According to Dr. Venus Nicolini, society is suffering from a bad case of empathy deficit. This, she states, is the reason for the increasing incidents of family assaults and school violence.
The whole emphasis on competition, self-serving materialism, the ME generation of the past forty years has taken its toll. What value does western culture place on empathy?
Consider these factors.
a) The Internet has lessened social interaction. Social networking sites have made possible online interaction which by its very nature is only skin deep. How deep can conversations be when they are published for all to see? Social networking sites are geared more towards sharing recent photos and the latest downloads - activities that reinforce the self indulgent mindset of the Me generation.
b) Until the recent economic crisis, western culture has been immersed in the cult of the material things. The "good life" in western society is making money (tons of it) and buying things (toys). Compare this to many eastern cultures where the community itself is a social value. The good life is living in balance with oneself, others and all life-forms.
c) The cult of the self and self-actualization has made us narcissistic: everything revolves around living our dreams, pursuing our dreams. The point is not that we should stop trying to achieve our dreams; the point is that we should ask ourselves this question: at what expense? It is a question we all need to examine. What price have we paid for wanting it all?
d) Empathy deficit is creating a "tsunami of societal violence,"says expert Mary Gordon. Empathy is the basic step we have to take before we can understand the true meaning of altruism. Without empathy, there is no altruism, no volunteer work, no donations to the needy. Without empathy, children tend towards bullying, fighting and self-serving manipulation.
e) School violence is a sad reflection of the larger society. And we adults are largely responsible for what is now becoming an epidemic of violence worldwide.
What can we do about it?
We can live by example. We can treat everyone we see with more respect, love and genuine empathy. We can choose to look at the "big picture" rather than fuming over what are often inconsequential slights.
We can teach our children and grandchildren the importance of feelings and how they can be attenuated by changing our thoughts. We can help them see perspectives from another set of eyes, get them involved in acts of altruism - donating toys to children who have none, making them aware of children in other countries who are often homeless and starving.
It is up to us - the parents, grandparents and teachers - to help our children cultivate a sense of caring. Even caring for flowers in the garden or a family pet are steps towards a culture of empathy.
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Research has determined that from the Moment of Commitment (the point when a student pulls their weapon) to the Moment of Completion (when the last round is fired) is only 5 seconds. If it is the intent of a school district to react to this violence, they will do so over the wounded and/or slain bodies of students, teachers and administrators.
Educational institutions clearly want safe and secure schools. Administrators are perennially queried by parents about the safety of their schools. The commonplace answers, intended to reassure anxious parents, focus on the school resource officers and emergency procedures. While useful, these less than adequate efforts do not begin to provide a definitive answer to preventing school violence, nor do they make a school safe and secure.
Traditionally school districts have relied upon the mental health community or local police to keep schools safe, yet one of the key shortcomings has been the lack of a system that involves teachers, administrators, parents and students in the identification and communication process. Recently, colleges, universities and community colleges are forming Behavioral Intervention Teams with representatives from all these constituencies. Higher Education has changed their safety/security policies, procedures, or surveillance systems, yet K-12 have yet to incorporate Behavioral Intervention Teams. K-12 schools continue spending excessive amounts of money to put in place many of the physical security options. Sadly, they are reactionary only and do little to prevent aggression because they are designed exclusively to react to existing conflict, threat and violence. These schools reflect a national blindspot, which prefers hardening targets through enhanced security versus preventing violence with efforts directed at aggressors. Security gets all the focus and money, but this only makes us feel safe, rather than to actually make us safer.
Some law enforcement agencies use profiling as a means to identify an aggressor. According to the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education’s report on Targeted Violence in Schools, there is a significant difference between “profiling” and identifying and measuring emerging aggression; “The use of profiles is not effective either for identifying students who may pose a risk for targeted violence at school or – once a student has been identified – for assessing the risk that a particular student may pose for school-based targeted violence.” It continues; “An inquiry should focus instead on a student’s behaviors and communications to determine if the student appears to be planning or preparing for an attack.” We can and must assess objective, culturally neutral, identifiable criteria of emerging aggression.
For a comprehensive look at the problem and its solution, http://www.aggressionmanagement.com/White_Paper_K-12/
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