What do we need to make inner city schools safer?

[primroselane]

On the morning of Dec. 3, teachers and students witnessed groups of African American students searching classrooms for Asian American students. Throughout the day, students and teachers raised concerns about safety with school security and administrators but no moves were made to protect the students.

The incident involved a day-long assault on the students and sent 13 to the hospital.

Justice Department officials have just signed an agreement with the School District of Philadelphia, which requires the district to hire a consultant focused on preventing harassment and discrimination.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...121506380.html

Wonder what happened to the perpetrators?

[pancho]

Remember it couldn't be racial because both are minorities. We all know minorities do not descriminate.

[Ambereyes]

Common sense!!

[Old Vet]

Safer from what the Kids. A paddle and common seance to hit the ones that cause trouble and to take no back talk from the parents that should have done this a long time ago.

[edcopp]

Home schooling would solve the problem. They are not getting an education now, so how could they do worse.

[WildBillTN]

Yeah, I'm sure that the parents of the perps would make fine home school teachers!

[Windy in Kansas]

What do we need to make inner city schools safer?

For starters get rid of all of the kids that don't want to be at school---to learn.

[wendle]

The parents need to be involved. In some areas the parents are asked to spend a certain amount of time helping in the classroom. This becomes free help for the school, and the parents get a first hand look at how things go in the classroom. This might not be a year round deal, but I think it's a good idea. They could even go so far as to Up the school enrollment fees(if the extra encouragement is needed) , and the parents who participate will get that extra fee deducted for their time spent in the classroom. This might mean only 1 day in 2 or 3 weeks.
Violence in schools has become a huge problem. I think a lot of it is lack of respect for others/adults, this starts at home. With an increased population of people there becomes less friendly family and neighbor values, and people are all out for themselves.

Even though I have never been one to go to church regular, I am starting to believe religion/church gives us a self worth and togetherness(There is a better word to describe this) . A kid with good values who is taught to care about his neighbor is less likely to want to cause others grief.

[Beeman]

Originally Posted by Windy in Kansas

What do we need to make inner city schools safer?

For starters get rid of all of the kids that don't want to be at school---to learn.

Sounds simple doesn't it, now what do you do with the 90% that doesn't go to school? I remember distinctly not wanting to be in HS. Tell me how that would work out.

The parent idea works if we hadn't become the society that we have. Unfortunately we've got this 2 parents working thing going on and shrinking wages thing and rising health care costs thing and on and on. For most kids, city or country, school is the place they spend more time in one place every day. Most don't know where they're sleeping that night or who's even going to be home if that's even where they are going after school, after school it's usually day care or another place until a parent or whoever gets off of work. Let's not even consider the confusion these kids have with stepdads, stepmoms, stepgrandparents and many times in multiples as their parents divorse remarry and multiply again. I live in an area where you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a church, doesn't seem to be doing much good.


It was so simple, but it isn't any more.

[beccachow]

Frankly, as long as the media glorifies gang banger lifestyle, all kids will want to emulate it and think it is cool. This has no answer until the media steps in and refuses to show TV shows worshipping the gang lifestyle and air videos where every member of the video is covertly flashing gang signs that YOU, the average joe, don't see. SOmetimes it gets caught, like that basket ball player flashing a Crip sign (which it most defintitely WAS, by the way) but usually, the ony ones wise to this carp is your children. It has become cool to "live by the sword and die by the sword." Then of course, comes the whle "Freedom of SPeech" argument. It is a mess. Starts by breakdwon at home though, IMHO.

[Beeman]

Didn't any of you at least watch West Side Story? Schools have had this going on forever.

[JJ Grandits]

schools have been around forever but discipline ended awhile ago. Minorities seem to have a special pass to do as they wish. If you disagree you are labeled a racist.

[Rainy]

I am with Old Vet..... they have taken all punishment out of schools and i am sorry that was so stupid.My 3rd grade teacher use to come around with a board and bop you across the shoulder hard, why? she told us she was in charge.... she was. If a teacher did that now can you imagine.
Put God and Prayer and Punishment back in the schools and you would be amazed at how good things would get.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Former teacher here.....

The administration was afraid of the students. The abdicated their responsibility to maintain a safe environment for learning.

The teachers should have called 911 when they realized the admin wasn't going to take action.

[bluemoonluck]

I've worked in schools of poverty, 99% of the students got free lunch, 97% were minorities.

Bottom line is, schools have no teeth.... if they speak to the students about their behavior, they're being racist and they get threatened with lawsuit. Lots of parents have told their kids if the admin or teachers say anything to them about anything - pull your pants up, don't flash gang signs, don't hit him, etc - you scream racism and threaten to sue. The parents are hoping for a lawsuit with a big payout and the school system knows this, so they back down because they don't have the funding to fight this.

Admin often wants the best and safest environment for all their students, but when something happens and they call the cops in and nobody will give a written statement against the perps because they're afraid of retaliation, well, it becomes an exercise in futility.

I totally agree that it starts at home. The schools cannot fix the home lives of their students.....they're in a rough spot.

[JanS]

How does that make sense in this case? Maybe get sued by the African American students vs. definitely (and deservedly) being sued by the Asian American families.

[haypoint]

Home schooling? You’ve got to be kidding! 70% of black babies are born into a single parent home. The percentage in the inner city is higher. With the breakdown of the inner city family, lack of male role model, 70% drop out rate, we are beyond paddling to correct what’s wrong in the inner city schools. Home schooling in the inner city would often times mean the students would be taught by Jerry Springer and Sponge Bob. Some education that would be.
Today, most parents, inner city and everywhere else, are not going to support any teacher that whacks their child. Parents, in an attempt to protect their children, teach them that no matter what they do, the parent will be right there backing up the student. Then we wonder why our students have no respect for authority or the rights of others?
A single parent, faced with either working two low paying jobs or trolling for the next sperm donor to enhance the checks Obama sends, isn’t going to get Tyrone to study and sure doesn’t have the time to sit in school, helping out.
Right now, welfare promotes more children, discourages two parent families while creating the environment where education isn’t as important as a productive Meth Lab. Only the barest of framework of civilization exists. Those in the inner city are fine with this plan and the rest of us refuse to stop the madness.
Inner city schools violent? Who cares? Just put a fence around it and save the court and transportation costs sending them to prison.
We have teachers earning $80,000 plus great benefits, working about 1,100 hours a year while the US education system lags to 16th place internationally. India graduates more college grads than we have students. But I digress.

[tinknal]

I don't know how accurate this figure is, or how you would even calculate it, but I've heard that every dollar spent on Early Childhood Education results in 6 dollars saved in the prison system done the line.

[chickenslayer]

Just turn inner city schools into prisons, save us all some time and money

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by chickenslayer

Just turn inner city schools into prisons, save us all some time and money

Inmates cost more than students.