The Existence Of Discipline Problems In Schools

Abstract

Students today are distracted from learning because of the crimes and violence that take place in schools. The purpose of this paper is to inform about the rate of crimes and violence that are taking place in our schools as a result of the level of security measures. It is becoming more evident as shown by the growing publicity in the media. Many incidences are not reported and occur in schools with low level or no security measures that will make them helpless in preventing and controlling crimes and violence. Schools are supposed to be a safe environment for learning and teaching to "make the world a better place" (Keizer, 2001), but with the increase of violence, students and faculty are becoming more afraid of attending school.

The Existence of Discipline Problems in Schools

Schools are responsible for the safety and wellbeing of their students and employees. Schools are places where the students learn from the teachers who teach them. Miller and Chandler (2003) state that the safety of students and faculty from danger is the responsibility given to schools' administration. The administration is responsible for producing settings that contribute to successful learning. There should be no disturbances, fears, and worries related to misdemeanors and violent behaviors for teachers and students (p. 1). Crimes and violence would distract students and teachers from learning and teaching and cause them to fear becoming involved in ways that would lead to danger towards them. Schools should be where students and faculty want to attend with no fears. Schools are "supposed to be making the world a better place" (Keizer, 2001). They are expected to be creating a better society for our children to grow healthy and attain knowledge.

Over the years, the media is becoming more interested in the violence that is taking place in public schools in the United States. There has been an increased interest of the media in misdemeanors and violent behaviors in public schools (Miller & Chandler, 2003). As the levels of crimes and violence rise in schools, the reports given by the media slowly rise as well to acknowledge the increase of crime incidents that are reported.

There is an overwhelming amount of violent occurrences in schools that are reported to the law enforcements. Heaviside, Rowand, Williams, Farris, Burns, McArthur, et al (1998) found that over half of public schools in the U.S. reported to law enforcement officers at least one misdemeanor occurrence, and ten percent reported at least one severe violent offense (p. iv). Over half of schools reported minor violent disturbances, and ten percent reported at least one grave violent act. This does not include the incidents, whether minor or grave, that are not reported to law enforcement. There might be additional incidences where the students or even the teachers are fearful to not report anything. There has been an increase of incidences involving murders, rape and sexual battery, suicides, assaults or fights involving a weapon and not involving a weapon, robbery, theft, and vandalism. Heaviside, Rowand, Williams, Farris, Burns, McArthur, et al (1998) found that there have been about 190,000 incidents reported involving assaults or fights without a weapon and 11,000 incidents involving the use of a weapon. 116,000 incidences involving theft and 98,000 incidences of vandalism, 4,000 rape and sexual battery occurrences and 7,000 robberies were reported (p.v). This is an alarming number of occurrences of crimes and violence taking place in public schools.

These occurrences could be prevented or decreased if proper security features are used by the public schools where the occurrences take place. A major cause for the violence is the security of the schools. The security of schools is not well established. Thirteen percent of public schools had tight safety measures or regular level safety measure. The other eighty-seven percent had low level or no safety measures (Heaviside, Rowand, Williams, Farris, Burns, McArthur, et al, 1998). Only thirteen percent of schools have security that could prevent crimes and violent incidences while the others have security that would not do anything towards the prevention of incidences. There is little to be done in those schools when incidents happen.

Schools use law enforcement officers to prevent violence and help principals in authority after a crime or violent behavior takes place (Miller and Chandler, 2003). The existence of officers helps to prevent students from committing violent behaviors and crimes from taking place in their schools. The schools that do not have officers are helpless in preventing incidences. Many schools have a zero-tolerance policy because of which as soon as a student behaves violently and performs a crime, he or she is expelled from the school with no excuse. This would help to decrease the number of incidences repeated by the