Reducing School Shootings

✍ Scribed by William H. Jeynes

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2021
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 217
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book calls for a multidimensional and comprehensive approach to reduce the number of school shootings, rather than the simplistic unidimensional strategy that is commonly advocated. Based on meta-analyses examining which variables are most often related to positive changes in violent student behavior, it also integrates other research and historical trends in order to formulate recommendations regarding how to reduce school shootings.

The topic of school shootings is one of the most vital issues in society today, because: 1) schools should be the safest places on Earth for children, 2) if students do not feel safe, they are not going to learn very well in school, and 3) it is of such great concern to parents and society at large, as evinced by the degree of news coverage that school shooting incidents receive.

Sadly, despite the gravity of the problem, many people tend to either respond in an emotional way or propose simplistic solutions. Gun control legislation alone will not solve the problem; instead, it calls for a multi-disciplinary and multifaceted approach, involving parents, teachers, schools and healthcare. This book investigates the status quo, goals, and solutions, pursuing a fact-based approach.

This book is of special interest to the academic community, national leaders, and other policymakers. It is also suitable for courses on education, psychology, sociology, criminal justice and other areas of law. It will also appeal to the general audience.

✦ Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Contents
About the Author
List of Tables
Part IThe Historical and Personal Context of the School Shootings
1 The History of School Shootings
1.1 Overview
1.2 The Number of School Shootings Has Skyrocketed
1.3 School Shootings on the Rise All Over the World
1.4 British School Shootings
1.5 An Increasing Number of School Shootings
1.5.1 In the United States Beginning in the Early 1960s
1.6 School Shootings Surge in the 1990s
1.7 The Jonesboro School Shooting
1.8 The Columbine School Shooting
1.9 The School Shootings Continue
1.10 More Recent Shootings
1.11 Reasons for the Shootings
1.12 How Widespread is Juvenile Violence and Crime
1.13 Possible Solutions to School Shootings
1.14 A Comprehensive Approach is Needed
1.15 Some of the Most Horrific School Shootings in United States History
1.16 Some of the Most Shocking Foreign Shootings
1.17 American School Attacks Initiated by Adults (Which is Not the Emphasis of This Book)
1.18 Other Mass Shootings Not Covered in Detail
1.19 Concluding Thoughts for This Chapter
2 What Are Some of the Commonalties of the School Shootings?
2.1 It Is Not Wise to Obersimplify the Commonalities
2.1.1 Some of the Commonalities
2.1.2 Next to Coming from a Troubled Family Situation, Breaking Up with a Girlfriend Was Perhaps the Most Frequent Commonality
2.1.3 Another Commonality: There Many Warning Signs That Went Unheeded
2.1.4 The Contribution of Mental Illness
2.1.5 The Place of Evil and the Worship of Evil
2.1.6 Bloody Video Games
2.2 Society Must Not Delay Solutions
2.2.1 Findings of the “Violence Project”: Family and Mental Illness Issues at the Forefront
2.2.2 Three Profound Questions
2.2.3 Another Key Commonality: The Shooters Often Lacked Love, Compassion, and Character
2.3 What Are the Commonalties of Possible Solutions to School Shootings?
2.4 Methods Used in the Meta-Analyses
2.4.1 Analytical Approach
2.4.2 Data Collection Method (Coding and Rater Reliability)
2.4.3 Statistical Methods and the Effect Size Statistic
2.4.4 Study Quality Rating
2.4.5 Limitations of Study
