An article titled "Phones Fueling Violent Scenes At US Schools" in December 15, 2024. edition of the New York Times was troubling to say the least. Are the public schools out of touch and failing to provide an appropriate learning environment for our students ? How Is our society contributing and making our learning environment dysfunctional ? How are the parenting practices contributing to the violence? This disquisition pertains to the above questions.
The article in question described a series of physical fighting , cyber bullying and taking part in aggressive disruptions occurring in a number of public schools in our country. These disruptions included a variety of aggression that included both boys and girls punching, kicking, turning over tables and chairs. In fact one student died .Also, school officials were being thrown into lockers as well. Students shared and jostled to film these disruptions on their phones and provided an opportunity for more students to become involved both actively and passively in the chaos. Some students were suspended.; police were hired and school boards became involved and received pressure from angry parents. Instagram and Tik Tok were platforms used as well as publicity from TV newscasts. Yes, phones are just one contributing factor to this sadistic chaos.
Also contributing and an environmental and social factor is the school environment. Are the teachers burnt out and disinterested; are the school administrators inept and powerless; and/ or are the school boards punitive, reactive, and out of touch with their primitive and punitive philosophy of what is appropriate as far as a meaningful education along the understanding of adolescent development and our history of violence ?
What about the social influence of our aggressive ,violent and inequality within our society? The history of man is associated with violence. Fighting each other is not new. Bullying with prejudice and hate against others is also part of man's behavior regardless of setting. Filming violence is not novel. For example, the filming of the Rodney King debacle years ago turned out positive and revealed police brutality and injustice. Modeling, imitation and influence of radio ,TV ,movies, novels and now social media is associated with both positive and negative influence on behavior . Perhaps, the school board might limit cell phone availability of their students during the school day. Yes, that would cause separation anxiety for many. Would it eliminate or reduce the amount or frequency of fighting and bullying behavior during the school day? A necessary research project could evaluate the impact, if any, with a policy regarding the phone. Does the availability of having that phone during the school day contribute to an increase in learning?
A few research findings pertaining to the acting out and delinquent adolescent are as follows: 1. Within the rapid physiological, psychological, emotional, and cognitive growth of the adolescent are major differences. There is cognitive and intellectual development immaturity with those in early adolescence .There is also more egocentricity and less empathy . With normal development they become more mature, with empathy for others .With formal thought, adolescents are now able to reason,create hypothetical deductions with relativity and are strongly grounded in reality. Those immature adolescents are limited both cognitively and morally. 2 When parents are cruel, inconsistent, sadistic or antisocial, those teens fearing a cruel parent may express hostility by placing it and acting out what was done to him on to others 3. Those who identify with their parents antisocial characteristics, also engage in their delinquency . Girls may defensively identify with their father and become tomboyish. 4. Those with disturbed parent communication and openness, result in developing a negative self-concept ,mistrust of the adult world, more dependent on the peer culture for their gratifications, begin dating earlier looking for that mother figure, don't do well academically, experience more psychological pain, and are less happy and more critical of their environment. 5. Families of divorce, mental and physical illness, social and economic inequities, and minorities are associated with teens who have more emotional, social, and academic difficulties. 6. Those adolescents that idealize powerful acting out role models in their ego ideal tend to follow that leader and tend to lose themselves in group participation while becoming active followers. 7. Those with a negative self-concept.and Identity diffusion are more anxious . The consequences result in the need to conform to the peer group .These alienated teens see themselves as outsiders, and persecuted .They turn towards the world with bitterness and revenge and they have a low capacity for academics and yearn for intimacy with their unmet dependency needs .
For those troubled teens, there is both the sadism of the aggressors and the passivity and aggressiveness of the followers. The following ego needs are apparent . Affiliation ,being part of the group, a follower with dependency . Aggression,to attack , fight; and act out .Exhibition to make an impression, to be seen ,to be heard by others ,.Abasement, submit to external force ,to accept punishment from those bullies are just a few of the ego needs met.
These troubled teens acted out, not alone, but in front of an audience. That audience was not totally passive. It filmed the event, thus reinforcing the exhibition of the occurrence; the sadistic ,macho behavior, which is necessary to mask their insecurities. The passive aggressive teens did not report the incident to authorities, but distributed it instead to other members of their "group" making everyone complicit and a follower ,and part of this anti-social display . Those that did not report this incident to authorities have identified with the acting out "group." All of them deserve concrete consequences. They used modern-day technology, not for the good of society but for their own narcissistic, inadequate selves , suggesting a symptom of identity diffusion.
Phone technology can be a symptom of those highly dependent on this device and contribute negatively to society . Secondly, psychodynamically the foundation for personality behavior occurs prior to adolescents. Third,, the preponderance of negative social influences occurring within the family and society contribute and expose the mental sickness of the culture. If you're a teen athlete with special skills , artistically or intellectually gifted , you are more likely not to be a participant in this school chaos . Becoming a teacher once was associated with status and an honorable profession ,doesn't seem that attractive today. Unfortunately, acting out negatively by adults and adolescents is too ingrained in our culture.
References
Mussen, P.H., Conger, J. J and Kagan, J. Child Development and Personality.
Offer, Daniel. The Psychological World of the Teenager.
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