Term Paper on "School Violence in South Africa"

Term Paper 15 pages (4378 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

violence at schools in South Africa has assumed grave proportions. While the issue of violence at schools is contemporary and endemic to many countries in the West, the situation in South Africa is problematized by the history of the country and the legacy of the Apartheid period. Consequently, there is a wide variety of interlinking and concomitant issues and causative factors that make this issue a complex but particularly relevant area of research.

Therefore, the topic under consideration in this study will be the various aspects surrounding the issue of violence at schools in South Africa. This will include not only a concern with underlying historical and social factors, such as pervasive inequality and the legacy of the Apartheid regime, but will also deal with the wider consequences and repercussion of violence in terms of educational issues and developments and the way that these factors are related to wider social and educational implications.

Background and context to the research problem

Violence in South Africa is often analyzed in terms of the legacy of a very conflicted past. The struggle for racial equality in the country spans more then forty years of political turmoil and associated violence. The Apartheid regime of the Nationalist Party in the country ruled South Africa and applied their intolerant racist policies between 1948 and 1990, which was to plunge the country into a cycle of ever-increasing violence (LIBERATION STRUGGLE).

In brief, overtly racist policies and the forced institution of a rigid system of racial segregation led to the relegation of Black people in the country top 'Bantustans' and 'locations'. In effect the indigenous Black people were seen and treated as second class citizens on the basis of color alone. These injustices and the often brutal treatment of Black people were to result in years of struggle in the country and to the formation of the ANC or African National Congress under the leadership of Nelson Mandela.

Violence became the only viable option and response to the cruel and harsh Apartheid regime and there was an upsurge in dissent and often violent protest after the infamous Sharpeville massacre on 21 March 1960. (LIBERATION STRUGGLE) This was a decisive moment in the march towards liberation and the eventual demise of the Apartheid system. Other turning points followed in the violent history of the country, such as the 1952 Defiance Campaign, the Freedom Charter of the Congress Alliance and the 1959 anti-pass campaign. (LIBERATION STRUGGLE) Pass laws were imposed that restricted the movement of Black people in their own country and these were strongly opposed. These and other events were to lead to a continual process of violent action and reaction from the 1960s until the release of Mandela in 1990 and the demise of the South African National Party.

The essential factor that is pertinent in terms of this thesis is that violence was seen as the only solution to the crisis and that this continual aura of violence has permeated the fabric of South African society, including education and the schools. In terms of historical antecedents and background to the issue of school violence, it should also be remembered that violent struggle against apartheid was to a large extent initiated by Black youths in the townships of the country. While the struggle was successful it has left a legacy of violence and aggression that has affected the society and its institutions. The relationship between the past history of violence and school violence will be a central question that will be explored in this thesis.

The prevalence of violence in the country is evident from the high crime and murder rates. South Africa has the unfortunate distinction of having one of the highest murder and aggressive crime rates in the world. As researcher Martin Schnteich (2000) states;

By global standards, South Africa has extraordinary high levels of violent crime, according to 1997 Interpol statistics. In 1997, South Africa had the highest per capita rates of murder and rape, the second highest rate of robbery and violent theft (after the Bahamas), and the fourth highest rates of serious assault and sexual offences, of the 110 countries with crime levels listed by Interpol (Schnteich, 2000).

Therefore, a cardinal area of research that will be explored in this thesis is the view that the legacy of apartheid has resulted in an ethos of habitual violence that has become endemic in the country and in many of the intuitions. Another fundamental background issue that pertains to this proposed thesis is that South Africa is in many regards still a divided country and has still a long way to go before the inequalities of the past can be completely remedied. One also has to bear in mind that tension and dissension still exists in schools and contributes to the violence. Only a few years ago black and white children were separated along racial lines and in racially segregated schools. Another important background feature that will be taken into consideration is that many young people still bear the psychological scars of the period of violence and turmoil that the country has undergone.

1.4. Statement of the research question/s or hypothesis

This research question or hypothesis has to take into account that the phenomenon of school violence is intimately linked to the political and social milieu as well as the traumatic recent history of the country. The research also has to bear in mind that, beside the complexity of the causative features of this study, the effects and the consequences of this violence on the larger society have to be taken into account.

Therefore, there are there main hypothesis that will be explored in this thesis. The first is that the high rate of violence of various types in schools in South Africa is intimately linked to the countries past history. The second factor that will be explored is that the high rate of violence is largely due to the way that an ethos of crime and violence has permeated and become an intrinsic part of society and in fact become to some extent an acceptable mode of expression and behaviour. The third aspect that will be explored is that high rates of violence at schools have an extremely detrimental and negative impact on the social and psychological development of children and young adults, as well as on the quality of education.

1.5. Definition of special terms

The terms violence is often obscure in its specific meaning and definition. A common definition of violence is "...the use of physical force, usually intended to cause injury or destruction" (Violence: The Free Dicrtionary). In the present study, violence will be understood in an extended and inferential sense. Therefore, the understanding of violence will include aspects such as "...injury done to that which is entitled to respect, reverence, or observance; profanation; infringement; unjust force; outrage; assault" (Definition of Violence).

In other words, violence is understood as not only referring to physical or extreme violence, although this is certainly a central category of violence that is included as a dominant factor in this study. The definition of violence therefore also refers to aspects such as intimidation, sexism and bullying and forms of aggression and violence from both students and teachers that diminish human rights and freedom in an aggressive manner.

A good definition of violence that will be used as guideline in this study can be gleaned from JUST WHAT IS "SCHOOL VIOLENCE? from the North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. This refers to school violence as; "...any behavior that violates a school's educational mission or climate of respect or jeopardizes the intent of the school to be free of aggression against persons or property, drugs, weapons, disruptions, and disorder" (JUST WHAT IS "SCHOOL VIOLENCE"? 2002) This definition "... attempts to capture the idea that school violence takes many forms and that defining school violence only in terms shootings means that the problem of such violence is destined to linger. (JUST WHAT IS "SCHOOL VIOLENCE"? 2002) section of the envisaged thesis will address the analysis of what specifically is meant by the term violence and especially school violence. A differentiation is also made between general violence and school violence.

2. Review of the literature

This proposed thesis will take account of a wide and inclusive range of literature in order to deal adequately with the specific complexity and problematics of this issue. The data and literature that will be consulted will deal with directed studies and reports on the South African situation, as well as with the broader range of literature on the subject of school violence. General studies and research reports on school violence will be used as a comparative background to the situation in South Africa. In this regard, a work that is significant in terms of underlying trends is Violence in Schools: The Response in Europe by Smith (2003). Smith discusses the general phenomenon of school violence in various countries; for example, the fact that,

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