It appeared to be a normal day at E.O. Green Junior High in Oxnard, California, but turned out to be a tragic day for many of the community members and peers of Larry King. On the morning of February 12, 2008, the unthinkable happened at the school. Brandon McInerney, 14, shot his classmate, Larry King, 15, in front of the entire class. An HBO documentary titled Valentine Road shined a light on many social issues. Two days later, on Valentine’s Day, Larry had died as a result of the shooting. This is an incident no one should witness, but sadly, this had becomes many people’s reality. And most recently, the tragic shooting at the Sandy Hook elementary school. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1-2 percent of all homicides among school-aged child occur on the grounds of the school or on the way to and from school or during an event. Although a vast majority will never experience deadly violence at school, 1-2 percent is still too many. It is difficult to understand and explain these acts of violence, but Schneider et. al provides some understanding on this social issue.
The importance of understanding factors that can lead to school violence is crucial in developing an intervention strategy to reduce and prevent school violence. First, males are more like than females to be involved in school violence, bullying is a common cause; usage of weapons is more like among high school students rather than elementary school children, and less than 15 percent brought guns to school (Schneider, Gruman, Coutts, 2012). Also, there are many psychological risk factors that can lead to school violence such as lower levels of moral reasoning, associated with aggressive behavior during childhood and adolescents, and family dysfunctions. Many of the psychological risk factors pertained to Brandon. His mother and father were both drug addicts, he was abused by his father, and had to live with his abusive father because his mother was unable to care for him. Most importantly, he had low levels of moral reasoning. As he left the house, Brandon actually forgot the gun and went back in his house to get it. This is a prime example of lack of moral reasoning, but considering his background one would image he was not properly taught and educated on decision making. By his hands, he caused a severe amount of grief, psychological, and emotional damage to many people.
School shootings affect everyone: administration, teachers, students, and anyone in or around the school and community. Those affected need much support to cope and grieve with tragedy and through psychological support, one can properly grieve. Traumatic experiences pose psychological challenges to the recovery process. Individuals may develop post-traumatic stress disorder, become depressed, and develop physical symptoms such as headaches, stomachaches, and change of appetite. Sadly, the students of E.O. Green Junior High did not have the psychological support they needed; it showed they had difficulty in grieving and dealing with the tragedy. The teacher that was in the class later revealed suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and ultimately, resigned from her position. As from psychological support, the American Psychological Association (APA), provides tips about dealing with traumatic school shootings: talk about it, strive for balance, turn it off and take a break, honor your feelings, take care of yourself, help others, be productive, and remember grieving is a long process. Everyone individual is unique and grieve differently, but it takes a societal effort to fully prevent individuals grieving over school shooting.
School violence can be prevented, but it takes much effort. There can be several intervention strategies in reducing school violence. Programs should be created to address the overall school environment, academic performance and expectations, and behavior management techniques (Schnieder, Gruman, & Coutts, 2012). Also, it’s important to address social context (e.g., bullying) because this tends to be how aggressive behavior occurs. Overall, school violence should be talked about before it occurs. Students should be encouraged to talk about social problems they may have and conflicts with other students. Everyone needs to take a proactive stance on reducing this social problem. Although school shootings do not occur often, they occur. Children should feel safe in schools and we, as society, need to make every school a violent-free environment.
References
American Psychological Association (n.d). Managing your distress in the aftermath of a shooting. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/mass-shooting.aspx
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013) School-associated student homicides—United States, 1992–2006. MMWR 2008, :33–36.
Dubreuil, J. & Martinez-Ramundo, D. (2011). Boy who shot classmate at age 14 will be retried as adult. ABC News. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/US/eighth-grade-shooting-larry-king-brandon-mcinerney-boys/story?id=14666577
HBO Documentary: Valentine Road. Retrieved from http://valentineroaddocumentary.com/
Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., and Coutts, L. M. (Eds.) (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN 978-1412976381