Sociology

Journal Article Analysis

Violence in high schools is present in many places in the school. A survey was taken by five high schools. Both students and teachers were given maps to their schools and asked to identify where and when the most violent events and most dangerous places in the school were at. The participants, or the teachers and students were also asked to identify the ages and sexes of the people who committed the violent acts and of the people who they were committed against. Later the participants were questioned about why they thought these were the most dangerous areas and why these certain types of people committed the violent acts. The findings were that they mostly occurred in places such as hallways, dining areas, and parking lots. All of these places are where authority figures are not usually found. Also in the study they asked their opinions on security guards, suspensions, and objects such as video cameras. The purpose of this survey was to see if interventions should be made to heighten the sense of awareness between students and teachers about these places where problems most occur. As I said before the methods used to obtain this information was five surveys to five high schools.

Since I have recently left the high school environment I believe that this study is one of relative importance. In my younger years of high school, basically my freshman and sophomore years, fights and violent acts occurred regularly. Usually around two a week. And they usually occurred in the same places. Junior things had drastically changed. I remember walking into school and going through a metal detector at the entrance of the school. At first I was somewhat offended but did feel safer. And as the year went on I noticed that fights were not occurring as much. I noticed that teachers were now standing outside their classes in the halls at breaks between classes, police were in the parking lots all the time and cameras were now at every corner. Although I felt like I was in a prison I asked the principal later that year how many fights had occurred. Remarkably finding that only three had occurred the entire year. I believe that this study relates very closely with my school.

This article shows that by knowing where the dangerous areas are and improving student relations improves the well being of the entire school. And that by placing cameras and security guards at the designated, “dangerous areas”, many violent acts can be prevented if not stopped. I see a definite connection between this article and my high school. Because the changes were made the school environment was a safer place. All because the administration knew where the problems were occurring and how to stop them

Word Count: 466