Student Misbehavior and Violence: A Reexamination of the Enemy Within

Student Misbehavior and Violence: A Reexamination of the Enemy Within

Numerous scholars have written about the barriers and obstacles faced by children who are poor or of color or from families with little formal education. Children find these barriers and obstacles at home, within the context of their community and the larger society, and remarkably even within the classrooms of our nation's schools. Research has clearly demonstrated that they are often the result of an ongoing and complex interaction between environmental forces and the individual lives of children. Given the enigmatic nature of these factors and their influence, families, school systems, and communities are often unclear on how to substantively resolve such problems.

Respected researchers and practitioners have clearly (and at times passionately) articulated through empirical means the wide array of issues and outcomes that perpetually plague these children. The result of their research is appalling: Children who are poor or of color or from families with little formal education experience a disproportionate level of academic failure, violence, underage pregnancy, drug use, adolescent crime, and incarceration. [Page 464]Although some would have us believe these problems are diminishing, a large percentage of my colleagues believe they are not. In fact, they believe the issues facing these children and their families are becoming more severe.

Books and papers have been written, reforms initiated, policies adopted, and programs established to address many of these issues. Rationally, one might think that individuals who are in positions of privilege and power (e.g., politicians, business people, researchers, and professional educators) would understand the influence these issues have in fostering experiences and environments that lead to student misbehavior and school violence. Yet, even with a vast body of literature, the problems persist, and these children, their schools, and their communities somehow remain invisible.

Is it unrealistic to think that there will be a solution? I am unsure. Quite possibly, the problems are too large, complex, and evolving to resolve. Or perhaps the continuous media attention to the ever-widening disparities has gone on for so long that we have become desensitized to it all.

What is clear is that the economic and social inequalities reinforced by social barriers make it difficult, if not impossible, for poor children and their families to escape the crippling whirlpool of failure. However, I am convinced that the substantial impediments and inequalities that face these children need not be perpetuated in our schools. Policies and programs implemented to address the issues of student misbehavior and violence should be representative of all those involved and should clearly be directed to the context within which they occur. No one-size-fits-all program will work.

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