.

Dieffenbach, Richard.  "Planning Safer Schools."  State Government News Aug. 1999: 16.  EBSCOHOST MASTERFILE PREMIER.  28 Sept. 1999.  4 pages.

Easterbrook, Michael.  "Taking Aim at Violence."  Psychology Today July/Aug. 1999: 52.  EBSCOHOST MASTERFILE PREMIER.  28 Sept. 1999.  5 pages.

Grier, Peter, et al.  "Shootings: Storms Amid the Calm."  The Christian Science Monitor 12 Aug. 1999: 1.  EBSCOHOST MASTERFILE PREMIER.  28 Sept. 1999.  3 pages.

Gwynne, S. C.  "Is Any Place Safe?"  Time 23 Aug. 1999: 20.  EBSCOHOST MASTERFILE PREMIER.  28 Sept. 1999.  3 pages.

"How to Keep the Peace:  Adults and Students Together Must Guard Against School Violence."  Time 13 Sept. 1999: C7.  INFOTRAC EXPANDED ACADEMIC ASAP.  2 pages.

Kennedy, Mike.  "The Changing Face of School Violence." July 1999: 6+.  EBSCOHOST MASTERFILE PREMIER.  28 Sept. 1999.  4 pages.

Klite, Paul.  "TV News and the Culture of Violence."  Denver Business Journal  28 May 1999: 47.  EBSCOHOST MASTERFILE PREMIER.  28 Sept. 1999.  2 pages.

ADDITIONAL SOURCES

This is a bibliography of the sources excerpted in the following pages.  To see the full text of the articles, you need to access the data base from the GCC Library's Periodical and Other Web Based Databases.

Bedard, Patrick.  “Airbags Kill More Kids Than School Shootings.”  Car & Driver Sept. 1999: 23.  EBSCOHOST MASTERFILE PREMIER.  28 Sept. 1999.  3 pages.

Firestone, David.  “Strengthened Security Measures Await Returning Students.”  FIRSTSEARCH NEW YORK TIMES. 13 Aug. 1999.  <http://www.nytimes.com>

Kalb, Claudia, et. al.  “Schools on the Alert.”  Newsweek 23 Aug. 1999: 42.  EBSCOHOST MASTERFILE PREMIER.  28 Sept. 1999.  4 pages.

Kennedy, Mike.  “The Changing Face of School Violence.”  American School & University July 1999: SS6.  INFOTRAC EXPANDED ACADEMIC ASAP.  28 Sept. 1999.  4 pages.

Marcus, David, Mary Lord and Ben Wildavsky.  “Metal Detectors Alone Can’t Guarantee Safety.”  U.S. News & World Report 3 May 1999: 26. INFOTRAC EXPANDED ACADEMIC ASAP.  28 Sept. 1999.  2 pages.

Pearce, Kelly and Kelley Ettenborough.  "Schools Turn to Teaching Character." Arizona Republic.11 Oct. 1999: B5.

Pitts, Leonard Jr.  "Lawmakers Clueless on Teen Violence."  Chicago Tribune Internet Edition.  EBSCOHOST NEWSPAPER SOURCE  29 June 1999.  13 Oct. 1999.  <http://chicagotribune.com>

Sommers, Christina Hoff.  “Are We Living in a Moral Stone Age?”  Current June 1998: 31.  SIRS KNOWLEDGE SOURCE : SIRS RESEARCHER.  28 Sept. 1999.  5 pages.

EXCERPTS FROM ADDITIONAL SOURCES

“Many districts are forging close new relationships with local police departments, and carefully regulating who can be on school grounds.  In dozens of locales as disparate as Pittsburgh and Palm Beach County, SWAT teams have spent the summer learning the layouts of high schools and conducting drills involving mock hostage-taking. Many students returning to school will find metal detectors and armed security guards at the door, while others will have to trade their battered canvas backpacks for see-through bags designed to make it harder to conceal a weapon” (Firestone 1).

“There are indications, however, that security measures and counseling programs gradually undertaken before the shootings this spring have proved increasingly effective.  In a report issued this week, the United States Department of Education, having compiled statistics from each of the states, found that gun-related expulsions in the last school year dropped by nearly a third from the previous year.  Another study, issued last week by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, determined that violence committed by teen-agers had declined during the 1990’s, along with the number of weapons carried to school” (Firestone 2).

“John Coleman, director of safety and security for the public schools of Kansas City, MO, said his district had not had a single shooting or knifing since it installed metal detectors in middle and high schools seven years ago.  Similar results are reported in Dallas” (Firestone 3).

