Stop The Violence!
Ms. Brown with peer mediators Calvin Elliott and Taylor Butler.
April 29, 2010 • Dominique Gatling
Filed under Opinion, Top Stories
There has been a rise in violence in my opinion at Oxon Hill but which grade level is being affected the most? The freshmen.
Ninth graders seem to have the highest fighting rate solely because they are still trying to find themselves in this jungle called high school, but it’s not just them. All grade levels have participated in fighting. To some, walking away from a fight shows that you’re weak, a ‘punk.’ To accept an apology from someone who has stepped on your shoes or bumped into you would be much too kind for these people, unfortunately. Certain individuals feel the need to pick on and humiliate their prey like savages, like bullies.
There’s a lot of bullying going on and it’s not just at Oxon Hill; it is a nationwide epidemic. It used to be that a bully was just a big person pushing around a smaller person, but not anymore. A bully can be anyone from a pretty girl picking on a not-so pretty girl, or a boy dressed in designer clothes making fun of a boy in thrift store threads.
Teens today are bullying for various reasons as well. They’ll bully for a seat on the bus, lunch money, territory in the halls, but mostly for respect. Mrs. Paulette Brown, Peer Mediation counselor commented, “They want everyone to respect them but they don’t know how to give respect.” Now bullying has evolved into a whole new form into Cyber Bullying.
Conflicts now often start on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace.
Taylor Butler, peer mediator, says, “A lot of mediation is based off somebody posting something on Facebook, somebody sending a text message, or talking about a picture on Myspace. It doesn’t even start at school anymore.”
Most of the time teenagers forget that what they’re posting on a website can be read worldwide. You can delete the comment, but can the pain of reading something negative about you be deleted too?
One solution to such harassment is peer mediation.
The process of mediation is simple. First there’s an introduction: everyone involved, including the mediators, introduce themselves. Then rules are set, such as no interruptions, no profanity, and especially no violence. Next, each person explains why he or she thinks they are there. Lastly a contract is made between the opposing sides to resolve the problem. The main goal of peer mediation is to come to a compromise; that way everybody wins.
Ms. Brown said, “Conflict is normal. Conflict is everywhere. We wake up in a world full of conflict but it’s all about how you handle it.”
Problems need to be addressed and worked out if we want a safer, more peaceful learning environment here at Oxon Hill High School. And most of us do.
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