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Violence in School
March 18, 2004
Overview
Sexual Harassment
 What is Bullying?
 What can we do about Bullying?
 Gangs
 Violence in the Media
 School Perpetuates Violence

SEXUAL
HARASSMENT IN
OUR SCHOOLS
Violence in School
What is sexual harassment?
Sexual harassment is …
 a legal concept developed originally to address
a particular type of sexual discrimination.
 an unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature that
makes someone feel uncomfortable or
unwelcome in the workplace by focusing
attention on their gender instead of on their
professional qualifications.
 A concept that applies now to both women and
men, to adults and to children.
Positions of Power…
 “Sexual harassment is usually defined as
behavior by someone higher in status or power
toward someone lower in status or power,
although harassment by peers or customers is
also recognized as a problem. The unequal
balance of power is an intrinsic element of the
legal definition of sexual harassment.”
From: Information on Sexual Harassment website http://www.de.psu.edu/harassment/
Sexual Harassment is Illegal
 Under the Canada Human Rights Act, sexual
harassment is a violation of law 14 (1) (2).
 14 (1) It is a discriminatory practice,

(a) in the provision of goods, services, facilities or
accommodation customarily available to the
general public,
(b) in the provision of commercial premises or
residential accommodation, or
(c) in matters related to employment, to harass an
individual on a prohibited ground of discrimination.
 2) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1),
sexual harassment shall, for the purposes of that
subsection, be deemed to be harassment on a
prohibited ground of discrimination.
Harassment in our Schools:
What is really going on?
 The American Association of University Women (AAUW)
conducted a landmark survey of 1,632 students in grades
8–11.
 85 percent of girls, and 76 percent of boys reported
experiencing some kind of harassment.

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The milder forms included looks, jokes, graffiti on
bathroom walls, and comments about body parts.
The more severe forms were physically intrusive: being
grabbed or brushed up against in a sexual way.
 Thirty-one percent of girls experienced
harassment "often," compared to only 18
percent of boys.
 Thirteen percent of girls and nine percent of
boys reported being "forced to do something
sexual at school other than kissing" (AAUW,
1993, p. 10).
 Pat Staton and June Larkin found similar results
in their study of Ontario students as published
in Sexual Harassment: The Intimidation Factor .
Forms of Sexual Harassment
Verbal
Physical
Visual
Verbal
 Rating
 Demeaning Comments
 Insults
 Invasive Questions
 Whistling
 Racial Comments
…Cont’d
 Demands
 Threats
 Propositions
 Persistent Invitations for Dates
 Obscene/Harassing Phone Calls
 Dubious/Suspicious
 Compliments
Physical
 Leering
 Being Followed
 Touching, Pinching,




Grabbing
Sexual Gestures
Threatening Acts
Flashing
Fondling
Visual
 Pornography
 Demeaning Graffiti
Who is harassing our students?
 Studies show that the majority of
harassment is inflicted by a student on
another student.
 There are still reports of harassment
inflicted by teachers and administrative
staff.
 HOWEVER, in general students felt
unsupported by the staff.
Educational Effects
 Avoided specifically “threatening” areas
of the school (hallways)
 Limited class participation
 Skipped classes or withdrew from
classes
 Grades dropped
 Changed their career choices
 Transferred to a different school (often
all-girls or all-boys schools)
Emotional Effects
 Monitored clothing/changed their style to avoid

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being noticed
Fearful – knew that “a minor incident of
harassment could escalate to a more extreme
form of violence”
Drastically lowered self-confidence
Changed the was they felt in other social
settings outside of the school
Self-conscious
Shamed
Embarrassed
Greater Effects on Girls
 In the AAUW survey
one in four girls said
they stayed home
from school or cut
class because of
sexual harassment
(AAUW, 1993, p.
15).”
Taken from http://www.cfchildren.org/article_walls1.shtml
(Committee for Children)
What to do as educators…
 Actions speak louder than words: do not
model behaviour that tolerates or
encourages the thinking that produces
sexual harassment
 Push for the creation of a policy against
sexual harassment
 Ask that the policy be visible within the
school
 Educate our students
What to tell our students…
 Know your rights.
 Speak up at the time.
 Be sure to say "NO" clearly, firmly and
without smiling.
 Keep records.
 Identify an advocate.
 Write a letter.
 Report sexual harassment to the
appropriate person in the organization.
Bullying
Violence in School
bullying.org
What is Bullying?

