Violence in the schools is a complex problem. On one hand, studies show that the rate of violence in schools is not growing. However, students often perceive that they are more susceptible to extreme and non-extreme violence events. The consequence is that students who fear for their safety do not have the ability to turn their attention to learning. Students cannot academically achieve when they face violence in their school.
Students increasingly fear for their safety at school.
Of 24 States responding in the 1998 National Education Goals Report, only one State significantly reduced, as compared to the previous year, the percentage of students reporting that they did not go to school at least once during the past 30 days because they did not feel safe. These fears are not unfounded. The 1998 Annual Report on School Safety found that of crimes reported to police in the 1996-97 school year, the most common types of middle and high school crimes were physical attacks and fights without weapons. Regardless of the severity of the violence, the reality is that schools increasingly find they must implement violence prevention activities. I believe we must protect our students from violence in the schools and elsewhere.