Introduction
A school shooting is one of the terrible problems that affected modern schools and pedagogy. School violence is not unique to public schools or to the nation’s educational centres. Current media reports and news stories indicate that the issue of violence and shooting in schools is a national problem that has seeped into the very heartland of America. A today school shooting is a social problem that requires special attention of society, and prevention measures accepted on the governmental level. This question is extremely important because with over 200 million guns currently circulating within the US there is now more of a threat than ever for teen violence and violent crimes taking place. Many sociological theories try to explain school shooting, its social roots and causes taking into account social relations and social influences affected school students. Symbolic interactionism theory helps to single out the core elements of violent behaviour and explain the social causes of a school shooting. It is important for colleges and universities to adopt discipline as a guide in decision making for groups of students and staff. These rules are a student’s fundamental orientation toward life, what a student sees as right and wrong, and his/her obligations towards others. Discipline is also closely connected with ethical responsibilities which means how its decisions and actions show concern for what the community consider fair and just.
Symbolic Interactionism Theory
According to symbolic interactionism theory and one of its founders Herbert Blumer (1969), social interaction can be explained in the following way:
- Human beings act toward things on the basis of the meanings that the things have for them
- The meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has with one’s fellows.
- These meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process used by the person in dealing with the things he/she encounters (Blumer pp. 23-24).
In terms of this theory, many teenagers follow the example of adults and film heroes trying to obtain guns and use force against innocent citizens. For most of them, guns represent “adulthood”, a stylish and trendy way of life.
Social interaction theory helps to single outs such causes of a school shooting as TV violence and guns availability. Primarily, lack of control resulted in numerous deaths of teens who kill each other. Teens kill each other using arms as a tool to take revenge or prove their imaginary force and adulthood. Foss High School shooting in 2006 is one of the vivid examples of such behaviour. The chief comments;
I’m not sure what the motive was or what was said “I know they were acquaintances. It does not appear to be a gang-related incident. It does not appear to be a random act of violence (Student dies in shooting, 2006).
This situation becomes a common thing for media used as an integral part of the circulation of ideas and social conflict. The stereotype of the man as cruel and aggressive has a great impact on teen’s perception and desire to obtain firearms. The high rate of death among teens is caused by the fact that the friends and relatives of a teenager who has a gun become the major victims of his cruelty. The news reported about the recent Toronto school shooting (2007):
No weapons have been found, no arrests have been made and no information on the identity of the boy has been released. Chief Blair told reporters that the current focus is to get the students out of the school safely” (Toronto high school locked down, 2007).
Because of students’ increased access to weapons, especially guns, and the fact that more and more of these weapons are showing up in schools. Following Carpendale and Muller (2004): “schools are also increasing their use of metal detectors to identify students carrying weapons. In addition, to support school administrators’ efforts to reduce violence, more and more schools’ funds are used to him retired police officers or security guards to patrol buildings” (23). Following symbolic interaction theory, many students violate school rules in order to attract attention and create a ‘unique’ personal image of superhero they watch in movies. (Virginia School Shooting News, 2007).
Taking into account the third core concept of symbolic interactionism, it is possible to say that fight against the society has become popular in society today in spite of the negative influence it has had on students. Guns have encouraged lust, sex, suicide, rebellion against authority, etc. Surprisingly, most of these students are not aware of the adverse effects of guns possession explaining that they need them for personal safety and security. The statistical results show that death among teens killed by teens is very high in comparison with adult statistics. Advertising has a direct impact on the life priorities of youth. In this case, firearms and violence “advertising” encourages extremely aggressive behaviour forcing teens to choose their way of living (Kendall, 2006).
TV has a great impact on teens as the main communication tool that shapes views and controls the circulation of ideas, identifies tastes and social priorities of millions of viewers around the world. These findings show that TV becomes the main form of entertainment appealing so much to everyone through its simplicity and animation. Psychologists prove that TV violence affects the emotions and behaviour of teens increasing their aggression and hostility. It is important to note that there is no direct correlation between TV violence and teens’ aggression, although psychological researches state that TV violence inspires young adults to act aggressively (Kendall, 2006). This proves the fact that many TV programs are insecure and rather dangerous for young adults portraying violent and cruel scenes. For this reason, parents should be conscious about the possible effects of TV on their children reviewing and controlling products their children are going to watch.
