Lesson 1: Introduction
Commentary
As a favorite professor was known to say, “In this course I
hope to complicate your thinking.” Whether you work in schools
or not, the underlying causes of youth violence are worthy of study
as they are complex and far reaching in their impact both on schools
and on society as a whole.
The preface to the textbook presents an excellent overview of the
readings to come and how they are organized. The authors note their
own guiding principles in choosing these particular readings. Perhaps
more importantly, they note the theoretical perspectives of the
contributors. An author’s theoretical framework can be
considered as a way of looking at the world as well as a way of
organizing knowledge. It is rare to see these perspectives made as
overt as they are in this text, though all writers approach the world
with a particular theoretical framework and every editor is guided by
some set of organizing principles in selecting the work to be
included in any collection.
Our understanding of a work is enriched by having a grasp of its
theoretical underpinnings, because each theoretical approach implies
assumptions about how the world works and about the best ways to
approach problems. A deep study of these perspectives is beyond the
scope of this course, but is a worthy topic for further study. The
theoretical perspectives included in our text are included in the
authors’ “second premise” on page vi of the
preface.
Violence in schools has made headline news many times in the last
decade, with incidents ranging in severity from petty unkindness to
school shootings. The issue of school violence has become the focus
for many discussions and the driving force behind many security and
crisis planning measures. It is far from a simple issue. James
Garbarino, the author of the first chapter in our textbook, has
studied violent children and the reasons that they turn violent for
many years. He presents the factors that may combine to turn children
toward violence and suggests ways of looking at these issues that are
valuable for anyone seeking to prevent violence from developing.
Garbarino is a compelling, readable author. His books are “must
reads” for anyone who seeks to understand the interface between
children and violence. (See Recommended Readings in the
“Overview” part of this Web course.)