“’We don’t want to create an image of a police state, and we don’t want dogs sniffing around,’ said Dr. Francis Connor, superintendent of the Dighton-Rehoboth regional schools, a small district in southeastern Massachusetts.  ‘By addressing the physical changes, you are only dealing with the symptom of the problem.’ . . . Dr. Connor’s district has prepared a guide to alert teachers to the symptoms of students prone to violence.  And many districts will hold meetings with all students to impress on them a new seriousness about security, and encourage them to report even jocular-sounding threats made by others students” (Firestone 3).

“Since 1993, 82 students have been murdered in shootings at schools, according to the National School Safety Center. . . . During the same period, 99 children have been killed by airbag deployments, including 21 yet to be ‘confirmed’ by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. . . “ (Bedard 2).

“But some experts on school safety wonder whether the pricey high-tech route is the answer.  Columbine, for instance, had an armed security guard on the premises.  And although video cameras might help with deterrence, they’re not going to stop a determined killer.  Nor can they solve the problems of bullying, harassment, and alienation—which seem to have triggered many of the recent schools shootings” (Kalb 2).

“One program that many schools find effective in reducing violence is peer mediation.  At Waterford Mott High in Michigan, the program has shown remarkable results.  Before it was instituted, as many as 40 fights a year broke out at the school.  But last year peer mediators resolved more than 90 disputes between students: only one ended in a fight.  Such interpersonal approaches can start even in elementary school” (Kalb 2).

“Even before Columbine, anyone following the headlines in the last couple of years can see that schools are susceptible to the same spurts of insane violence that occur elsewhere in society:
*Feb. 19, 1997, Bethel, Ark.  A 16-year-old student at Bethel Regional High School fatally shot a fellow student and the principal, and wounded two other students.
*Oct. 1, 1997, Pearl, Miss.  A 16-year-old student at Pearl High School shot two students to death and wounded several others near the school after fatally stabbing his mother at home.
*Dec. 1, 1997, West Paducah, Ky.  A 14-year-old student opened fire on a prayer meeting before school and killed three students and wounded five others.
*March 24, 1998, Jonesboro, Ark.  Two students, 11 and 13, fired upon students and teachers outside Westside Middle School after pulling the fire alarm.  Four students and a teacher were killed, and 10 others were wounded.
*May 21, 1998, Springfield, Ore.  A 15-year-old student killed his parents at home, then headed to Thurston High school, where he fatally shot two students and wounded 22 others.
Those involved in school safety point out that despite these awful episodes, the roughly 47 million students who attend public schools in the United States are generally in secure surroundings” (Kennedy 2).

“In the wake of massacre at a suburban Colorado high school, parents and legislators seem more eager to bolster school security than to build camaraderie.  Experts say that can help control students—to a point.  Belen (N.M.) High School, for example, installed 16 video cameras and hired four guards for the 1,300-student campus in 1996.  Vandalism, theft, and fights plummeted.  Still, it’s easy to elude devices.  At Washington, D.C.’s Wilson High School, metal detectors couldn’t prevent a fatal stabbing just outside the building last year” (Marcus 1).

“Small world.  Educators are frustrated because some obvious solutions are also the most elusive.  Studies show that schools with 750 or fewer students have significantly fewer discipline problems than schools with 2,000 or more.  But many communities want the top-notch sports teams that are easier to field in larger schools.  Large schools can compensate by creating smaller, cohesive units within or setting up regular session with faculty advisers.  Yet Colorado’s Columbine High School ran peer-counseling sessions for its 1,800 students and hosted about 35 student clubs—and nonetheless two students went on a rampage last week” (Marcus 2).

"With God and without God, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, more and more communities are turning to character education as a way to mold better citizens and pre-empt the violence that has crept into America's schools.
 Residents want the children of the communities to learn the basic values that lead to a civilized society, and they believe public schools have a role in that training, especially since values aren't part of the fabric of all family lives these days.
But most of these people--educators, religious leaders and parents--don't want character education to promote religion and believe the two do not have to be linked" (Pearce and Etttenborough B5).

"Salvation will come not from the tip of a politician's pen, but from you and me, working house by house and heart by heart to restore a sense of community and instill in our children an understanding that they belong to something larger than their own lives" (Pitts).

“We hear a lot today about how Johnny can’t read, how he can’t write, and the trouble he is having finding France on a map.  It is also true that Johnny is having difficulty distinguishing right from wrong.  Along with illiteracy and innumeracy, we must add deep moral confusion to the list of educational problems.  Increasingly, today’s young people know little or nothing about the Western moral traditions” (Sommers 1).

“We need to bring back the great books and the great ideas.  We need to transmit the best of our political and cultural heritage.  We need to refrain from cynical attacks against our traditions and institutions. . . . We need to teach our young people to understand, respect, and protect the institutions that protect us and preserve our kindly, free, and democratic society” (Sommers 5).