We must teach students to prevent school violence

Although the type and magnitude differ depending on the country, school violence is a universal issue ailing all schools across the globe. In Korea, both the government and the general public have actively attempted to raise awareness of the problem since 2012, and a recent survey insinuates that such efforts have paid off considerably.

However, it appears that the fundamental solution to bullying and verbal abuse is yet to be found.

School violence generally starts in elementary school. Around 80 percent of the students said they first suffered from classroom violence in their elementary school years.

Middle school is when the level of violence is taken to another level. Violence that occurs in middle school account for 60-70 percent of the total number of cases, according to schools’ interior committees on violence. The number of protective measures for the victims and punishments of the accused also occur most frequently in this stage of education.

As with other incidents concerning students, dealing with school violence must be about prevention rather than damage control. The reason for emphasizing prevention is because school violence can have severe ramifications on the victims’ school lives, both psychologically and socially.

Victims of school violence tend to suffer from depression, anxiety and a lack of ability to adjust to new environments. Their self-esteem also takes a hit. In some cases, the induced aggressiveness can turn the victims into perpetrators themselves.

About 71.6 percent of victims said they suffered emotionally, which is a graver issue than the physical pain.

This issue was more profound in bullying related to relationships with others, such as alienation or cyber-bullying. Around 4 out of 10 victims have considered suicide because of bullying, and others refused to go to school due to humiliation, anger and hatred. Some said they felt the urge to take revenge on their tormentors.

In most cases of bullying, the majority of the students who are not the victims nor the perpetrators are bystanders. The bystanders can then be categorized to assistants, reinforcers, defenders and outsiders.

Most students take the role of an outsider during school violence, but even witnessing such acts can leave lasting marks. Studies have shown that emotional scars that students who watched others get bullied obtain can even be bigger than that of rescue workers working at disaster areas like earthquakes. Such experiences can traumatize students for life.

This implies that even students who were not direct victims of school violence are not safe, and shows that effective prevention is far more important than any ex post facto measures.

Research showed that 57 percent of the bullying stopped within 10 seconds of other students intervening. This proves that by actively helping the victims of school violence, students can prevent much of the incidents before they even occur.

Preventing school violence is not just to benefit a handful of students. Any student attending school can be either the perpetrator or the victim of school violence.

By preventing school violence, we protect all students from danger. To accomplish this, we need an effective education that encourages each student to take initiative in stopping violence in classrooms.

By Chung Jae-young, Professor at Department of Education, Ewha Womans University