POSITION PAPER 3

“Violence in the school is the result of differences outside school. We as counselors can’t do anything about it. Discuss.”

Violence can be defined as any act or behavior that can bring harm or hurt other people. Violence can happen at anytime, anywhere and anyone can be violated. It is not possible that violence also happen in an education setting, generally in school, whereby knowledge is transfer. We often heard many cases related to violence occurred in school. Students hurt teacher, killed other member, bullied, blackmailed, and so many problems or issues that bring harm to other people happened. How come such a pure and virtue place is poluted by these kind of action? As this issue of violence in school is become serious and serious, who should be blamed? What other people said about this? And will it happen again and again and are there any methods or techniques that can be implemented to overcome this problem? We have not find any definite answer because everybody is blaming each other. To find the solution, we have to recognize the causes of the problem. Is it happen because of school’s environment? Or maybe it is a result of failure in family institution? Some may claim that violence in school is result by the differences outside the school, which means the lifestyle, family institution, socio-economic status, neighborhood, and also religious practice brings violence to school. Is it possible?

Some may claim that a counselor should put more concern on this issue whereby a counselor is the only one person in school that are dealing closely with students. The counselor have the major roles in order to prevent it from become more serious and before it can bring a disease in our society. However, what are the functions of school counselor in dealing with this issue? Are they able to do something to prevent it? How they are going to alert students differences outside the school? All of these questions show that counselor cannot do much to help the issue of violence become decrease. It is impossible for a counselor alone to concern all of the outside matters of each student in school. It is a very hard task to do. Furthermore, counselor alone is hard to discover all the differences outside the school. This does not mean that the counselor does not concern about the student. And it also does not mean that the counselor ignore the students’ background. But as a counselor, one cannot just put the most concern on the students, but also the entire school, the teachers, administrators and communities inside the school. So here, the counselor is impossible to do anything regarding the outside differences of the student.

However, it is also possible for a counselor to help prevent the violence in school, but not the counselor himself. What is the most important thing is the entire community should cooperate and participate in preventing this problem. Counselor alone will not able to do anything without the commitment and understang from each party. So, at the first hand, the counselor have to communicate and develop trust and understanding among each group of people. Then they will able and willingly to help in preventing violence in school. The counselor must work harder to gain these mutual understanding and provide information regarding this issue so that everybody is alert and understand the nature of problem. For instance, the counselor can organize activities which are enable all parties to take part and gathered together while discussing all the issues. The counselor also can set up a fest or awreness campiagn such as “Say No to Bully” “Family Day” or many other interesting activity that can built up the awreness among each individual.

As a conclusion, I may say that violence in school can be prevented as long as the counselor are aware and willing to help. And it is not impossible for a counselor to overcome this problem with cooperation and commitment from other parties. The most important thing is the counselor cannot stand and work alone. Support from the entire society will be able to cope with violence, not only in school, but also the entire community.