A Critical Perspective on Violence in Schools

Very often when I talk about crime in schools both educators, especially principals and policy makers cringe. They do so, because the idea that children and young people could be involved in violent crime still seems farfetched, but also because school is suppose to be a ‘safe haven’, and untouchable, but that is a bygone past and schools are no longer sterile. Violence in schools did not start in schools, it is an import, and over the years we have accepted it as a natural part of schooling -  climate and culture, in so far as schools must have disciplinary structures, mostly set up to punish and require students to conform rather than to understand the underlying factors which generate violence among students and finding appropriate ways to mitigate. In Jamaica, the antecedents of school violence are multiple and complex, one key factor is the dysfunctional social relations existing in many communities -  ‘community violence’ influences what goes into schools – children and young people take with them ways of being that they see modeled in their communities, ways of dealing with conflict, ways to defend and protect themselves. The idea that the ‘community’ will protect the school is no longer universal, furthermore the idea that the community will protect and care for students can longer be taken for granted. Lifestyles and 'ways of being' in some communities socialize some young people into violent norms,  and, the ways in which some schools respond to the situations reinforce these behaviours rather than mitigate. Research confirms the centrality of the schooling experience and peer relations in influencing offending behavior, but the research on neighborhood effects has highlighted how the interplay of school context and community dynamics play a pivotal role in the formation of youth identities with increasing propensity for engagement in violent crimes. Other research has also shown that where the perceived returns to criminal activity outweighs the legitimate returns to schooling coupled with the perception of the improbability of arrests and sanctions, criminal behavior becomes contagious among young people. These acknowledge that schools operate within a wider context, where, students as young people are influenced by the characteristics of the population and the communities in which they live and learn.  Although schools are unable to reverse the effects of community contexts, interest in dealing with crime and violence should focus on the ways in which school administration intervene. In particular, the leadership and the policy context of the school, its academic and vocational mission and a climate of emotional support are all important to mitigate the spillover effects of criminogenic communities.  A critical persepctive takes seriously the interaction between students and their contexts. In this case, the school and the commmunity are key social contexts which shape the identities of students through a variety of  intersecting relationships. For example, students interaction with the climate and culture of schools, the governance structures and the related processes and procedures, and even the state of the physical environment are all part of how students come to think about themselves and their relationship to schooling. These factors along with community effects are powerful in either reinforcing or mitigating violent behaviour.Deon Edwards Kerr