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Bullying is the
assertion of power
through aggression.
Bullies acquire power
over their victims
physically, emotionally
and socially.
bullying…it is done in a variety
of ways:

By physical size and strength;

by status within a peer group;

by knowing the victim's
weaknesses or by recruiting
support from other children.

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Emotional and social bullying is considered
to be the most frequent and harmful.
Bullying can be physical or verbal.
It can be direct (face-to-face) or indirect
(gossip or exclusion) (Olweus, 1991).
With repeated bullying, the bully's
dominance over the victim is established
and the victim becomes increasingly
distressed and fearful.
Kinds of Bullying
Peer Harassment;
 Social Alienation;
 Intimidation; and
 Physical Aggression.

Social Alienation

negative comments or teasing;

gossiping and spreading rumours;

embarrassing and publicly humiliating;

setting a person up to look foolish;

setting a person up to take the blame for
something;
Social Alienation…

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exclusion;
threatening exclusion;
manipulating to achieve exclusion;
manipulation to gain compliance;
ethnic slurs, racism, homophobia and
sexual harassment.
Stop Bullying Me! What is Bullying: http://www.stopbullyingme.ab.ca
Physical Aggression
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spitting on or at;
pushing and shoving;
kicking and hitting or slapping;
stealing, vandalizing or damaging
property or possessions;
locking in or out of a space;
throwing objects at;
Physical Aggression…
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physical acts that are humiliating such as
“wedgies” or "Swirlees", urinating on, pouring
liquids on;
physical violence against family, friends or pets
threatening with a weapon;
any other acts of bodily harm including sexual
assaults and sexual touching.
Stop Bullying Me! What is Bullying: http://www.stopbullyingme.ab.ca
Who are the Bullies?

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Children bully in many different waysthere is not a single type of bully.
The following characteristics have been
identified primarily through research on
boys who bully.

Gender: Both boys and girls are involved in
bullying at approximately the same rate,
although each gender expresses bullying in
different ways.
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More boys report their bullying than girls;
boys report more physical forms of bullying;
while girls report indirect forms of bullying, such as
gossiping and excluding (Craig and Pepler, 1997)
Age: Ages 4-10, aggression is mainly confined
to same-sex peers, whereas ages 11-18 expand
their aggression to involve opposite-sex peers
as well (Pepler, et al.).
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Temperament: Bullies tend to be
hyperactive, disruptive, and impulsive
(Lowenstein, 1978; Olweus, 1987).
Aggression: Bullies tend to be assertive
and easily provoked. They are attracted to
situations with aggressive content and
have positive attitudes about aggression
(Stephenson and Smith, 1989).
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Physical Strength: Boys who bully are
physically stronger and have a need to
dominate others (Olweus, 1987).
Lack of Empathy: Bullies have little
empathy for their victims and show little
or no remorse for bullying (Olweus, 1987).
Who are the Victims?

