Myths School Violence

Myth #1: School violence only happens among poorly educated children.

Truth: School violence affects children across all racial, social, economical and geographical boundaries. This means that your child is not safe from school violence just because they attend an expensive prep school or study abroad.

Myth #2: School violence is caused by children who come from problem homes.

Truth: There are many instances when school violence erupts between children who are from stellar homes with parents who are highly educated and have provided their children with the best of everything. In other words, school violence is no respecter of social class or lack thereof.

Myth #3: If you don’t want trouble, you should just look the other way when you see school violence.

Truth: Turning away and pretending that you haven’t seen violence at school only increases the possibility that not only will it happen again but the next time the violence may escalate and more children may be hurt or killed. There are channels you can use in school to report violence without actually trying to break up the violence and risking injury.

Myth #4: If you ignore violence in school, it will just go away in time.

Truth: Many children who commit violent acts do so because they think that they can get away with it. If there is no risk of getting caught or being punished, the violence tends to continue to escalate, often times giving the offender a rush of adrenaline or false feeling of power over those who are victimized. Children who commit violent acts on and around school property must be dealt with. The sooner the better.

Myth #5: Children who commit violent acts in school should be locked away forever.

Truth: There are a great number of different reasons why children behave violently in school. Finding the cause of their behavior and treating the cause to effect a cure is the only logical solution. Committing children to permanent incarceration for violent acts only supports the claim that education and society have failed children who commit such acts.
 
Myth #6: There is no solution to school violence.

Truth: Every day solutions are being brought to the table to help decrease and eliminate school violence. Educating parents, teachers, students and communities on how to better serve students who may have violent tendencies and those who are victims are a part of the solution that is working to make schools safer for children all over the world.

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