2.5 Concluding Thoughts for This Chapter
Part IIExamining Factors That Could Contribute to Solutions
3 Gun Control
3.1 Challenges Faced Regarding Gun Laws for School Shootings
3.2 Challenge #1—Most of the Adolescent Shooters Obtain Their Guns from Family or Friends
3.2.1 Needed: School Shooting Specific Gun Laws
3.3 Challenge #2—If a Bill Is Going to Pass in the United States, Different Perspectives Need to Be Incorporated, or Else Gun Legislation Will not Pass
3.3.1 The Reason This Debate Is So Intense: Life and Death Experiences on Both Sides
3.3.2 Concerns of Second Amendment People
3.4 Challenge #3—More People and Politicians Need to Realize the Extent of the Gun Problem and Work Hard to Build Consensus
3.4.1 The Difficulty of Building Political Consensus
3.5 Challenge #4—Is the Issue That New Gun Laws Are Needed or Do the Police Need to Do a Better Job of Enforcing Those Laws?
3.6 Challenge #5—Although the People and the Lawmakers Emphasize Gun Control, the School Assailants Choose Other Weapons as Well, Such as Explosives
3.7 What Is the Evidence Regarding Gun Laws?
3.7.1 Overall Findings of the Statistical Analysis of Gun Laws
3.7.2 The Port Arthur, Australia Shooting and the National Firearms Agreement of 1996
3.7.3 Parkland, Florida and Guns
3.8 What Strategy Regarding Gun Laws Should Be Initiated?
3.9 Solution #1—“Smart Guns”
3.10 Solution #2—Political Bickering Must Stop
3.11 Solution #3: An Assault Weapons Ban Should Be Part of the Firearms Solution
3.12 Solution #4—Background Checks May Not Help Much with School Shootings
3.12.1 Are Educators, Parents, and Law Enforcement People Too Light on Adolescents?
3.13 Solution #5—Gun Control Laws and Conceal and Carry Laws Should Not Automatically Be Regarded as “Either Or” Propositions
3.13.1 Is There at Least Future Potential for Background Checks?
3.14 School Shootings Have Continued to Surge Even After the Passage of Many Gun Control Measures
3.15 Some Americans Are Concerned About the Rise of Statism
3.16 Concluding Thoughts for This Chapter
4 The Importance of Family Factors
4.1 The Good News About Families Being a Major Key
4.2 Most Children Yearn for a Good Relationship with Their Parents
4.2.1 The Importance of Parents Spending Time with Their Children
4.2.2 The Salience of Parental Involvement
4.3 Conducting Meta-Analysis to Address Family Factors
4.4 Parental Involvement and Blacks
4.4.1 Effect Sizes for Parental Involvement Overall for Blacks (Research Question #1)
4.4.2 Effects of Parental Involvement by Student Age for Blacks (Research Question #2)
4.4.3 Parental Involvement Programs for Blacks (Research Question #3)
4.5 Parental Involvement and Latinos
4.5.1 Effect Sizes for Parental Involvement Overall for Latinos (Research Question #1)
4.5.2 Effects of Parental Involvement by Student Age for Latinos (Research Question #2)
4.5.3 Parental Involvement Programs for Latinos (Research Question #3)
4.6 The Father Involvement Meta-Analysis
4.7 Studies of the Effects of Family Structure on Student Behavior
4.8 Other Family Factors
4.8.1 Unawareness of Parents
4.9 Concluding Thoughts
5 Character Education Including an Emphasis on Love and Anger Management
5.1 Values That Almost Everyone Has in Common
5.2 School Shootings Began Their Surge in the Early 1960s
5.3 Shooters Were Generally Known for Their Lack of Character
5.4 Childhood Trauma, Violence, and Character Education
5.5 Schools Need to Focus More on Character and Less on Testing
5.5.1 Teaching Just the Opposite of Character?
5.6 Character in the Lives of Students and Teachers Who Helped Stop or Lower the Carnage
5.7 Meta-Analysis on Character Education
5.8 Results
5.8.1 Effect Sizes for Character Education Overall (Research Question #1)
5.8.2 Effect Sizes for Character Education by Student Age (Research Question #2)
