School Violence and Cultural Sensitivity (From School Violence Intervention: A Practical Handbook, P 391-425, 1997, Arnold P. Goldstein and Jane Close Conoley, eds. - See NCJ-169051)

• NCJ Number: 169068
• Author(s): G Cartledge; C T Johnson
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 35 pages
• Sale Source: Guilford Publications, Inc.
• Publication Type: Report (Technical Assistance)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This analysis of cultural influences on behavior and their implications for violence prevention in schools emphasizes that all children and youth, regardless of race or ethnicity, have more commonalities than differences, but culture does influence the way they behave and are perceived.

Abstract

Subcultural groups are also affected differentially by conditions such as segregated communities, poverty, and recent immigrant status that further alter lifestyles and resulting social behaviors. For some children, schools are agents of control and containment rather than valuing and empowering settings. Schools that give little attention to positive interventions that promote social development increase tensions and feelings of alienation and can lead to more disruptive, violent behavior. Violence prevention in schools should include social skill training as an explicit part of the curriculum throughout the 12 years of formal schooling. Students should be helped to learn prosocial ways of being, ways to manage conflict, and ways to cooperate with others and contribute to the common good. Discussion of cultural patterns in the four largest minority cultural groups, examples of specific interventions, and 122 references