A tragic death leads students to question what are the next steps for school systems
Over the last century there has been a rise in the violence in the public and private school systems, dating all the way back to when schools became integrated in 1954.
On March 25th 2019, a ten year old girl named Raniya Wright suffered life threatening injuries from a fight that broke out in her classroom. Wright passed away two days later and people are left wondering how she was involved, how she could have sustained such tragic injuries, and finally how could anything like this happen in a school. Wright’s recent death is just one of the many to cause questions such as this to be asked.
“Many teachers will step in to help break up a fight,” senior Chelsy Huerta said. “Some on the other hand, are too afraid to get hurt themselves.”
Some may say that younger children may not be affected by the violence that goes on in high school, but many feel students should lead by example.
“Seeing violence at a younger age may make kids believe that it is okay,” senior Grace Sorrell said. “Kids may think that there will be no consequences involved for their actions.”
Many students are afraid to stick up for someone or speak to an adult about an incident taking place because there may be no action taken after the fact.
“Faculty should enforce consequences after an incident has occurred,” junior Christina Vannasing said. “Enforcing consequences may lessen the chance of another fight breaking out.”
Some students and parents are seeing an influx of violence being portrayed on social media leaving them to wonder if school is a safe place for them.
“I have not only seen an increase of violence in school but online as well,” junior Taylor Dixon said. “This violence I see is the kind of violence that can take place outside of school and can cause major problems for society.”
Many have experienced first hand what it was like to be stuck in a violent situation even if they were not involved physically, now comes the question of what to do next.
“This is a very complex issue,” english teacher Catherine Baker said. “Building relationships amongst students is the first step to take because if they care about each other they are less likely to get involved in a fight.”
Students and their parents need to know that they are safe when they step foot in their school. Something about this violence needs to be done.