It is not a myth but a reality that violence among students has become a major problem in many schools. Recent multiple shootings of students by students have received a great deal of media attention, but they are only the most dramatic tip of a massive iceberg. When the effects of violence on the education and life quality of youth are considered, the genuinely epidemic nature of the problem becomes apparent. It seems crucial that effective steps be taken to counter this relentlessly increasing affliction, or major segments of our youth will grow up without having fully engaged in the educational process because they are distracted by fear.
Handguns are an important part of the violence equation.
Teachers and youth workers commonly report that the kinds of conflicts that used to result in fistfights now result in shootings. To a large extent, bloody noses have been replaced by gunshot wounds. Past Prevention Efforts Program developers have recently begun designing violence prevention interventions, and these have been tested in a number of schools. Recently, there have been two notable exceptions to this pattern in the form of encouraging evaluation results from programs for younger children. However, published evaluations have generally not indicated this type of progress in primary prevention programs for older children and adolescents.