Looking for reasons - School shooting discourse in two newspapers

Author(s):

Pirjo Nuutinen

Conference:

ECER 2010

Network:

25. Research on Children's Rights in Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

25 SES 08, Violence and Conflicting Rights

Paper Session

Time:

2010-08-26

17:15-18:45

Room:

AUDITORIUM IV, Päärakennus / Main Building

Chair:

Victoria Coppock

Contribution

Looking for reasons - School-shooting discourse in two newspapers

The paper presents a study of school shooting discourse in two Finnish newspapers, after school shooting in 23^rd September 2008 in a polytechnic in Western Finland.

The paper comments on Finnish educational and youth researcher’s different posture to school shooting events and gives some examples of different studies of violence and education (e.g. Bourdieu & Passeron 1977; Miller 1986; Epp & Watkinson 1996; Hutchinson 1996; Harber 2004 and numerous studies of bullying). The questions in the analyses were:

- What reasons writers and interviewees give to school shooting 2008?

- What they think one must understand for school shooting to be seen in true contexts and proper dimensions?

- What should have been done differently so that this kind of tragedy could not have taken place, and what should be done so that it will not happen again in the future?

- How writers and interviewees comment on education and school when they reflect the questions mentioned above?

- What kind of image of the school shooter and his development could be reconstructed on the basis of the texts?

Litterature

Method

The analysis was focused on texts in which shooter’s personality, activities and reasons for attacking towards his school mates and teachers were analyzed or commented. The number of texts chosen from Helsingin Sanomat (circulated nationwide) was 155 and 55 from Itä-Savo (regional circulation). A majority of the persons interviewed or writers of the texts had academic education or another kind of expertise which helped to discuss the tragedy. The texts were analyzed from thematic perspectives, not in exact publishing order. The interpretations presented in summaries are generalizations at group level and do not cover all the ideas expressed in the individual texts.

Expected Outcomes

On the basis of the results school shootings were seen to be a sign of the crisis and pressures in contexts wider than a single shooting case; in the culture and in value systems of the society or among those people, who were responsible for the development of children’s living conditions. Lack of sense of community, bullying at school, violent aspects of male culture, media and internet were often discussed too. The school was seen as threatened in many texts. The emphasis was put either to problems of anticipating school attacks or to bullying which was often seen to be part of the chain of explanations. The suggestions for solution were often implied to the ways of writing about grievances. Strengthening of discipline, art education and caring were suggested too. The paper ends with reconstruction of the public image of the school shooter and discussing results in the context of systemic violence (Epp 1996).

References

Bourdieu, P. & Passeron , J – C. 1977. Reproduction in education, society and culture. London:Sage Epp, R.J. 1996. Schools, complicity, and sources of violence. In R.J. Epp & A.M.Watkinson (eds.; 1996). Systemic violence: How schools hurt children. London: The Falmer Press. Hutchinson, F.P. 1996. Educating beyond violent futures. London: Routledge. Miller, A. 1986. Alussa oli kasvatus. Helsinki: WSOY. Harber, C. 2004. Schooling as violence: How schools harm pupils and societies. New York: Routledge Falmer.

Author Information

Pirjo Nuutinen

University of Eastern Finland, Teacher Education Savonlinna

Savonlinna

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