School Violence – A Growing Trend
As sad as it is, school violence is an ever-growing trend. One that has parents and kids alike worried about what each new day will bring. Kids of today have a lot more to worry about than the bullies who use to threaten children for their lunch money. As hard as that was to deal with in the past, just imagine how kids today feel. They have to worry about the bully pulling a gun and shooting them or being stabbed to death. What’s even worse is that many times instead of it being the bully; it’s the nice kid who gets along with everyone or the quiet kid who seems to get overlooked by everybody else that’s doing the shooting or stabbing.
It seems like every time you turn on the news you hear about a new incident that has happened. You may know all about the shootings and stabbings because they are so publicized, but did you know that these are not the only school violence taking place. The high schools are full of teenagers that hang together in groups and look for others to taunt and harass. It seems as though their whole reason for getting out of bed in the mornings is to see how miserable they can make someone else feel. It is very hard to understand what drives these children and makes them so hard-hearted.
Not Just For High School
Don’t make the mistake of thinking high school is the only place for school violence. It is just as bad in middle schools and there are even problems in elementary schools. Do you have young children? If so, how many times have they come home from school crying because their feelings got hurt? Someone either made fun of their clothes or told them they were ugly. Perhaps the teacher asked them a question that they didn’t understand and the whole class laughed at them and said they were dumb. It does happen, to someone’s child almost every day.
What about middle schools? They may even be a little worse than high schools because this is such a fragile time in a child’s life. This is when they are already going through so many physical changes and trying to figure out their goals in life. Yet this is the time that many young pre-teens are filled with so much anger and hatred for their fellow schoolmates. They spend their nights plotting what they will do to some unsuspecting child the next day. They seem to have no compassion to give at all. It is almost as if their only goal in life is to ruin someone else’s and yes, they too have to worry about being shot or stabbed just like the high school kids.
What makes the violence in middle school even worse is that as a parent, you may never even know what is going on. The kids that are targeted by this violence feel that if they tell anyone, it will just make things even worse. They try to deal with this hurt and anger all alone. They go to school each day with fear of what the new day will bring. Is it any wonder that making good grades is no longer at the top of our children’s list anymore? It has been replaced with survival.