Children become
victimized for many
different reasons there is not a single
victim type. For some
children, the following
characteristics are
present before bullying
occurs; for others, they
develop as a result of
bullying.
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Gender: Boys and girls are equally likely
to report being victimized (Charach et al.,
1995; Pepler et al., 1997).
Age: Victimization decreases across grade
levels
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26% of children in Grades 1-3 report
victimization compared to 15% in Grades 4-6
and 12% in Grades 7-8 (Pepler et al.).
Younger students experience more direct
bullying, whereas older students experience
more indirect bullying (Olweus, 1993).
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Temperament: Victimized children have
a tendency to be anxious and withdrawn.
Physical Appearance: Research has not
supported the popular stereotype that
victims have unusual physical traits
(Olweus, 1991).
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Self-Esteem: Victims often report low
self-esteem, likely because of repeated
exposure to victimization (Besag, 1989).
Depression: Both boys and girls who are
victimized report symptoms of depression
(Slee, 1995; Craig, 1997).
Anxiety: Boys and girls who are victims
report symptoms of anxiety (Neary and
Joseph, 1994; Slee, 1995).
Geography=Canada
Sex
Age groups
13 years
Males
15 years
13 years
Females
15 years
Source: Statistics Canada
Frequency
1998
Not been bullied
58
Once or twice
21
Sometimes
10
About once a week
4
Several times a week
7
Not been bullied
71
Once or twice
19
Sometimes
6
About once a week
2
Several times a week
3
Not been bullied
65
Once or twice
22
Sometimes
7
About once a week
2
Several times a week
5
Not been bullied
73
Once or twice
19
Sometimes
4
About once a week
2
Several times a week
3
Bullying II
What can be done?
The Goal
• Reduce, if not eliminate
bullying
• Prevent bullying from ever
happening
• Creating a more peer-friendly
environment
Where to address bullying?
• Can be addressed at multiple
levels in the educational
scope
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Government
School Boards
Individual Schools
Classrooms
Individual Students
Government
• Safe School Act, Bill 81
– Revised in 2000, under Hon.
Janet Ecker
– “Help promote Respect,
Responsibility, and Civility”
– Included Code of Conduct
• Sets out clear behaviour rules and
clear consequences for students.
– View it here
School Boards
• Intermediaries
– Tailor initiatives by Government
to conform to board goals and
values.
• Creates anti-bullying policies &
programs
– These are downloaded to the
schools.
– Anti-bullying programs used by
schools within the board.
Individual Schools
• Establish a Bullying Prevention
Coordinating Committee
• Administer an Anonymous
Questionnaire Survey
• Hold a School Conference Day
• Improve Supervision & Outdoor
Environment
• Involve Parents!
Classrooms
• Establish Rules vs. bullying
– Positive & Negative
consequences
• Listen Respectfully
• Hold regular class meetings
• Meet with parents
• Develop curriculum
Students
• Have a serious talk with the bully
– Bullying is not acceptable
– Refer to school & class code of conduct
– Future behaviour will be closely monitored
• Have a serious talk with the victim
– Provide information about what will be
done
– Persuade to immediately report future
occurrences
Students cont...
• Document
• Initiate removal from
class/school
• Follow up in communicating
Gangs
Violence in School
Gangs
• A gang is an ongoing loosely organized association of
three or more persons, whether formal or informal,
which has a common name, signs, symbols or colours,
whose members engage, individually, or collectively, in
violent or other forms of illegal behaviour
• Gangs are weapon-carrying and violent as well as
weapon-free and largely innocuous
• Youth gangs come in a diversity of shapes and forms.
• Some are highly structured, named, and multicultural.
• Others are white, middle-class students who ‘swarm’ a
victim for a jacket
The profile of a youth that joins a gang
might include the following:
• A youth with low self-esteem and a stressful
home life
• A youth who is friends with gang-members and
experiences peer pressure to join
• A youth with poor academic performance, lack
of alternatives, lack of positive support
• A youth with feelings of helplessness and
hopelessness
• A very frightened youth who is intimidated by
the gang
Factors that Lead To Gang
Membership
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•
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•
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High commitment to delinquent peers
Low Commitment to positive peers
Street Socialization
Gang Members in class
Friends who use drugs or who are gang
members
• Friends who are drug distributors
• Interaction with delinquent peers
Factors Leading to Gang Involvement
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Lack of personal identity
Lack of appropriate alternatives and/or activities
Peer Pressure
Need for safety/security (protection)
Absence of parental involvement or demonstrated concern
Membership by other family members or friends
Substance abuse by youth and/or parents
Lack of opportunity for recreation or employment
Poor academic achievement
Sporadic attendance at school
Rundown physical environment
Inappropriate, or lack of, role models
Feelings of hopelessness
Limited education opportunities
Lack of knowledge of the consequences of gang involvement
Gangs in Schools
• School has become the daily scenario of
violent incidents involving children and youths
and even teachers
• Gang-related crimes that occur in school
environments are:
–
–
–
–
–
–
muggings
theft of lunch money
drug dealings
outsider-initiated violence
physical and verbal assaults on teachers
threats with weapons such as knives and firearms
Young persons charged with crimes against persons (violence) -Canada, 1986 to 1992
Source: The Canadian Journal of Criminology - July 1994 (Raymond Corrado & Allan Markwart)
Violence in the
Media
Violence in School
Important Notes…

The average child views 12,000 murders,
rapes, assault on TV every year
http://www.fsnp.org/articles/violence_schools.cfm
Research shows a correlation between
exposure to violence in the media and
school violence
 One in four violent juvenile offenders
imitated crimes seen on TV and movies

Albert Bandura—A Man and his
Dolls
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Albert Bandura believed that aggression is learned
through a process called behavior modeling
Bandura spilt his young subjects into 4 categories:
1) watched an adult behaving aggressively towards a
large rubber 'Bobo' doll. This included punching/kicking
the doll, yelling at it and hitting it with a hammer
2) watched the same adult behaving in exactly the same
way, but this time instead of seeing it in real life, they
saw it on film on the television
3) saw the same sequence of actions, but it was set as a
cartoon, in a fantasy land
4) control group and witnessed no violent acts at all.
And the results…

