Ella Goman: Teen Violence

Teen violence is a problem of modern society. The variety of teens’ aggressive behaviors is unbelievable; youths are involved in physical, sexual and emotional violence. While parents, teachers and police are trying to find who is to blame for it, youth violence continues to be a part of our daily news. There are several causes of teen violence: family and society.
The family is the first circle children experience in their lives; that is why, the home environment is primary responsible for teen violence. Parents play a significant role in a child’s education. Children sometimes experience abnormal home life, such as drunken parents, bad relationship between the father and the mother, abuse by a step or biological parents. Kids tend to copy their parents’ behavior; therefore, if they see violence at home, they will grow up as violent individuals. The lack of communication between parents and teenagers may also contribute to the problem of teen violence. Sometimes, parents are very busy; they, consequently, do not pay enough attention to the communication with their children. Teenagers are very sensitive, and they want to be understood. They interpret the lack of communication as indifference. As a result, teens may develop aggressive behavior. Moreover, the bad economic situation in some families may result in antisocial behavior of children. It is natural, that teens want to have more gadgets because they want to be like their peers. Unfortunately, the desirable item sometimes is not achievable because of its cost. Nowadays, a bad economic situation forces families to cut their expenses; some parents, therefore, cannot afford to buy a new gadget for their offspring. This situation leads youth to do criminal deeds, such as theft and stealing. In addition, today’s society has a huge impact on teen violence. Schools and neighborhood can contribute to youths’ aggressive behaviors. Public schools nowadays are the centers of integration. Children from different cultures and different undergrounds spend much time together while learning and doing some other school activities. As a result, racial tension may arise. Teen tend to make cliques at school; they are used to find the “enemy group” and to unleash their aggression against the hostile group. Unfortunately, some schools have very low standards and rules of behavior. Therefore, teens can carry both cold and hot weapons and they can even use them at school. There were several cases of school shootings that occurred in the US and Germany last year. The area of living is the additional factor that contributes to high violence among youth. Almost each city has so-called “bad areas”. It means that the level of violence here is much higher than the average level. Children who grow up in these areas, therefore, have more chances to develop violent behavior. Moreover, an average teenager wants to identify himself with some groups. This drive of self- identification may end up in teen- age gangs just because some peers are in the same gang. These gangs are usually involved in criminal deeds.
The root problem of child’s violence is that the ill society generates the ill individuals. Even though the modern society cannot eliminate violence it can reduce it significantly. Both parents and school from the one side and police and governments from another side must understand that they have to share the responsibility. Special program must be implemented at schools and civic centers; teens must be given opportunities to express themselves in positive ways.