Bullying and School Shootings
We need to reduce bullying in high schools to decrease school shootings in the United States.
Medicalization is the process of defining a social problem through medical language. Children and adolescents who fall victim to a bully are put at high risk of developing mental health problems; such as, depression, anxiety, and self-esteem issues. These students that suffer the side effects of bullying are put at a higher risk of turning to substance abuse, which will only add the problems associated with their mental health. The combination of the mental health issues and or the substance abuse can lead the students to act out with violence. These students who are bullied, will eventually be pushed to their breaking point. This can be released through violence which will most likely be directed at the ones who caused them harm. An article published titled the Tragic Consequences of Bullying in School, directly explains how bullying leads to school shootings.
The medical model lets us look at a problem through a medical standpoint. First a disease is discovered, then the symptoms are diagnosed and finally a treatment is found. The medical model for school shooting would be first the disease which is bullying. Then the symptoms would be the mental health problems like, depression, anxiety, and self-esteem issues. Finally the treatment is stopping the bullying all together and helping students deal with the effects of bullying, like through counselling.
Social science would be the best example of why kids choose to do a school shooting. Bullying is one of the four examples of social science that I have chosen. Bullying leads to depression and built up anger that makes the youth feel unaccepted to society. It’s a huge reason why there is school shootings. Anxiety is another example. It ties into in bullying because it’s also like a pressure to fit in with others in school. If you have anxiety, you’re susceptible to feelings that are uncontrollable. Abuse would be another example of why school shootings happen. People whom are abused are damaged mentally and physically. They have been exposed to things that are life altering. Lastly, the final example would be, mental health. There are people who specific diseases that make them think the way that they do and gives them the thought process that allows them to do things that are exactly acceptable to society. They are mentally ill and can hurt others due to their disease. These four example are all under social science and are very dangerous when it comes to such a deadly event.
For our topic, we have chosen the non-profit organization, Kind Campaign. They are a group that campaigns for the ones who are being bullied, mainly girl on girl bullying, and to stop the bullying that goes on in today’s world. Some of the grounds that they have are that the founders have experienced girl on girl bullying themselves, so they have had it first hand. Once they started working together, they started working on a documentary, trying to show what is going on, trying to show the adults that this is happening and that it can get worse. The warrants that they have are that bullying can lead to depression, low self-esteem, and even suicide. The conclusions, or changes that they want or have discussed are bring women together, show them how they can lift them up and show them how they can empower one another. They also have a donation link to where you could donate to this organization or you can become an ambassador to this cause.
The evidence that is being given by them are supported by the social sciences because they physically went to different schools and talk to the girls themselves to find out whether or not bullying was a huge issue at that particular school. Lots of variability should be expected because everyone deals with bullying differently. Some people just shrug it off and others take it so heavily that they take their own life or others lives. Variability gives us the chance to look at all the different aspects of the way it is helping or not helping. One claim that can be interpreted differently across the country would be that they don’t really try to help those who have been bullied by guys or guys on guys bullying since they only focus on girl on girl bullying.
One statistic about this organization would be that “90% of girls surveyed agreed that they did not want to participate in gossip or drama after experiencing a Kind Campaign Assembly.” Another statistic is that “90% of girls surveyed realized they were not alone because of the Kind Campaign Assembly.” Both of these statistics were found on their statistics link on their website. These numbers came from the data that were collected in a survey given after the assemblies between August 2014 to May 2015. About 4,000 students took this survey and it was analyzed by HK Impact Advisors. Basically, these surveys were self reports about how each girl felt after the assemblies to see how they changed or to see if they did change. A risk that relates to this group is that the bullying could still continue and if it didn’t work, it could be felt like they failed as a mentor on diminishing this issue. Some people may not want to do what Kind Campaign is doing is that they do not want to get involved because these people may become attached to these mentors or speakers because they can relate to them on an emotional level.
In recent years, school shootings have become a very real thing. In our society today, we are exposed to the existence of school shootings through news outlets, as well as the multiple social media apps. Rosalind Duplechain, PHD, and Robert Morris,PHD, of University of West Georgia, discuss the 310 documented U.S. shootings that have taken place in their article, “School Violence: Reported School Shootings and Making Schools Safer.” Duplechain and Morris provide a data chart, showing the disturbing spike in school shootings. Between 1760 and 1900 there were only 25 school shootings in the United States that were documented in newspaper reports. Which isn’t too alarming for it being an 140 year time period. But between 1990 and 2014, there were 190 school shootings within that 24 year time period. And this is in 2014, imagine what that number would be today in 2018. It’s terrifying as a student, to know that only 21 weeks into 2018 and there had already been 23 school shootings.
In Michael H. Popkin’s “Youth Violence in our Communities–and What We Can Do,” in the Journal of Individual Psychology, he discusses the history of violence and how past violences and discoveries impacts us today. Making it evident that violence has always existed. Popkin points out how our history is filled with violence: everything from rape to war. Some even gaining pleasure from such horrible acts such as Vlad the Impaler of Romania and Jack the Ripper. Popkin explains how kids get the idea for doing such awful things from role models and peers. His example was Eric Harris and Dylan Kleibold, whose hero was Hitler and going as far as carrying out their shooting on Hitler’s birthday, April 20th. Humans have been obsessed with weapons, and have found news ways to create more destructive weapons. “The sad truth is that we have made far more progress technologically in developing weapons than we have psychologically in learning how to control our impulses to use them against each other.”
There are many ways that have been researched to alleviate the school shootings in America.
One way to diminish school shootings was addressed by Thomas F. Brezenski, an Associate Professor of Political Science at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Florida. Brezenski writes about one possible solution in his article “Inside the 23rd Congressional District (FL) Gun Violence Task Force: Real-Time Crisis Policymaking in the Wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas School Shootings.” In Brenzenski’s article, he addresses the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where seventeen people died on February 14, 2018. Nicolas Cruz, the gunman, used a semi-automatic rifle to murder the seventeen innocent people. Brezenski goes on to talk about Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 and how shooter Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster XM15-E2S semi-automatic rifle. Following Sandy Hook, task forces formed and demanded greater gun control. Brezenski states that “we should not be a nation where children are afraid to go to school, but that is exactly where we are, as many children and families across the country have felt that no child is immune to gun violence.” He then continues to say how “there is no waving of a magic wand and solving the problem of gun violence in the U.S.” and concludes his article with the support of the above mentioned task forces and gun laws.
Another discussed way to reduce school shootings was addressed by Lori A. Hoffner, an ASIST Certified Trainer and SafeTALK Master Trainer with a B.A. in Psychology. Hoffner writes on a way to respond to the shootings in her article “Ready to Respond Versus React.” Hoffner writes on the responses to the school shootings happening since 1999. She states that a compassionate community leadership is the way to alleviate the violence. Hoffner expresses how “tragic, traumatic events, whether natural or manmade, are a part of our world. However, we can choose to be an integral part of recovery through thoughtful and intentional policies and practices.” Calling for a need for councils and groups to prepare more for similar situations. She supports the programs “help-seeking climate” by reminding individuals to be healthy, get plenty of sleep, and engage in activities.
Social Problems 