After the viewing, the children were observed in
a playroom through a 2 way mirror, alongside
the materials seen in the previous exercise. The
following was noted:
 the
children who had seen the aggressive model
(group number one) performed many more
aggressive actions than those who had not
 many of their actions were specifically copied by
those who had seen either the film or the cartoon.
Movies
Movies have more leeway in their ability to
show graphic and sometimes disturbing
views violence
 much of the crime and brutality seen in
many popular movies would be unknown
without the medium

EXAMPLES
 “Natural Born Killers”, “Pulp Fiction”
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American History X
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The critically acclaimed 1998 film American
History X is one of the movies that not only
disturbed viewers with its graphic and gruesome
portrayal of a white supremacist gang, but was
also responsible for their education
Such a disgusting and gory way to inflict pain
onto someone as placing their mouth on the
curb and stomping on the back of their head
would never have occurred to most people
THE NUMBERS ARE IN…
PULP FICTION
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Gun is drawn
Gun Fired
Threat of Violence
Acts of Violence
(killing, beatings)
Rape
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16
56
15
24
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1
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Popular Music
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Music has become a large issue in our schools,
especially in relation to violence
Years previous, many parents, teachers, etc. were quite
concerned with darker artists like Marilyn Manson and
Nine Inch Nails, and the effect their work would have on
the minds of the youth, especially after the tragedy at
Columbine High School on April 20, 1999
A newer trend in popular music now is the emergence of
“Thug” rap, which is peppered with glorification of drugs,
crime and the use of violence as a means to an end.
The increase of personal audio devices (Discmans, MP3
players, etc.) means that we have students listening to
more and more music and we have no clue what they
are listening to
Video Games/The Internet
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These particular mediums have received quite a bit of attention over
the past few years in relation to violence
The internet has become infested with inappropriate sites that are
accessible from most machines; this includes sites that give
everything from step by step instructions on bomb assembly to
direction on making your own methamphetamines.
www.gang-wars.com
Another web based game that has come under much scrutiny for its
violence and content is “Dope Wars”
Video games now have ratings given to them based on content.
Games such as the “Grand Theft Auto” series help to glorify and
justify violence
Many high school students own at least one of the gaming systems
that carry Grand Theft Auto or some type of similar violent game
Now that is a ballad…
“Man this hoe you can have her, when I'm done I ain't gon
keep her
Man, bitches come and go, every n***** pimpin’ now
This aint’ a secret, but you ain't gotta keep it on the low
Bitch choosing with me, I'll have you stripping in the street
Put my other hoes down, you get your ass beat.”
P.I.M.P., 50 cent

“Then in a couple of minutes that bottle of Guiness is
finished.
You are now allowed to officially slap bitches.
You have the right to remain violent and start wilin'
Start a fight with the same guy that was smart eyin' you”
Drug Ballad, Eminen

“b***h, I'm-a kill you!
You don't wanna f**k with me, girls leave, you ain't nothin'
but a s**t to me
b***h, I'm-a kill you!”
Kill You, Eminem

Systemic Violence
Violence in School
Systemic Violence Definitions
Systemic – of or relating to systems
or a system
Violence – Abusive or unjust
exercise of power
http://dictionary.reference.com
Systemic Violence Definition
“Any institutionalized practice or procedure that
adversely impacts on disadvantaged individuals
or groups by burdening them psychologically,
mentally, culturally, spiritually, economically, or
physically. It includes practices and procedures
that prevent students from learning, thus
harming them. This may take the form of
conventional policies and practices that foster a
climate of violence, or policies and practices that
appear to be neutral but result in discriminatory
effects.”
Systemic Violence in Education: Promise Broken
Examples
Boys – aggressive and outgoing
Girls – civilized and passive
• Competing for top marks in class,
not trying to work together to learn
Sources
• Standardization
• Pedagogical Practices
• Punishment
Standardization
The idea: students at the same age will
have the same abilities and knowledge
• IQ Tests
– Chitling IQ Test
• Timed tests
• SAT
• Originally created to “prevent the
propagation of defective strains”
• How students compare to “average”
• Need to be like others
Pedagogy
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•
•
•
Teaching Practices
Evaluation Techniques
Power Relationships
Matters of Equity
Punishment
• Physical punishment
• Emotional punishment
• Humiliation
• Embarrassment
• Exclusion
Systemic violence happens
to ALL children
The End
Thank You