Week 2 Blog 3 School Violence and Social Capital

While we all know that it takes a village to raise a family; the first point in my triangle that stood out to me was in regards to a decision that the child is making themselves.  This is the decision of carrying a weapon, I had heard stories and read articles in regards to kids taking extreme action in order to protect themselves from bullies and harsh living conditions; but to read the fact that “33 percent of youth aged 10 to 19 years had been involved in a physical altercation in the past 12 months, and 17 percent had carried a weapon, usually a firearm, in the past 30 days (Wright, 1436)” was a little bit of an eye opener.  When evaluating this statistic in Wright/Fitzpatrick’s writing with what was said about parents being part of their children’s school relationships I thought of my own working with my child’s PTA and how it did bring me closer to her and made me more aware of what she was doing on a day to day basis.  With children spending so much of their time at school during the week as it is proves to be a great way to better awareness and possibly make a dent in the high statistics that run within the lines of children, violence and weapons. 

One never really thinks of school as being a capital resource until you really think about it; depending on how your school career is, where your standings are and who you choose to surround yourself with to a certain degree has bearing on what kind of outcome your life may become.  While it seems such an easy point it is almost so clear that it is hard to see; a healthy school relationship can offer more protection, connectedness and thus make your educational experience stronger and more beneficial.  My last triangle point that came to mind here also was how all of this does not mean that you have to go to the best school in order to make and maintain this educational capital “these social capital resources are shared amongst a cooperative collectivity of peers and adults who contribute to healthy adolescent growth and development (Wright, 1440).”

A point that really squared with me, or that I truly felt compassionate about was how much extracurricular activates help guide and help young people.  There is so much one learns in team play, from learning your own personal strengths, the feeling of being part of something, to learning what it is like to be pushed in a positive direction.  An interesting point raised was how sports also offer students an opportunity to reconnect with their school “to this end, collective school activities are thought to be sources of protection for

Adolescents (McNeal 1999b).”  School-sponsored teams, clubs and groups can promote

Feelings of connectedness and camaraderie with other students and staff.

This was a hard blog posting for me because I agreed with all of the writing and felt it all so common sense that it made it more difficult to detail.  I want to circle the main point that I feel Wright/Fitzpatrick posed in their writing; in reading it you could hear how children were just a product of the environment in which they are place, but at the same time you want to shake this article in the face of some and say ‘see! Just give the kid one outlet and see how much could change!’  Which is so true in many cases, children need one social gain that they can learn and grow from.  If we did this we could change the high rate of violence amongst children, and change the outcome of many kids lives; even possibly change how children begin violent but learn to overcome it with social acceptance.

Research Channel (Producer) (2008, February 21). Student Threats of Violence. [Youtube video]. Retrieved July 14, 2010 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXiK0A43Xk4


Wright, & Fitzpatrick (2006). Social capital and adolescent violent behavior: Correlates of fighting and weapon use among secondary school students. Social Forces, 84(3), 1435-1453.