Educate, Medicate or Litigate?: What Teachers, Parents and Administrators Must Do About Student Behavior

Educate, Medicate, or Litigate? tackles an issue that is increasingly taking the fore in school safety issues: intervention. Until now, the response to antisocial behaviour in schools has been generally reactive in nature due to the fact that few contemporary ‘preventative’ measures actually prevent anything. While medical and legal recourses cannot be eschewed, after the tragedy at Columbine and other much-publicized school shootings across the country, it is all too clear that these reactive measures are much too little, too late - effective violence prevention is critical. This book examines bullying, subversive behaviour, and other negative psychosocial behaviours from their roots to their eventual eruptions, analyzes common myths about school violence and its origins, and, based on research and empirical knowledge, prescribes best practices, administrative action that will help schools prevent larger and more violent incidents from occurring.