School stabbing in Massachusetts
Is there more school violence than there used to be, or do we just hear more about it now? The stories are always so gut-wrenching. And here’s the latest: According to the New York Times, this morning at around 8:00 am, “A 16-year-old student was charged with murder Friday in the fatal stabbing of a classmate … The victim was described as a 15-year-old freshman at the suburban school, about 17 miles west of Boston… a fight broke out early Friday between two male students in a school bathroom and spilled out into the hallway, where the stabbing took place.”
So, how do you keep your kids safe? How do you talk to them about violence, and about these scary news stories? We have some great videos that speak directly to this issue: Don’t miss this compelling look at resilience in kids– and this shocking look at youth violence.
Last October, when there were those horrific school shootings in Pennsylvania, iVillagers posted to the boards in droves: “Its soo hard when the kids get scared by real events like that…We also reassured our son that it was a very rare occurance and that most people are good. We just tend to hear more about the bad guys on the news. It took a long time and a lot of repetition but he eventually got over the paranoia...”
On the Hot Topic: School Shootings board, there is an ongoing discussion about what we can to do keep our kids safer: “I wrestle with these thoughts everyday when sending my kids off to school! Are they safe enough? Can I do more to keep them safer? What can the schools do to ensure they are safe?”
Ugh, ugh, ugh. It's just so sad! 15 years old.
What's your take on it? Weigh in here.
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My children are pretty young, so they don't watch the news. If they do, by chance, hear a story like that, I tell them the truth, without elaborating, in terms they can understand at their level (they're 5 & 6). If they ask questions, I answer them as honestly as I can, even going so far as to admit I don't know if I really don't know. As for whether they're safe, well, they're just as likely to be injured crossing the street, riding the bus, riding in the car with me, visiting my folks, etc., as they are going to school. Life is a gamble each and every day - it's impossible to be safe 100% of the time. We just have to live with the risks in order to reap the rewards.
... and we have to pray that the risks we suffer aren't too great!
I always feel so heartbroken that a CHILD feels so desperate to resort to fatal violence. But it's such a combination of factors - desensitization to the violence (news as much as video games and movies), less feeling of family/community, classes being so large that kids can become invisible, over-medicating kids...
I remember being in college and returning to visit my high school. It had just been a few years, but the difference in the "vibe" was tremendous - something innocent about childhood has definitely been lost.
I'm not shocked. I grew up in a rural area and lost a friend to violence when I was in 8th grade. He & his brother fought over the remote, the brother took a shotgun and the blast sent my friend through the wall. Over a remote control. He died instantly..at 14, killed by his younger brother. Authorities have their hands tied, parents have their hands tied. It's bad but it's likely to get worse if things don't change.
It's heartbreaking from all angles. I feel sick for the victims and families and incredible sorrow for the young people wielding guns and knives. I agree with the above comment that we have allowed our young people to become desensitized by way of TV, video games and the general lack of shock for the horrifying any more. Many schools now employ security guards and soon it will come to metal detectors to scan our children as they enter. Which isn't such a bad idea really, we have that sort of sucurity in our workplaces as a result of terrorism and I can see the next step being the same security in schools.
I just recently graduated from high school (I'm a freshman in college), and my school has already took some measures to make sure that precautions are taken. We have security cameras that were put in a couple of years a go, but it seems that even with them installed, it hasn't helped decrease the number of fights that happen each day. As of right now, there is not much that can be done to reduce the number of incidents. State governments must start playing a key role in dealing with these issues. All one ever hears about is how the school districts are dealing with them and how the police just shake their heads. Unless there is some state, or maybe even federal intervention, this will only continue to get worse. It's just a shame that it'll take an event of enormous proportions in order to improve these kinds of situations.
Metal detectors don't make people safer, they make people feel threatened. The only way to prevent violence is by raising children in loving, non-violent homes.
Here in the UK it is allready common practice for police sniffer dogs to visit schools to search for drugs - with good results, schools in London also have metal detectors. The kids understand why and have no need to feel threatened if they know they have done nothing wrong... Only problem we have - what do he teachers/police do when they find drugs knives or bombs even...
Lots of questions!
My husband is a cop and nothing these days surprises me. He deals with this on a daily basis. We really need to think about where our kids are and who they are hanging out with. School is not a safe haven for kids anymore because of the access they have to drugs, alcohol and weapons. Teachers spend more time worrying about how much they should get paid versus seeing the signs of a distressed child. We have got to get our priorities straight and focus on the children and keeping them safe.
It's going on every day in our schools and some of the folks in the schools are turning a blind eye to this stuff. My son has been bullied and was involved in what I feel was a near incident- nothing really happened to the other child yet we fear for our child every day he goes to school!!!! The parents of this other child don't seem to care dispite the fact he's a very prominent Dr in our commuinty! So it's all walks of life involved and parents need to know what their kids are doing and that would help tremendously.