5.8.3 Effect Sizes for Character Education for Minority Students (Research Question #3)
5.8.4 Effects of Character Education on Specific Measures of Achievement and Behavior (Research Question #4)
5.9 Discussion
5.9.1 Effect Sizes for Character Education Overall (Research Question #1)
5.9.2 Effect Sizes for Character Education by Student Age (Research Question #2)
5.9.3 Effect Sizes for Character Education for Minority Students (Research Question #3)
5.9.4 Effects of Character Education on Specific Measures of Achievement and Behavior (Research Question #4)
5.10 Concluding Thoughts for This Chapter
6 Social Media, the Entertainment Industry and the News Media
6.1 Human Beings Tend to Focus on Bad News Rather Than Good News
6.2 Is Society’s Emphasis on Blood and Violence Even Normal?
6.3 Shooters Often Idolize One Another
6.4 Hollywood and the Entertainment Industry
6.5 Solutions to the Problems Orginating with the Media, Social Media, and the Entertainment Industry
6.5.1 Solution #1: The News Media Needs to Focus More on the Heroes Than the Shooters
6.6 Solution #2 Hollywood Needs to Act Far More Responsibly Looking to the Interests of Humanity Rather with the Intention of Lining Its Own Pockets
6.7 Solution #3—Those in Hollywood and the  Entertainment Industry Need to Change Their Attitudes
6.8 Why Hollywood and the Entertainment Industry Need to Cooperate in Solving the School Shooting Problem
6.9 How the News Media Can Help Be Part of the Solution
6.10 Concluding Remarks for this Chapter
7 Issues of Mental of Mental Health and Student Safety
7.1 The Troubling Mental Health Issues of Many of the Shooters Cannot Be Ignored
7.1.1 Three Issues That Make This Topic Complex
7.2 A Long History of Threating and Frightening Behaviors
7.2.1 Germany and Switzerland Have Strategies to Quickly Identify Mental Illness in Students
7.3 Diagnosing Mental Illness When It Is Too Late
7.3.1 The Unique Aspects of School Shootings When Compared to Other Acts of Mass Aggression
7.3.2 Why Are Rates of Mental Illness So High?
7.3.3 President Bill Clinton: A “Changing Culture That Desensitizes Our Children to Violence”
7.4 Drawing Lessons
7.5 What Is Needed If There Is to Be Progress on Acting on the Relationship between Mental Illness and School Shootings
7.5.1 More Testing of the Young for Mental Illness
7.6 Mental Illness and Drug Use
7.7 Two Challenges in Ascertaining the Relationship Between Mental Health and Consuming Illegal Drugs
7.8 Concluding Remarks for This Chapter
8 A Time of Student Reflection in the Schools
8.1 The Advantages of a Time of Reflection
8.1.1 Sharing Thoughts That Need to Be Shared Through Prayer and Reflection
8.1.2 The Need to Respect Children of Faith
8.1.3 Today’s Overemphasis on Testing
8.2 The Need for a Moment of Silence
8.3 Teachers Often Fear Pupils Raising the Concept of the Spiritual
8.4 A Moment of Silence and Helping Students to Stand
8.4.1 What If a Student Is Religious and Prayerful?
8.4.2 The Possible Relationship Between Prayer and Mindfulness
8.5 Concluding Thoughts
Part IIILooking Towards Solutions
9 Beyond Simplistic and Narrow Proposals
9.1 Putting Oneself in the Shoes of Others and Civil Dialogue
9.1.1 Civil Dialogue and Gun Control
9.1.2 An Even-Tempered Open-Minded Discussion About Guns and Three Schools of Thought
9.2 All Parts of the Brain, Not Merely One
9.3 Additional (Secondary) Solutions
9.3.1 Additional and Heightened School Security Measures
9.3.2 Tensions Need to Be Substantially Reduced
9.4 Coronavirus and School Shootings
9.5 Concluding Comments
10 A Comprehensive Set of Solutions That Together Hold Much Promise
10.1 The Need to Open One’s Mind
10.2 The Need to Open One’s Heart
10.3 Specific Steps that Need to Be Taken to Reduce School Shootings
10.4 Concluding Thoughts
References
Index