Addressing School Violence: A Call for Teacher Authority and Parental Involvement

School Violence: A Call for Teacher Authority and Parental Involvement

We are analyzing a newspaper article by Rafael Puyol, featured in the mainstream press, including *El País* and *ABC*. This article falls within the subgenre of opinion, as a named author expresses his point of view on a topical issue, in this case, school violence. The author demonstrates a subjective tendency with the clear desire to convince or persuade the reader. This is coupled with an informative interest, as the text stands out for its grammatical, semantic, and structural simplicity. This includes the absence of complex syntactic structures, the use of standard lexicon, a scarcity of stylistic or polysemous values, and an absence of jargon and cultism. The thematic progression follows the ordinary structure of expository-argumentative texts, hence it is directed to a very broad audience: teachers, parents, students, and general readers. Given this communicative interest and its textual typology, the predominant function is the appellate or conative, along with the representative. [Rationale for textual typology, language functions, and communicative elements].

The topic, as already noted, is clearly stated in the title: school violence. This establishes the unity and coherence of the text from the outset. Rafael Puyol expresses the need to give teachers more authority in the face of rising student indiscipline so that they can be considered a public authority. However, he argues that this measure should be supplemented with greater parental involvement in the responsible education of their children. The author uses an inductive structure, starting from facts (analogy with other countries, data, examples, etc.) to justify his thesis, which we find at the end of the last paragraph. It is introduced by a textual marker that acquires a conclusive value: “So, the law is good, but it will not do much without greater involvement of parents in the educational process.”

Structure and Organization

To provide the necessary structural coherence, the text is divided into three parts, responding to the most common textual organization in expository-argumentative texts, which favors thematic progression: an introduction, covering the first paragraph and the start of the second, highlighting the importance and extent of the problem; a body of development, where the author outlines his views on the subject using various types of arguments; and a conclusion, presented in the last sentence of the text, summarizing his view as a thesis. This organization does not correspond to the formal presentation of the text, which is divided into three paragraphs. [Topic, summary, thesis, structure].

A Topical Issue

The issue is particularly topical, not only because of recent events of national importance directly related to the subject (assaults on directors and teachers, social and political reactions, school failure) but also because other related events are linked: youth violence, *botellón* (street drinking), and assaults by children on parents. [A topical issue].

Types of Arguments

In the argument for his thesis, the author uses an analogy to relate what is happening in Spain to what has happened in other countries, as reflected in American films, possibly assessing the inevitability of the problem. To show the severity and extent of school violence in Spain, he uses an argument from authority based on figures provided by a professor. This leads him to provide arguments of evidence (the lack of means for the teacher) that has its consequences: demotivation and the desire to abandon the teaching profession among staff. The example of the proposal for the Community of Madrid allows him to complete his thesis by an argument based on data that show the need to address another aspect: the role of the family. Finally, he uses a supported fact (lack of time and dedication from parents) to counter-argue and then place the inescapable responsibility on parents. [Types of arguments].