School Violence

        School violence is hard to understand because there is not just one reason why students become violent (“Should You Worry”).  Children exposed to violence may experience negative short and long term psychological effects, including anger, withdrawal, posttraumatic stress, and desensitization to violence (Garbarino et al. 72).  The increase in school violence is caused by the violent media, harassment by peers,  and the nature by which the child is raised at home.

        Violence in the media occurs in what is seen by movies and television, what is played with video games, and by what is heard with music (“Should You Worry”).  Violent entertainment gives children heroes to imitate which can cause aggressive behavior (“Violence Protection for Families”).  Violence in the media shows children that using violence is an acceptable way to handle conflict (“Violence Protection for Families”).  One of the most dangerous parts of violence in the media is increasing children’s want for more violence (“Violence Protection for Families”).  John Murray, child psychologist at Kansas State University, says, “If you’ve ever watched young children watching kickboxing, within a few minutes they start popping up and pushing and shoving and imitating the actions” (“The Violent Side”).  Scientists studying the effects violent media have found that violent video games, movies, and TV can change the way we portray the world by the way we act, think, and feel (“The Violent Side”).

        In one of Murray’s recent study, he had eight boy and eight girls watch some video clips (“The Violent Side”).  In the movie clips Murray showed some violent scenes from Rocky IV and others with action, but no violence (“The Violent Side”).  Murray found that violent videos activate the amygdala, which is the fight or flight organ (“The Violent Side”).

         Rich spent 12 years filmmaking before he went to medical school, and said that it was the nature of music video violence, not just the violence, that causes the problems (“Music Videos Promote”). Rich and his colleagues at Harvard Children’s Hospital in Boston showed in their study that violent videos showed six acts of violence for every 2-3 minute long segment (“Music Videos Promote”).  In 76 videos their showed 462 shootings, stabbings, punches and kicks (“Music Videos Promote”).  Each violent movie that comes out tries to outdo the movies made before it, so the movies keep getting more and more violent as time goes on (“Music Videos Promote”).  When mentioning how males and females are victimized equally Rich said, “Raising the perception that the world is a mean and dangerous place and that nobody is safe (“Music Videos Promote”).”  Rich also said the people feel the need to carry weapons because they have the perception that they need to use weapons to get others before they get them (“Music Videos Promote”).

        Surveys show that music videos are watched by the majority of teenagers (“Music Videos Promote”).  MTV is designed to aim for teenagers between the age of 12 to 19 (“Music Videos Promote”).  73 percent of boys and 7 percent of girls within the 12 to 19 age group watch an average of 6.6 and 6.2 hours a week (“Music Videos Promote”).  Rich said, “No one seems aware of the consequences for young minds that are trying to learn and how to get along in the world.” (“Music Videos Promote”).  Rich also said, “The combination of music and images is more potent that either alone.  Music lulls and disinhibits, making it easy to suspend reality. The barrage of brief scenes allows images of violence and sex to be mixed in far more insidious ways than in a narrative drama” (“Music Videos Promote”).  The effects of violence in the media increases aggressiveness and hostility in adolescents.

         L. Rowell Huesmann, Professor at the University of Michigan argues, “fifty years of evidence show that exposure to media violence causes children to behave more aggressively then as an adult years later.”  Laboratory experiments have shown when being exposed to violence; heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rates all increase (“Research on the Effects”).  These symptoms can make a person more willing to cause pain on others (“Research on the Effects”).  If a teenager is being teased or bullied at school and then watches a movie where the main character in the movie takes revenge on his enemies, the teenager is going to view his situation as the same and hurt the people who are giving them a hard time (“Music Videos Promote”).  Adolescents are not always capable of knowing and separating fiction and reality (“Music Videos Promote”).  The media obviously does not show the consequences of using violence to solve problems or relieve stress so adolescents do not think about their actions (“Music Videos Promote”).
        In 1963, professors A. Badura, D. Ross, and S.A. Ross did a laboratory experiment testing real-world violence, television violence, and cartoon violence (“Research on the Effects”).  They split one hundred preschool children into four groups to experience the different violence. The children in the first group watched a real person yell at a doll while hitting it with a mallet.  The second group watched the same act, but on the TV instead of real life.  The third group watched a cartoon displaying the same scene as the others.  The fourth group watched nothing (“Research on the Effects”).  After the scenes were done, the children were exposed to a frustrating situation.  The three groups who were shown scenes of violence reacted more aggressive than the children who did not watch anything (“Research on the Effects”).
        In 1956 researchers took twenty four children and split them into two groups of twelve. One group of twelve watched a violent cartoon and the other group watched a non-violent cartoon (“Research on the Effects”)  After two cartoons were watched; the children who watched the violent cartoon had a greater tendency to hit the other children during play (“Research on the Effects”).
        3,500 youth between the age of 15 and 19 are murdered every year (“Music Videos Promote”).  150,000 adolescents are arrested for violent crimes each year (“Music Videos Promote”).  Hundreds of studies have shown that exposure to media violence relates to real life violent behaviors in adolescents (“Music Videos Promote”).  Surveys show that young people who prefer violent media show more aggression indexes than people who watch less violent media (“Research on the Effects”).

        Craig Anderson, psychologist at Iowa State University, states that people who play violent video games have aggressive thoughts and are less helpful or sociable (“The Violent Side”).  Murray, child psychologist at Kansas State University, says that ninety-nine percent of the time playing violent video games the heart rate elevates dramatically indicating that the person is being affected (“The Violent Side”).  Graphics in video games keep on improving as time goes on making the violence in them more realistic (“The Violent Side”).  This raises concern in parents and teachers some of which believe it is the reason for an increase in school violence (“The Violent Side”).  Murray says that video games have a greater effect on the mind over TV because of the involvement required for video games (“The Violent Side”).  Anderson found in his research that there is a relation between video game violence and violent behavior (“The Violent Side”).  Mature-rated games purchased are one-third of the market making them the fastest growing game (“Children and Teens”).  Of those Mature- rated games 40 percent of the players are under eighteen years old (“Children and Teen”).