Our children are growing up in the shadow of school violence

School violence in the United States has long surpassed mere roughhousing; the statistics are alarming: nearly 2.4 million students experience violent attacks on school campuses each year, 13% of high school students have been threatened or harmed, and 8% skip school out of fear of being bullied. Our neighbor’s daughter was locked in the bathroom, verbally abused, and beaten simply for refusing to join a clique, leaving her with severe psychological trauma. Last year, a gang fight broke out at her school; sirens blared for an entire afternoon, and children hid under their desks, too afraid to make a sound.

What’s even more disheartening is that the violence is escalating. Over the past decade, the number of students carrying weapons on campus has increased by 37%, ranging from fists and sticks to knives and even guns—the threat is everywhere. We have repeatedly reported this to schools and the education bureau, but all we’ve received is the perfunctory response of “increasing patrols.”

The school, which should be a safe haven, now fills us with anxiety. Every day when we send our children off, we repeatedly remind them, “Don’t cause trouble, protect yourselves,” but what we truly want is for our children to study peacefully and play freely. Such a simple wish has become a luxury in a school rife with violence.