Problem Of School Violence There is so much shrillness around the problem of violence in schools in our society, that many people forget that school violence is not a new problem. Bullying goes back decades. If anything, it was worse in the past. It is true that certain awful disasters such as school shootings are much more commonplace than they were before, but school bullying is no worse than it was in my day. In some ways, as a matter of fact, it is less severe. School bullies often face consequences that they didn't back when it was considered okay for the football team to do whatever they wanted. The main difference is the perception of school violence. Nowadays, people feel they can't afford to ignore it anymore. School shootings, however tragic they are, have had one good effect: they have created a culture where people are determined to do whatever they can to eliminate violence in schools. Although a lot of people talk about installing metal detectors and security guards as a way to stop school violence, this approach only tackles the most extreme forms. In reality, if someone wants to bring a gun to school and shoot people, someone is going to get hurt. Ideally, you want to stop things way before that. That is why more and more school districts are taking active approaches to stop school bullying and end violence in the classroom. One of the most important things is to change the culture. There is this competitive atmosphere among teenagers nowadays that has to be addressed in the school room. Kids believe that the most important thing is to get ahead. They are taught from a very young age that competition is crucial to succeed in this society. As a result, they battle for the favor of their peers and humiliate weaker kids as a way of getting more power. The best way to fight school violence is to fight this attitude. Rather than learning to compete as a way of trying to dominate and impress other people, students should be learning that the most important thing is to be a good person. Competition is not as important as we think it is. As a matter of fact, competitive people generally do not accomplish very interesting or innovative things. They tend to do best at performing repetitive tasks a little faster than others, but true innovators are usually outcasts. When we teach people to value individuality and acceptance more than competition and power, we will see a big decrease in school violence. Summary School violence has been around a long time. It used to be called bullying. These days bullying has advanced to the point where some students feel the need to protect themselves in a violent manner. This is unacceptable behavior for both sides and the art of compromise needs to be taught at home as well as school to end this problem. Related Articles More On School Violence Curbing School Violence Related Sites