Hate and Violence

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges we face in the United States today is the need to reduce hate and violence in ourselves and our society. As a teacher in a juvenile detention facility, I have struggled with ways to teach children nonviolent approaches to conflict, and the importance of tolerance and respect for others. This paper will describe student responses to a movie program designed to teach core values of non-violence and tolerance, and discuss these findings in the larger context of the juvenile criminal justice system and society.

In my last eight years as a teacher at a juvenile detention facility, I have struggled to find meaningful ways to reach my students. Students are often highly resistant to both authority and advice from sources that they initiated a Friday afternoon movie program at the juvenile detention facility as a way to encourage nonviolence as a...
[ View Full Essay]