Climate of Alienation Can Trigger Violence.

• Position: Brief Article

Physical and emotional maltreatment by teachers and administrators and the increasing use of police-like disciplinary tactics contribute to the climate of alienation in America's schools and often can lead students to commit violent acts, says Irwin Hyman, director of the National Center for the Study of Corporal Punishment and Alternatives, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa., and co-author of Dangerous Schools: What We Can Do About the Physical and Emotional Abuse of Our Children with Pamela A. Snook, a psychiatric nurse and doctoral student in school psychology at Temple. The "toxic" climates in most schools, created by teachers and administrators, have a dramatic effect on students, leading some to commit extreme acts of violence, while having a lasting impact on the physical and mental well-being of others, and undermining the constitutional rights of all.

"Schools that permit or promote alienation in any way create an atmosphere in which violence is more likely. From the shootings in Littleton, Colo., to those in Conyers, Ga., all of the students who have committed violent crimes in schools have one thing in common: They are alienated from others," notes Hyman, adding that alienation can even occur in schools considered to have positive climates because school officials are unaware of or are "unwilling to be proactive about alienated individuals and subgroups within the school culture."

Those climates begin at the top, with...