Conventional wisdom would assert that most violence occurs in inner-city and urban schools, and of course, those schools often are wracked by violence. But affluent suburban schools are not immune either.
Our fears of school shootings actually are overblown in terms of the statistical occurrence of such horrific events. As shocking as school shootings are, in reality they occur only rarely. School-associated violent deaths account for less than 1 percent of homicides among kids.
But the routine violence that occurs every day in our schools is another story. Much more pervasive and more difficult to get at, these acts of violence constitute a culture of violence that exists in many of our schools. It is characterized by acts of aggression that vary from shoving and hitting to name calling and campaigns of ridicule and bullying to actual gang warfare complete with knives (by far more frequently brought to school than guns), shanks, and other less-conventional weapons.
Related Products: