Media distorts the truth about violence in school

By Joe Volz
Monitor staff

Anyone with a glancing knowledge of the headlines these days could easily be convinced that school murders are soaring and can only be stopped by pouring in legions of police to confine out-of-control youth.

In recent months, for example, endless news reports of alienated student gunmen going on rampages in places such as Littleton, Colorado, and Conyers, Georgia, have played a large role in shaping public opinion.

But in the view of Irwin Hyman, PhD, of Temple University, who spoke at a symposium on violence at APA's 1999 Annual Convention Aug. 20 - 24 in Boston, "the sheer number of media accounts about violence suggests the problem of school crime is much worse than it is."

In a session titled "New solutions for the millennium: violence prevention," Hyman and other experts in psychology, sociology and criminality discussed what can be done from the early days of childhood to deal with rage and violence. The program, sponsored by the APA's Practice Directorate, explored the experts' perspectives on violence prevention for children and youth.

Healthy coping skills

In schools, said Hyman, the overall rate of school crime has decreased. And while he conceded that the use of automatic weapons in school shootings has increased, he argued that "schools are one of the safest places for children who are more at risk [of violence] in their homes and in the streets."

Included in the discussions were not only actual statistics on youth violence and the media's influence on behavior, but a psychoeducational curriculum teaching healthy coping skills. One of the problems with so much media coverage of school violence, Hyman said, is that money that should be given to sound psychology programs is instead funneled into "ineffective" police efforts.

"The extent of school violence leads to a proliferation of mostly ineffective and unproven police tactics and punitive procedures," Hyman told his audience. "This draws vital resources and research funding from effective prevention and diverts public attention from the real causes of school violence."

He cited as ineffective programs of "get tough" legislation, the using of policemen in school, predetermined punishment for specific offenses and mass locker searches.

According to another speaker, Myrna Shure, PhD, a psychology professor at MCP Hahnemann University in Philadelphia, prevention should start "long before the world of violence and drugs enters a child's life."

Children can be good problem solvers by age four, she said, in the way they think about the consequences of what they do. She asks children basic questions like, "What's the problem?" or "What happened when you hit him?" or "How do you think he felt when you hit him?" The key question, she said: "Is there a different way to solve the problem?"

"If they can grow up as thinking and feeling human beings who care about themselves and others," she said, "they will be more empathic, successful at making friends and will be able to make responsible decisions in light of their potential consequences."Y



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