School | Safety Patrol

Is School Violence a Worldwide Problem?

WASHINGTON - APRIL 28: (L-R) Rear Adm. Anne S...

Depending on where you live, there may be a perception that violence only happens in American schools or schools where there is a great deal of civil unrest. The statistics show that there has been a worldwide increase in school violence. It’s just that some countries keep better data than others.

U.S. Violence in Schools

The Center for Disease Control has kept good track of violence in U.S. schools. There is a shocking number of kids carrying guns, and the number of assaults or threats with weapons is serious, too. Since guns are easy to obtain in the United States, this may not seem so shocking. Actually, shock may not be nearly as prevalent as the question of how our children became so violent.

All the Reasons Why

Depending on who you’re talking to, the reasons for the increased violence in schools varies. There’s no doubt there’s truth in all the theories. Many will say that the lack of discipline in the schools is a factor while others blame it on unhealthy home environments. The facts show that boys are more violent than girls and that there is some indication that lower IQs can be a factor, too.

Many teachers believe that disruptive behavior and poor learning results, in early school years, are an indication of disruptive, and even violent behavior in later school years. There’s controversy in all the theories because no one wants to be saddled with the blame. The unfortunate fact is that worldwide, violence among students is up, and that means our children at risk of injury and a poor quality education.

Filed Under: Education, School Tagged With: Education in the United States, United States, Violence

Demanding Safety in Schools

Image by cayoup via Flickr

It’s an assumption of protection: schools are thought to offer safety, to provide a haven for students. Too often does that haven prove to be weak, however. Children are teased mercilessly; violence occurs; and parents think themselves powerless to correct it.

This pattern is a tragic one — and it must be stopped.

Safety precautions must be formed. Accomplishing this requires action, however:

Determine Policies

Knowledge is far more than a series of words and percentages. It’s instead an understanding of the elements that shape a school. Parents must demand access to the policies of their educational systems: learning what protocols have been put in place and what issues must subsequently be addressed. This is essential in devising a safety plan; all strengths and weaknesses must first be known.

Demand Statistics

Too often do parents think themselves unheard: their concerns ignored, their worries unheeded. School representatives offer bland assurances and little else, which sparks a need for change. Statistics must then be demanded. Individuals must seek out information regarding violence reports, accidents and more. This is the only way to verify whether safety has been earned.

Discuss Involvement

Education doesn’t rely on singular sources. It instead requires a vast collection of instructors, books and presentations. Safety is the same — needing involvement from all parents to be achieved. It’s imperative therefore that individuals discuss what can be accomplished: noting programs that need chaperones, after-school classes and more. A parental influence will have an immediate effect.

Safety is the right of all students. It must be fought for, though; and all parents must become part of the solution, rather than avoiding the problem.

Filed Under: First Aid, School Tagged With: Education, Parent, School

Crisis Management and Response Teams

Parents who send their children to public or private schools may have ever-growing concerns about the safety of their offspring.

With multiple crises over the past few years involving students, the threat seems higher to many parents. Without being able to keep a constant eye on their children, some are worried about the teaching staff or fellow students. However, many schools are now enacting plans for crisis management and response in case something goes awry during the day.

As part of a response to growing school safety concerns, members of the United States Senate drafted six bills that provide improvements and requirements to protect students in public schools. This offers a sense of community across the schools in different cities and states, and provides similar funding to enact these security measures. Many campuses now have more improved security and emergency response systems to protect those who are enrolled. Keeping students enrolled in schools protected from danger is crucial in making sure the educational experience is enjoyable. If someone thinks “I want to earn my degree,” personal safety shouldn’t be a factor against that.

Employees at any level of education should be trained in how to respond if such an event were to occur, and how to discipline those responsible. Many schools have a zero tolerance policy—the first time a student threatens the safety of others, that student is removed without question. Enacting measures to remove any chance of danger is one way to prevent a crisis, and those who know that their administrators are serious about safety might think twice before threatening other students.

Filed Under: Education, School Tagged With: Crisis management, Education, United States Senate

Teachers and Stress

Teachers and stress should never converge in education. There should be a fair discrepancy between the two, otherwise the sole aim of teacher i.e. to provide knowledge to their students will not be meeting. There are various reasons why it is preferred that the blend of two should be avoided. In the working atmosphere it is a teacher only who feels more stressed out, even more than the students. Stress can lead to emotional instability in teachers, because whenever they are stressed out most of the teachers often feel angry and irritated. As a teacher if you allow all these instabilities overshadow your temperament, then it can result in a bad lecture leading to the exiguous classroom environment. This can even increase the chances, that you might be fired for ill behaving with your students.

