More than two-thirds of high school social workers say at least one life-threatening incident occurred at their school last year, but only one in five report violence among students as a big problem at their school, says a recent study led by University Social Work and Education assistant Prof. Ron Astor.
In a study of more than 600 members of the National Association of Social Workers, Astor found that 43 percent of the social workers report violence is little or no problem, 37 percent say violence is a moderate problem and 20 percent say violence is a big problem.
Astor acknowledged the ambiguity in using "big" to define disciplinary problems, but insisted that a zero-tolerance attitude toward all violent crimes - where a single potentially lethal act is enough to define a serious violence problem - should be the policy of more high schools.
"It's a qualitative issue - there are certain types of violence that affect the entire school," he said. "At a high school there might be 2,000 kids, and let's say there is a shooting, rape or robbery and the perpetrator isn't caught: That impacts all the students.
"The crime affects the entire social system and that's why tolerance has to be as low as possible," he said.
Astor said that while drive-by shootings and other extremely violent acts occur more frequently in today's society, recent perceptions of high school violence have been sensationalized and the majority of disciplinary problems are more mundane.
"When you break it down, there is an entire range of problems in the schools, including assaults and rape, but a majority of the problems are pushing and shoving in predictable places like parking lots, cafeterias or the hallways between classes," he said. "Most of the fights are between friends over hurt feelings, betrayal or breakdown of communication in their relationships."
Kimberly Fravil, an Education graduate student who assisted Astor in the study, said schools should enforce a zero-tolerance policy not only for lethal acts but for more common lower-level fighting as well.
"Zero tolerance means anything - including the less-violent fighting. It's similar to domestic violence where pushing and shoving, if done all the time, is a crime. This view has yet to be accepted," she said.
Astor said that since students usually know where and when violence acts are likely to occur, they tend to avoid them - making it seem like school violence isn't a big problem for them.
"The kids generally say, 'No, violence isn't a big problem,' but they tell us all these stories and that there are certain places they just don't go."
Astor noted that certain types of violence are particular to high school.
"Why is any fighting allowed at the high school level?" he asked. "In my college courses, we verbally re-enact a typical schoolyard fight with a surrounding crowd and the grad students usually laugh because it's so ridiculous - I mean, can you imagine similar fights in halls of this University on a daily basis?"
Astor cited federal data indicating that while crime in general is going down, violent crime among youth is still rising. He said security guards, metal detectors and video cameras are not the most effective ways to prevent violence, and instead, emphasized increased involvement of adults who know the children - especially teachers.
"We have to talk more closely with the students and teachers to help solve these problems."