Fixing the Ecosystem: Celeste Hedequist on Why School Violence is a Systems Problem
When we witness violence in schools—whether it’s a physical altercation in the cafeteria or the quiet, crushing weight of cyberbullying—our instinct is often to zoom in. We look for the “bad kid,” the instigator, the bully. We isolate the incident, punish the perpetrator, and assume the problem is solved. However, in a comprehensive new policy proposal, Celeste Hedequist argues that this narrow focus is precisely why we are failing to keep classrooms safe. By treating violence as an isolated event rather than a symptom of a failing ecosystem, we miss the forest for the trees.
Hedequist’s proposal is rooted in the “Ecological Theory” of violence, which views behavior not as a standalone choice made in a vacuum, but as the result of complex interactions within a system. Just as a plant cannot thrive in toxic soil, a student cannot exhibit pro-social behavior in a classroom environment characterized by stress, shame, and a lack of clear leadership. The proposal suggests that when violence occurs, it is rarely just about the two students fighting; it is about the environment that allowed, or perhaps even encouraged, that aggression to fester.
Current school policies often ignore this systemic view. They operate on a model of crime and punishment that might work for adults but fails miserably for children. Celeste Hedequist points out that many “universal” violence prevention programs have had mixed or even negative results because they apply a one-size-fits-all band-aid to a deep, structural wound. When a school relies on “zero tolerance” without addressing the underlying culture, they are simply weeding the garden while ignoring the blight in the soil.
The solution, according to Hedequist, lies in a fundamental shift of responsibility toward leadership. In this “systems approach,” the teacher or administrator is the regulator of the ecosystem. If the system is producing violence, the regulator must adjust the variables. This involves a move toward “outcome determinative measurements.” Leadership should not be evaluated on how many detentions they issue, but on the overall reduction of aggression markers in their domain.
To achieve this, the proposal calls for a rigorous system of checks and balances. This includes “upward reviews,” where students act as sensors in the system, reporting on the levels of stress, bias, and humiliation they experience. It also involves the potential use of classroom surveillance to monitor the interactions between leadership and students. This ensures that the “guardians” of the system are actually guarding it, rather than contributing to the toxicity through neglect or their own unmanaged stress.
By reframing school violence as a systems failure rather than an individual moral failing, Celeste Hedequist offers a path that is less about blame and more about results. It challenges educators to look beyond the immediate conflict and ask: “What in this classroom environment made this violence possible?” Only by fixing the ecosystem can we hope to protect the students living within it.
To read the full details of this transformative approach, you can view the complete proposal here: A New Policy Proposal for Reducing Violence & Aggression in the Classroom: A Focus on Leadership Responsibility for Outcomes
