1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910966565203321

Autore

Watson Rollin J. <1941->

Titolo

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

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Westport, Conn. : , : Praeger, , 2002

London : , : Bloomsbury Publishing, , 2024

ISBN

9798216011132

9786610908578

9781280908576

1280908572

9780313012983

0313012989

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (224 p.)

Altri autori (Persone)

WatsonRobert S

Disciplina

371.7/82/0973

Soggetti

School accidents - United States - History - 20th century

School violence - United States - History - 20th century

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

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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 -- NOTES -- 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 -- NOTES -- 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 -- NOTES -- 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 -- NOTES -- 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 -- NOTES -- 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 -- NOTES -- 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 -- NOTES -- 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 -- NOTES -- 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 -- NOTES -- Postscript: Forging a New Paradigm -- NOTE -- Index -- About the Authors.

Sommario/riassunto

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.