By dwynn15
I have just less than a month here in the Dominican Republic. The next three weeks are going to be extremely tough with all of the important deadlines approaching; I have entered the final stretch. In just over a week, on December 2nd, I will be doing my final presentation about my research in front of the director of my community organization, the teachers who work there, and my own professors. The day of my presentation is also when I will be presenting my project, a behavioral management guide, to the teachers with whom I work.
Violence amongst the children in the third grade classroom is as big of a problem as it was when I first arrived at the school, even after the expulsion of a child with the most violent behavior. Furthermore, I have spent a bit of time with the kindergarten and second grade class, and I see that rough violence expressed by the children towards one another is a school wide issue. For this reason especially, I am hoping the findings of my research will be helpful in terms of how to deal with, reduce, eliminate, and prevent violence in the school.
I think that one thing that has made me more invested in this research project is the fact that violence against women is a huge issue in this country. It worries me tremendously when I see the male students punching and hitting their female classmates with a great amount of force and no hesitation. That is not to say that such dangerous fighting between two nine year old boys is okay just because they are boys; however, the girls fight back less. I worry that this type of behavior will contribute to the persistence of violence against women as a norm without much consequence in their adult lives. As I am finishing up my research, I am thinking about recommendations for the teachers and parents of the children to lessen the violent behaviors that the children express. For the near future, my hope is that this school sees less violence so that it can be a safe and comfortable place to learn, as it should be. For the more distant future, I hope that the children grow up showing less violence for their children to observe, so that each generation to come progresses in how they treat each other.
Next time you all will hear from me I will either be on my way home or will have just arrived!
My research project on school violence in the DR continues. I hope to find some useful recommendations to improve the issue! #GWU #GWAbroad