Essay, Research Paper: American Children

Times are changing. In a world where there really is no safe haven from the violence of the cold and harsh world. As an American citizen one might believe that they could send their children to an institute of learning and their children would be safe from harm and far from losing their lives. But now that idea is not reverently supported. The American children have been attacked. This should not be tolerated by America and America should do whatever they can to stop these needless acts of violence on the adolescents. So whom should we target? Well that is the shocking part of the argument. The children are conducting this onslaught on the children. So as a people, we ask ourselves why is this happening? Where did we go wrong? Why are these children rebelling in such an outrageous way? And what can we do to stop the violence? These are all questions that have been troubling the American public since the school shootings started.
Some people feel that this is a new phenomenon indicative to public schools; but in actuality those are both fallacies. Studies done by the Department of Justice suggest to the contrary. In nonsectarian, public, and private schools studies show that the level of violent acts has increased. As far as this being a new outburst by children; it can be tracked back to the 1950s. Of course then the fights were fought with punches and kicks not rifles and machine guns.
Again we ask ourselves why these things occur? As with our diverse population so are our opinions on the subject. 71% of teachers in America believe that these acts of violence are caused because of the lack of parental supervision in the child’s home. As we all know many adolescents do not have a typical dinner every night and constant showering of love by their parents. And even the ones that do some times are the culprits to these crimes. That is where the supervision aspect of the matter arises children should not have access to such materials that could endanger their life and the lives of the other kids they interact with each day. The one consistent idea we are working is that all the shooters are boys. Is this a problem that is overshadowing the American male? Researchers also show that killers do not do this killing spontaneously. It is meditated and thought out. Even to the degree of telling their peers what they are planning on doing. Why is it that these killing sprees can still happen with our knowledge of them? The American people although strong in thought are naïve to the fact that things cannot happen to us. And that is where we are wrong. It can happen to us and it will continue to happen if we do not band together to take a stand against it.
Some of the American public believes that another cause of this recent level of violence is the increasing level of violence depicted on the television. The majority of kids are big fans of cartoons, or they like watching daytime programming right after they get out of school. But for some reason American television programmers have began to cloud the adolescent mind by polluting it with scenes of violence, murder, and death. There is only so much a child should be allowed to see. But with current programming that limit has been reached by ten fold. With shows on the major networks like NBC, ABC, HBO, and Cinemax. All of these programming shows produce shows that are detrimental to a child’s psyche. Relaying the message that it is okay for them to solve their problems by using force. Not only does television programming illustrate these scenes of violence but the motion picture industry does also. With role models like Arnold Schwartzenagger and Bruce Willis what else who a kid be led to believe but that violence is the way to solve their problems.
Here recently there has been an effort put forth by the government to try and somewhat control and censor the violence that is broadcasted through the media. There have been regulation committees created by the Government to produce a strong standard for rating television shows and movies. Studies say that fewer and fewer children are being admitted into R rated movies. They also say that number of children viewing graphic material from their home has decreased slightly.
So maybe someday when all of these issues have been reviewed by this generation there will be an even deeper analysis of preventive measures to stop things of this malicious caliber from occurring. If we band together as a nation and try and put some type of a halt to the killing of our youth we will overcome it. America has been built on the strong principals and values. Once the entire public realizes this and tries to uphold it America will be stronger.


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