School Violence A Problem That Is Getting Worse

This is an update to an article I wrote last year. Violence at schools and in society has only become worse over the year. Every day you hear about another shooting and more people dying.

With teens it has become worse over the year too. Many middle school and high school kids tell me on a daily basis they need to carry knives with them for their own protection. If you point out they might get stabbed with their own knife, they respond back with look how many kids are getting killed without protection. At least “”I will have a chance.”

Another scary fact is when I warn kids as young as the sixth grade that they can be arrested for carrying a knife they tell me know. They tell me how long the blade needs to be legally and what type of knifes are illegal. I find it alarming and scary that a 6th grader can tell me legally how long a blade can be before they can be arrested. It is also scary and sad that kids today feel the need to protect themselves against being attacked because they believe there is a good chance they will be attacked.

The children are probably thinking this way because in one of my groups when I asked if anyone had a family member or friend who was a victim of school violence, every kid said yes. A large number had relatives or friends who where killed.

If our children expect to be hurt, can we blame them for trying to protect themselves? I tell them to inform the school office if there are problems. Most children say they do and nothing is every done. This only makes the kids feel more insecure and angry. Not a good situation if we are trying to reduce violence.

School violence is a national and local problem. Many people believe that because we live in Pleasant Hill or Walnut Creek that we don’t have to worry. This is not reality. Our schools have just as much violence as any other schools in the United States. We are not protected by our area and a school based shooting could occur here just like they have in Colorado or Connecticut.

A few local examples to illustrate this point. About a year ago Sequoia Middle School was placed on lock down due to a threat of a possible school shooting. About two years ago, a high school student was shot to death right in front of his Danville home. John Muir Medical Center, Walnut Creek has increased security due to the increase in gang violence. The gangs are not just in Richmond, they are in Walnut Creek and Moraga too. Also you have middle school and High School students fighting each other on and off campus and the students record the fights and post them on YouTube. Kids are taking pride in how many people watch their fights on YouTube.

Below I have included some facts about school violence:

CDC - Data and Statistics - School Violence - Youth Violence - Violence Prevention%2... - @CDCgov

http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/schoolviolence/data_stats.html

The reference above provides several articles by the Center for Disease Control regarding school based violence.

A few issues which contribute to school violence are that our children are accepting violence as normal. Many kids play computer games and many of the popular video games involve killing, wrecking cars or stealing. These games are very realistic too. Violence is now normal in movies. In fact, many kids won’t see a movie if there is no killing, fighting and R rated. Furthermore, what is considered R rated has dramatically changed. I do an anger management group for teens and I show the movies, The Breakfast Club (1984) and Good Will Hunting ( the early ‘90’s), these movies were rated R because they used four letter words and made some sexual references. Today these movies would be rated PG. In R rated films today you basically see people violently killing people and basically having sex. One other example, there is a man selling a toy gun on the internet. However, this toy gun looks exactly like an assault riffle and fires like one. The only difference is no bullets are shot. Why would anyone need a toy like this? By the way, he is selling a lot of these guns.

Another issue that contributes to school violence is the lack of mental health care. Last month a young man went to a school in Georgia planning on killing children and teachers before he was shot. A very smart teacher talked him out of following through with his plan. He told this teacher he had been off of his psychiatric medication for several days and was unable to get them refilled. Two years ago on Thanksgiving, my answering service paged me. They had a mother on the line whose son was suicidal. She had taken her 17 year old son to the County Hospital seeking help. She was told they had no more beds and they gave her my number and told I might be able to help. If people are seeking help, our State and County have an obligation to provide it. In all of the school shooting that have occurred, we have learned that the shooter had a mental illness. I have heard from numerous families before they come to my office that they have been trying for 6 months to a year to get their teen mental health care and no one would help. I have treated teens who need to be in a residential treatment facility because out-patient therapy was not enough and the insurance company denied the request. If we don’t provide teens with the mental health care they need, we will have more school shootings. When is enough, enough? When someone you know is killed? Is it enough then?

Dr. Michael Rubino has over 18 years experience working with teenagers and specializes in teenagers. He is a Court Expert on teens and appeared on television and radio shows as a teen expert. To learn more about his practice or to contact him visit Dr Rubino’s web site www.rcs-ca.com or his Facebook page Rubino Counseling Services.