TODAY'S ARTICLE: Violence against Teachers

Violence against Teachers

It seems that teachers are often ,unprotected victims of school violence“ (Bilić, 2007), due to a lack of education in the family, children's non-recognition of any kind of authority and a very strong influence of peers and the media from which, as a result of a lack of control, they receive age- inappropriate that they reproduce through their behavior. A very strong reason for the emergence of violent behavior may be stress that occurs because of environmental influences, mostly because of the situation at school.
The references state a number of possible causes of students’ violent behavior against their teachers (Bilić, 2007; Espelage et al., 2013). The most common causes are: „supporting violent methods on all levels even if we declaratively stand against them (for example, those who got rich in unlawful ways, taking what does not belong to them and who achieve their goals in an aggressive way are considered successful); neglecting moral values and moral education in general, especially when it comes to respect that is considered old-fashioned; violent acts usually remain unpunished; bullies and abusers are most often heroes of many TV shows, movies, video and computer games, as well as our neighborhoods“(Bilić, 2007, p.63).
In the background of these students' actions stands behavior learned in family. Some of the factors that encourage violent behavior can be: dysfunctional families that do not develop child's empathy, due to a lack of commitment of family members a sense of inferiority and resentment can occur, so the child wants to stand out and dominate outside it. A family needs to raise children, convey to them the correct moral views that they will apply in there later life. In case it does not, children become self- centered, do not accept anyone’s authority, expect that everything adapt to them and behave violently in order to achieve their intentions. Possible reasons are indulgent parents who do not set boundaries for their children’s behavior and tolerate violent behavior or parents who themselves are abusers. Additionally, messages that parents transmit to their children, such as: “…if you come across something you do not like, the easiest way is to accuse someone who caused such feelings, or if a teacher does not give you or disregards your suggestion, we will simply complain about it (to director, inspection)” (Bilić, 2007, p.48).
One of the reasons is that children and their parents have understood children’s rights over-simplified: children have all rights, but they do not have any responsibilities. Instead of talking about children’s problems and cooperating with teachers, to any complaint or warning that does not favor them or every grade they are not satisfied with, they threaten with lawsuits to abuse (Bilić, 2008, p.47).
Another factor that has a major impact on students aggressiveness against teachers, as stated by many authors (Bushman, Huesmann, 2001; Kunczik, Zipfel, 2007), is the influence of media.
Media can be useful fur studying and learning if the content is appropriate, but not if they are full of violence. We can extract short-term and long-term negative effects of media. A research has shown that children who had watched a violent movie during a game, acted more aggressive in mutual interaction. Children who are frequently exposed to violent content on television act more aggressively, as well as those who grew up watching violence on television have tendencies to more frequent violent behavior in later childhood and adolescence (Paik, Comstock, 2004; Bushman, Huesmann, 2001). Parents are certainly the most responsible for controlling media content which children are exposed to. Lack of control and careful selection of content available to children through television, internet and magazines, can lead to misreading what has been seen. Children can get the impression that what they see is acceptable behavior and copy such behavior into every day situation. Parents are the ones who should develop children’s sense of good and bad actions.
School situation is very often, due to stress that develops in students, considered the third reason for violent behavior. Stress can be caused by teachers, classmates, and parents. Children are used to being important to their parents`, having all the attention and they expect that they are treated the same way in school. A problem can arise when they do have not experience that in the same degree and then seek to stand out, attract attention, which, depending on temperament, can be violent. Teachers can also encourage violence with their actions. A series of poor grades and constant criticism directed toward the same student can hurt him, make him feel like he is not loved the same way as others that he is considered less valuable and then can respond with violent behavior. Teachers who use their authority to develop relationships with their students that encourage respecting given rules and the one who determines them, will have fewer problems with violence than teachers who are too indulgent and who have not clearly defined what is tolerable, and what is not. Classmates are often divided into groups in which an individual stands out as a leader who determines the behavior of the whole group. A leader who acts violently against a teacher will gather around a small group of students with similar characteristics, who will encourage each other in eliciting a teacher, disrupting classes, and ignoring the teacher’s authority. Individuals in that group might not usually be violent, but they care about being accepted by their peers, perhaps to avoid their taunts, so they try to fit in by being violent to teachers.