Stress is the bodily reaction and as a consequence of which, it can even lead to the health deterioration. Thus if a person is stressed out, body pains are the common symptoms. In worst case it can even lead to the death of an individual, hence as a teacher you must take precautionary measures to prevent yourself from such complicated scenario. A sudden rise in stress can cause a simultaneous increase in blood pressure. As a result of which you may feel tired out and you may not be able to involve yourself with your lectures as actively as before.

Stress can lead to the high level of anxiety which can seriously increase the intensity level of complications. Thus, it is advisable that the Teachers and stress must never be mixed and as a teacher try to find out some measures to battle with these problems.

Filed Under: Education, School Tagged With: Stress, Student, Teacher

Students and Politics

The most aggressive, progressive, inspired, articulate and dynamic section of a country is the student’s group. The productive interval of one’s life i.e. student life should utilized effectively and judicially. The efficacious utilization of the student’s community can do wonders in the development of a country. This period of life prepares an individual to face the challenges that he/she may face in the upcoming years. Students, who want to join politics as their profession, should be good leaders and they must be able to express their views and thoughts by shedding their shyness. They must be assertive and confident enough to develop a career in politics.

Moreover, Politics cannot be isolated from the student’s life, as this field demands the active participation of students in the form of student’s union and student’s association. Political Science is characterized as the crucial part of curriculum both in schools as well as in colleges. This presents the role of politics on the student’s life. History reveals the fact that the participation of student’s has played a vital role in growth of politics in the developed countries. However it completely depends on the members of political parties whether they utilize this participation in the constructive or destructive manner.

Politics provide a platform to students to implement all the knowledge of their learning, practically and contribute healthy hand in the development of a country. Politics make students better organizers as well as administrators. The support of the students in a country is like a brook which needs to be channelized. However, there should be a limit in regards to the involvement of students in politics so that they don’t forget their ultimate aim i.e. to study.

Filed Under: Education, School Tagged With: Education, Politics, Student

Developing a student safety checklist

It is important to understand the risks that students might be exposed to while studying at school campuses. School safety is not just the onus of teachers, and parents. It is the priority of all people. School safety is a very frightening word. A school is most often than not seen as a harmless place. But words like school safety and student risk management give it other connotations.

If you are a parent who would like to ensure maximum school safety for your child, then you have to take the following checklist with you the next time you go to meet your child’s teachers. You can also invite other parents to take part in this exercise. Or you can even sit down with your child and your child’s friends to make the checklist.Here’s how your checklist should go…

1) Ask the school, how they prioritize school safety. Is it the first position, second position or which position?

2) Does the school have processes for disaster management?

3) Does the school keep a track of all the unsafe incidents that have taken place at the school? Do they have analytic reports on the same?

4) Does the school have prevention and cure plan? Do they have measures to prevent a catastrophe as well as come out of it?

5) Check the school’s safety list. What do they place as unsafe? Do they factor-in all the possibilities of danger or is it not a comprehensive safety list?

6) Do they have special point of contact or an office for emergencies? Does the school have specialized and trained personnel to deal with emergency situations?

7) Does the school provide counseling help for violent students?

Have they any certification to ascertain themselves as a safe education provider?

These are some of the checklist items that parents can have at PTO meetings. Some of these might help schools to understand what they are lacking in.

Filed Under: Education, School Tagged With: Checklist, Parent, Student

Earthquake proofing school buildings

In countries like Japan, Earthquakes are frequent. Japan introduced Earthquake proof standards for buildings. The Japanese government is now actively promoting Earthquake resistant buildings for schools. A lot of catastrophic events have happened in Japan. 1995’s Hanshin-Awaji is one of them. During the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake incident school buildings were destroyed. This was at a time when there were no Earthquake proof standards for buildings.

Following this event, a law was introduced by the Japanese government to make a standard for buildings to be Earthquake resistant. Another law was passed to promote research and development in this area. It also made provisions for inducting funds from external sources for supplementing the development of the Earthquake proof building technology.

In countries like Japan such developments are taking place. It is time for other countries to follow this approach as well. Talking about school safety, an important aspect of it is also the buildings that students use. By making Earthquake resistance buildings, a potential catastrophe can be avoided.

Earthquake resistant school buildings can be made by retrofitting buildings using diagonally crossed braces, and flexible pipes. Studies show that the focus of Earthquake proofing buildings should be to concentrate on the sideways movement of the building. Most buildings during an Earthquake tend to sway sideways. By blocking this movement a potential building collapse could be avoided.

There is also a theory be scientists who have discovered vertical movements of a building under an Earthquake. All these movements come down to how the structure of the building is reinforced. The way the columns and beams of the building are designed is the way it makes the building behaves.