Generally speaking, there are three groups of students in school. The majority of young people rarely break the rules and behaviour principles stipulated by the school curriculum. The third part of all students breaks the rules on a “somewhat regular basis by refusing to accept classroom principles and resisting restrictions” (Klawans 2002, p. 44). If not given clear instructions regarding their behaviour patterns, these young people can disrupt learning for all the other students (Klawans, 2002). These students are more likely to commit acts of violence in school and in the community. Virginia Tech shooting on April 17 2007 was one of the cruellest and violent ones: 32 people were killed during two attacks (Virginia School Shooting News, 2007).
According to symbolic interaction theory, “the meaning is derived from or arises out of the social interaction” so lack of parental supervision at home (71%), lack of family involvement with the school (66 %), and exposure to violence in the mass media (55 %) become the main ‘symbols’ and ‘signs’ followed by students. On numerous occasions, teachers have shared anecdotes about students, even very young students, who state that their parents have told them (the children) that they do not have to do what the teacher says or that if anyone tries to take something from them, insults them, or hits them, they should fight back (Carpendale and Muller, 2004). Unfortunately, many parents admit that they do not teach and educate their child as for behaviour [patters and social interaction (Attacks on students and staff, 2007). Most of the school shootings were preplanned as a shooting committed by a 19-year-old student in North Carolina in 2006. “A preliminary investigation indicates “that the shooting at the school and the murder were preplanned,” according to the sheriff’s office’ (School shooting suspect charged with killing father, 2006).
Negative interaction occurs in gangs and negative peer groups. Students who were queried as to their membership in these groups or gangs often responded that they join because they want to be accepted by their peers and need to belong. Disorderly conduct has become increasingly common amongst college and university students in recent years. Disorderly conduct of student has not been widely discussed in the literature but created a great problem for many authorities. In recent years more attention is given to this problem because the conduct of students plays an important role in the general policies of colleges and universities and requires special actions to be made. As a result, “an act of violence [and shooting] could result from idle gossip, courtship jealousies, extortion, feeling slighted or disrespected, or an attempt to impress friends” (Carpendale and Muller, 2004).
The facts mentioned above show that school shooting becomes a reaction towards social symbols popularized by society and the media. The schools’ internal structural organization and their cultures of implicit understanding of how things are and how things ought to be done contribute to processes that differentiate other compensatory education programs.
Conclusion
In sum, school shooting unveils ineffective social and negative symbolic interaction between students and their parents, students and educational staff. Out of control teen shooting and guns results in great national problem causing the death of millions of innocent people. Free circulation of guns causes a high number of homicides and suicides committed by teens and a high unintentional injury risk. Restrictions should be applied to the entire population, in order to reduce guns circulation and their availability to teens. The other problem is that firearms can be easily acquired on the street and stolen. Parental negligence and lack of governmental control are usually “cited” as the main causes of the problem. Guns availability resulted in three main problems: suicide, homicide and high injury risk. It was found that guns availability is dangerous for a teen himself. Lack of special programs resulted in increased violence and guns possession. Many teenagers know much about guns, but do not realize the danger of them. Experts believe that taking preventive measures is better than the abrupt prohibition of guns which can cause the opposite effect on the students. Public policies should be formulated carefully including the goals of the policy, whether the means adopted will achieve those goals, and whether intended benefits outweigh financial and human rights burdens. The solution is the implementation of social campaigns which will involve broad social context: media, social workers, school authorities, etc. A clear understanding of the goals to be achieved is essential. So, without strict control on the national level, it will be impossible to decrease teenage guns possession and school shooting.
References
- Attacks on students and staff. (2007,).
- Blumer, Herbert (1969). Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Carpendale, J. I. M., Muller, U. (2004). Social Interaction and the Development of Knowledge. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Kendall, D. (2006). Sociology of Our Time. Wadsworth Publishing; 6 edition.
- Klawans, S. (2002). License to Kill. The Nation. 275 (14), p. 44.
- School shooting suspect charged with killing father. (2006).
- ‘Student dies in shooting at Foss High School; suspect captured’ (2006).
- Toronto high school locked down after shooting. (2007).
- Virginia School Shooting News (2007).