[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Safe Schools
Many middle and secondary school students experience a variety of forms of violence--pushing, bullying, shoving, grabbing, slapping, verbal insults, and threats--that make their lives in school miserable. Of twelve students who stay home on any given day, one stays home due to fear. Incidents of school violence are disturbing:
. Nearly 8 percent of students nationally reported having been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property during the prior twelve months.
. Slightly over 1 percent of students reported that they had been physically assaulted.
. The odds that a student will be threatened or injured with a weapon in school are approximately one in fifteen, and the odds of getting into a physical fight are approximately one in eight.
. Student surveys indicate that behaviors such as carrying a weapon at school are significantly more widespread than surveys of school administrators suggest.
. Males reported much higher rates than females of weapon-carrying in schools (11 percent to 2.8 percent).
. Fourteen percent of students reported being in a physical fight at school during the past twelve months.
. Over 7 percent of students nationally reported having been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property during the past twelve months.
Violence in the American society has reached epidemic proportions. Especially troubling is the increasing violence among young people, with the predictable spillover of effects into the public schools. In fact, violence has become a significant aspect of the public school experience in America. The recent schoolyard murders in Mississippi, Kentucky, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Colorado have focused the nation's attention on these problems; however, the levels of violence in the schools have been increasing for the past decade. Numbing statistics reveal the extent of the problem: Violence in and around schools has become more common and more serious..........
