COPING WITH ADOLESCENT SCHOOL VIOLENCE: IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELING

Reports continue to reveal tragic accounts of violence in our schools. These incidents have a devastating impact on students, the school personnel and the community. Adolescent characteristics and the implications for counseling are presented. The tragic and chilling incidences of recent school-related shootings and unrest in our public schools presented by the mass media (Gergen, 1998; Heim, 1998; Petzal, 1998; Rogers, Haederle, Leonard, & Dodd, 1998; "Teen Killer," 1998; Witkin, Tharp, Schrof, Toch, & Scattarella, 1998) highlight the growing tendency of American adolescents to engage in interpersonal violence. Violence is a problem not only in urban and suburban schools but also in rural schools, with more adolescents and children being both perpetrators and victims (Hall, 1994; Litke, 1996). There are many theories and explanations about the adolescent violence in America (Kimweli & Anderman, 1997). Such factors as family violence, violence in the society, and violence in the mass media prompt adolescents to act violently (Wood, 1998). Easy access to guns greatly adds to the number of violent acts by the adolescents (Hammer, 1998). Generally, three types of violence which adolescents commit are: physical assaults, murders, and sexual assaults (Petzal, 1998). Other violent acts include date rapes (Maura, 1998; Sorenson & Bowie, 1994), gang activity (Anonymous, 1998; Carson, Butcher & Mineka, 1998, p. 542), assault on gay and lesbian adolescents (Reis, 1998), assault on Asian-American adolescents (Chandras, 1997; Chen, 1994; Pang, 1993), and Hispanic adolescents (Soriano, 1994). Newsweek (King & Mutt, 1998) has listed a chronology of school-related shootings in recent months: 1. February 19, 1997: Evan Ramsey, 16, killed his school principal and a fellow student and wounded two in Bethel, Alaska. 2. October 1, 1997: In Pearl, Mississippi, Luke Woodham, 16, allegedly killed his mother, his ex-girlfriend and another student. 3. December 1, 1997: Police say Michael Carneal, 14, shot at a group of students, killing three, in West Paducah, Kentucky. 4. March 24, 1998: In Jonesboro, Arkansas, Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, allegedly killed five. On August 11, 1998, they were convicted of murder and sentenced to serve in a detention center till 18 years of age or possibly 21 (Rather, 1998). 5. April 24, 1998: Andrew Wurst, 14, allegedly opened fire at a school dance in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, killing a teacher. 6. May 19, 1998: In Fayetteville, Tennessee, Jacob Davis, 18, allegedly killed a classmate three days before graduation. The Macon Telegraph (1998) described the predisposition of Luke Woodham, 16, from Pearl, Mississippi as follows: Teen killer ... Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, Mississippi, assistant District attorney, Tim Jones says Luke Woodham is "mean. He's hateful. He's bloodthirsty. He wanted to kill (his mother)." The teenager accused of killing two classmates and wounding seven others during a school shooting spree is sentenced to life in prison for stabbing his mother to death on the same day as the shooting. (p. 1A) Yet, on May 21, 1998, in Springfield, Oregon, another shooting by an adolescent high school student opened a bloody chapter in the recent history of America's high schools. Kip Kinkel, 15-year-old, freshman, opened gunfire in the cafeteria wearing a cowboy hat and with a rifle propped against his shoulder. He killed two students and wounded 22 other students. The shooting ended only when another student tackled Kinkel as he attempted to reload (King & Mutt, 1998; Rogers, et. al., 1998). The above tragedies are only the latest in an appalling spate of adolescent violence in recent months. Surprisingly, these adolescent boys come from middle-class and working-class families (Rogers, Haederle, Leonard & Dodd, 1998), shattering the myth that violent adolescents come from desperate, impoverished families. …

Field of study: Education