A new research suggests the partitioning of the building from the landmass with another cushioning interface material. By doing this the building is not affected by the seismic waves generated from the Earth, since most of it is absorbed by the cushioning interface.

Filed Under: School Tagged With: Building, Earthquake, Japan

Ensuring students play safe on playgrounds

Playgrounds are places where a lot of injury can happen to students. Game activities provide a lot of relief and recreation to students. Without such facilities students will get bored and easily slip themselves into mediocrity. But while playgrounds provide an important activity for the overall development of the kid, they also need to be safe. You might have seen or heard about students hurting themselves while playing at school. Some of them might have broken their arms, or slipped and fallen down. These things will happen, but playground design can prevent this.

So what is playground design? Playground design in simple words is to design playgrounds so that they offer safe recreation and other physical activities to students. Playgrounds can be separated into distinct areas, where each area could be assigned to be used for a particular age group. For example, a playground for students between the age of 8 and fifteen need not have high parallel bars. Students can risk themselves to serious falls.

Grounds that are used to play hard sports like soccer can have short grass. Barren grounds are not advisable, as it not only risks the students to injuries, but is also not hygienic. A playground should have a supervisor who overlooks the activities of the students. This is particularly helpful in preventing unwanted injuries to kids playing on playgrounds.

Swimming pools are also part of physical instruction in some schools. Swimming pools must need the constant vigilance of swimming instructors. Students might get adventurous in swimming pools. In their creative comedies they might mock-drown other students. What was intended as a joke can take a serious turn. All this can be avoided by constant vigilance at areas where school students play.

A playground is an important aspect of the development of child’s personality. All students need to play at some point. Agreed some students might not take to playing, but they can equally be good at other non-physical activities.

Filed Under: School Tagged With: Playground, Student

How to prevent violence in students

So many massacres in schools have left teachers and parents dumbfounded. Schools previously considered a safe haven for children is now becoming a dangerous place. Parents, teachers and people in general are wondering on the solutions to the problems of student violence. How can student violence be prevented?

Adolescents commit a lot of murders. Most of it due to lack of understand of circumstances following such a drastic action, and off course raging hormones. In the United States alone, every year close to four thousand murders are being done by students studying in schools.

Murders in school are mostly done by students who have been cast away as failures in school. They are such students who would have been humiliated at school. Unable to withstand the humiliation of being an outcast at school they vent out their angst and anger by turning to violence.

So what to do to prevent such acts? Prevention is better than cure. Preventing such incidents will require early recognition of violence in students. If a student with such violent symptoms is found, steps can be taken to dissolve such acts through rehabilitation.

There are other harsh prevention methods like sending the student to prison or putting the student through community service punishments. Incarceration will subdue the student’s violent behavior. As the student turns sober in an incarcerated atmosphere, wisdom will also prevail.

The only way to change a violent student completely would be to change the way this student thinks and acts. A great deal of change can be induced if the atmosphere of this student is made as peaceful as possible. Stimulants to violence can be done away with. By doing this the student will slowly start looking inwards rather than outwards. This is the only path to real self-change.

Schools should have specific educational programs that concentrate on things like behavior, personality amongst other things. No threat should be taken lightly. Violent students can be the most merciless.

Filed Under: Education, School Tagged With: Murder, School, Violence

A Teacher’s Gift: Motivating Students

Students are always eager to learn. Since most of them are at an age when they are naturally curious about learning, it becomes easier for teachers to motivate them. Teachers have a greater role than teaching students. They should also motivate the students to do things that they are good at. A teacher is like a parent to students at school, in that they are responsible for instilling values in students.

There is no formulaic approach to motivating or inspiring students. IF there was one, then most students would have been motivated to pursue their dreams. There are plenty of things that influence a student’s ability to assimilate and learn. Even motivation is induced by a variety of factors. These factors may be internal, external or both. Motivation in students is nothing but the desire to excel in academics, or extra-curricular activities. It is also the burning desire to achieve excellence at a young age. Motivation is also the inclination to know more about the subject and devote more time to learning a subject. Motivated students show remarkable qualities of self-confidence, self-esteem, patience.

So what can teachers do to motivate students?

1 Give positive feedback about a student’s ability

By giving positive feedback about a student’s ability to the student, motivation can be seeded in this student. The student will be convinced about this unique ability and go all the way to pursue excellence in it.

2 Always make the students succeed

Inculcate a step-by-step approach to educating students. Don’t give assignments that are very easy to do or extremely difficult. Make the student feel successful after a completed assignment, and deservedly so.

3 Make things relevant to the student

When studying something, the student might not find personal relevance to the subject. The teacher can try to map aspects of this subject to how it may affect the student’s present or future life. This will enable the student to find purpose in any activity.

Filed Under: Education, School Tagged With: Motivation, Student, Teacher