Violência extrema contra a escola

Abstract

This research was conducted through the Graduate Program in Education at the Federal University of Fronteira Sul, with support from CAPES, focusing on the phenomenon of extreme violence against schools from a Brazilian perspective, internationally known as school shootings. The number of such cases has increased since 2022. Our objective is to understand the factors that lead young people to commit violent attacks against their own schools, guided by Brazilian and foreign authors who have previously studied the phenomenon, as well as by neoliberalism theorists—Pierre Dardot, Christian Laval, and Wendy Brown—who analyze neoliberalism as the dominant worldview shaping contemporary life. We also explore the meaning of school, drawing on the works of Jan Masschelein, Maarten Simons, and Gert Biesta, and conceptualize different forms of violence based on Johann Galtung. The chosen research method was qualitative, using a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach, seeking to suspend judgment on the phenomenon and analyze it in dialogue with various scholars. We highlight that extreme violence against schools originates primarily from the 1999 attack at Columbine High School in the United States. The excessive media coverage of this event led to the glorification of its perpetrators and inspired subsequent attacks on other schools. According to our research scope, the first recorded school attack in Brazil occurred in 2003, but the number of similar incidents has increased significantly, especially after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that neoliberalism, as a dominant worldview, is the main enabler of this phenomenon and that the rise of neoconservatism has fueled extremist groups and hate ideologies that recruit numerous young people and encourage them to commit various acts of violence. Furthermore, we discuss how schools under neoliberal influence have seen their democratic role diminished and weakened, prioritizing the formation of "entrepreneurial subjects" rather than educating for democracy and plurality. We also point out that suffering generated by the neoliberal world fosters insensitivities that drive young people to commit acts of violence against others, as well as hopelessness that reinforces feelings of resentment and a lack of meaning in life. Finally, we highlight the relevance of the perspective of teachers on the phenomenon, who can help prevent other new cases of extreme violence against schools.