It is suggested, in Towards an Archeology of Policy that Challenges Conventional Framing of the Problem of Violence in Schools, that we re-examine the issues surrounding our current preoccupation with school violence. Assuredly, the renewed urgency with which politicians and administrators are addressing the violence issues is alarming. If statistics do not point to a morality crisis, that is, if children in school are no more violent then ever, the current reactions to violence bear further scrutiny. Even though school violence is not new, not urgent, nor even unusual, it has long been in need of attention. We could then look at the second question, to examine the reasons for this renewed preoccupation, and there we would find similar scapegoats.
Necessary violence can be very confusing.
Consider our society's schizophrenic attitude to violence as built into the criminal code. As Mawhinney pointed out, the parameters of the criminal code define violence through implication of victimization using terms such as intimidation and assault. This legislation legalizes, when inflicted on children, the same activities which it proscribes as illegal if inflicted on adults. The overt aspect of legalized physical violence is only the tip of the iceberg. He gave him a middle fingered wave and was immediately apprehended.