The school as a safe haven / Rollin J. Watson and Robert S. Watson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Watson, Rollin J., 1941-

Contributor:

Watson, Robert S.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

School accidents--United States--History--20th century.

School accidents.

School violence--United States--History--20th century.

School violence.

School crisis management--United States--History--20th century.

School crisis management.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (224 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024

Place of Publication:

Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The authors set out to see if the American school has always been safe. Unfortunately, they found that it has not, that it is confronted in each new generation with a whole new set of threats and dangers. This is a unique book that examines American schools and their safety from the point of view of historical incursions and threats rather than from anecdotal and sometimes questionable information. Through the examination of thousands of documents and incidents, the authors show that the American school has always been subjected to threats from many different sources. Student violence is only a small part of this danger; in fact, the authors show that schools are confronted with many threats besides those presented sporadically by lone violent killers. The authors, at the same time, believe there has been an overreaction to violence that may in itself not be salubrious for the academic programs and moral climates of our schools. After the crisis at Columbine High School, many well-known commentators said that this was the worst crisis ever to take place in an American school. The authors decided to look at the whole topic of school safety in America from the period right after World War II to the present. This unique book is the first to place school safety at the heart of the educational endeavor in America, the first to treat the subject of threats to the school in a broader, historical context, and the first to treat the subject as part of intellectual history. By documenting thousands of instances during the period after World War II through the end of the century, the authors have concluded that the myth of the school as a safe haven has been a comforting, but not always accurate, metaphor. The approach to the subject is from a myriad of perspectives. First, the state of school buildings after the War is discussed. Next, the authors look at juvenile delinquency in the 1950s. Then they put school fires in context, followed by a chapter on school bus accidents and other devastating events from nature. In Civil Rights, Uncivil Schools they discuss the deleterious impact of the century's most important social movement on schools. In the creative chapter, The Demise of Discipline, they demonstrate, through research, ways in which discipline in the schools has been eroded. In A Decadent Counterculture they assess the threats to schools by sex, drugs, and gangs. In Terror Comes to School they show that many violent intrusions began in the 1970s and earlier, well before the 1990s. The concluding chapter, The Paradox of the Clinton Era brings the history to the end of the century. The Postscript discusses new ways of looking at threats to school safety.

Contents:

Cover

The School as a Safe Haven

Contents

Preface: Metaphor and Myth

Chapter 1 The Sanctity of the Schoolhouse

THE MYTH

THREATS TO SCHOOLS

PUBLIC OPINION

STUDENT VIOLENCE

THESIS AND PURPOSE OF BOOK

RESEARCH METHODS AND LIMITATIONS OF STUDY

EARLY THREATS TO SCHOOLS

AN EARLY ACT OF TERRORISM

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

NOTES

Chapter 2 Postwar Innocence (1945-1950)

PRESSURES ON SCHOOLS AFTER THE WAR

SCHOOLS IN USE AFTER THE WAR

SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE AND SAFETY FACTORS

CAMPUS PERIMETERS

SCHOOL DISCIPLINE IN THE 1940s AND 1950s

INCREASING VIOLENCE

ORGANIZATIONAL CONCERNS FOR SAFETY

SCHOOL BUS SAFETY

Chapter 3 Juvenile Delinquency and the Schools (1950-1975)

THE FEAR OF THE JUVENILE DELINQUENT

EXPLANATIONS FOR JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

BOMBS AND BOMB THREATS

GANGS AND THE SCHOOLS

DIFFERENT TYPES OF DELINQUENTS

INCREASING USE OF DRUGS

HIGH SCHOOL UNREST

THE TOLL OF JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

Chapter 4 Fire Bell in the Schoolyard (1945-1992)

A PRE-WAR CATASTROPHE

POST-WAR SCHOOL FIRES

THE EARLY 1950s

1958

THE IMPACT OF THE CHICAGO FIRE

SCHOOL FIRES AND POLITICS IN THE 1960s

FIRES RELATED TO RACIAL TURMOIL

OKLAHOMA NIGHTMARE, 1982

DANGEROUS BUILDINGS

Chapter 5 The Encroachment of an Old Catastrophe (1945-1992)

PRE-WAR BUS ACCIDENTS

POST-WAR SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENTS

FREAK INCIDENTS AND BLEAK CONDITIONS IN SCHOOLS

PUPILS POISONED BY FOOD AND AIR

SHOP AND PLAYGROUND DANGERS21

BEYOND THE PRINCIPAL'S CONTROL

NATURAL DISASTERS, 1970s

SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENTS IN THE 1970s AND 1980s

HAZARDS OF THE 1980s

SHADES OF LOVE CANAL

EARTHQUAKES, TORNADOS, SNOWSTORMS

Chapter 6 Civil Rights, Uncivil Schools (1954-1969)

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

THE 1950s

THE 1960s.

THE LATE 1960s

TWO VIOLENT YEARS

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. MURDERED

1969

Chapter 7 The Demise of Discipline (1959-1969)

THE CONTROL OF THE SCHOOLS

SPARE THE ROD

THE LITIGATION FACTOR

STUDENT DRESS AND BEHAVIOR

VIOLENT ATTACKS UPON TEACHERS

LAWSUITS AGAINST TEACHERS

PARENTS AGAINST TEACHERS

INCREASED ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES FOR TEACHERS

THE PORTRAYAL OF TEACHERS IN THE MEDIA

Chapter 8 A Decadent Counterculture (1970-2001)

OLD AND NEW SEXUAL ISSUES IN THE 1970s

SEXUAL PROBLEMS IN THE SCHOOLS, 1980s

MORE OF THE SAME IN THE 1990s

SCHOOLS AND THE DRUG PROBLEM, 1970s

THE SCHOOL DRUG "BATTLEGROUND" IN THE 1980s

THE DRUG PROBLEM IN THE 1980s

GANGS, DRUGS, AND SCHOOLS64

GANGS AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY

Chapter 9 Terror Comes to School (1945-1992)

THE STORY OF THE VIOLENT INTRUDER

HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTER, 1975

"SCHOOLS ARE NO LONGER SANCTUARIES," 1976

SCHOOL BUS VIOLENCE

GIRL ON A SHOOTING SPREE, 1979

TEACHERS WITH GUNS, 1979-1980

ATTACKS ON TEACHERS, 1980

1984 SNIPER

STUDENT SNIPER, 1985

FEAR OF TERRORISM, 1986

BERSERK GUNMEN, 1987

1988 AND 1989-THE WORST YEARS YET

SCHOOLYARD MASSACRE, 1989

"PROPENSITIES FOR VIOLENCE," 1990

1991

GANG VIOLENCE, 1992

Chapter 10 The Paradox of the Clinton Era (1993-2001)

GOVERNMENTAL EFFORTS TO IMPROVE SCHOOL SAFETY

AN EXPLOSIVE DECADE10

SOME SCHOOL FIRES

THREATS TO THE ENVIRONMENT

THE HORSEPLAY FACTOR

COMBATING THE ANCIENT RITUAL

SUICIDES IN SCHOOLS

LITIGATION

THE SCOTTY BAKER CASE

SOME EPISODES OF VIOLENCE, 1990s64

15 SECONDS OF FAME-THE LITTLE BIG MEN

LOOKING FOR REASONS

FULFILLING THE PURPOSES OF THIS BOOK

Postscript: Forging a New Paradigm

NOTE

Index

About the Authors.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9798216011132

9786610908578

9781280908576

1280908572

9780313012983

0313012989

OCLC:

232161612