violence in schools...

we all know that within our school systems there is a certain amount of violence, it's a part of human nature and unavoidable. i remember especially during my middle school years that there was at least an aggravated argument, if not a fight, every week and that was just among the 6th graders. my question is, as teachers, what can we do to lessen the outbreaks of fights and violence in general.

one thing that some people are suggesting is behavioral management training. some believe that if pre-service teachers got more training in how to deal with aggressive behavior their classrooms would run more smoothly and that the rate of violence within the classroom would go down. another thing some some schools are doing is having low to moderate security systems in place; the difference being that the low security systems have no metal detectors or guards but have control access to buildings, and moderate security systems have a full time guard. another thing most schools are doing is issuing id badges or name tags to stop non-staff or students from entering the schools and causing trouble.

so are these tactics effective? considering crime and violence rates have gone down, i would say that they are. however, i do think that as a teacher or administrator one should always be watching and actively trying to keep schools as safe and violence free as possible.