Gang Violence in American Schools Essay

Did you ever have to move because your kids were bullied at tutor? Is the participation you argon living in is un just with multitude abandon and you were afraid your kids will grow up to be a notorious clusteringster? You believe the ideal place to raise a family is in a higher in bonk suburban area where the naturalize brass is better and your kids will be free from furiousness. You might want to mobilize again. In fact, unseas sensationd gangs, now more(prenominal) violent than ever, are spreading to new locations (Gaustad, 1 ) all across the country, including public take aims. Gangs are touching suburban areas to recruit more genus Phalluss to expand their gang group. They are exploitation new members to distribute drugs because it is appealing to pre puerile children and profitable. It is ca apply an increase in violence in directs because new(prenominal) gang group does not evolve along with another set of gang. Kids are scared to go to school because they are afraid they might get bullied and attack. The drop tabu rates has increase, more weapons are being brought to school endangering lives. School properties are being vandalized with school word of honor and teachers are getting injured from trying to intervene (Capozzoli and McVey, 81).Gang violence in school are getting worse that school officials, community members, and law enforcements are coming together to figure show up stems. The cardinal solutions that seems to be showing a great impact in lessen gang violence in American schools are school ordereds, comrade mediation schedules, and after school courses. School uniforms are the first solution that will wait on cut back gang violence in American schools. Gangs use colors, certain types of clothe, and bandanas to symbolize what group they are from or associate themselves with. Students that are not involved in gangs are ineffectual to walk down the school hallway without being accuse they are involve with a rival gang due to the color enclothe he or she may be wearing. School uniforms are typically seen in private or foreign countrys schools to luff a business- uniform atmosphere ( Skiba, 10). Now it is becoming more common in public schools because it keeps pupils in similar clothing.The typical school uniforms usually consist of khaki pants and collar shirts. Female pupils are sometimes in a skirt that goes down past their knees. The colors of the collar shirts deviate depending on what schools school-age childs attend. School uniforms will end gang members from wearing clothing indicating what group they are from. This will help reduce violence betwixt rival gangs because it will be difficult to point out what gang another student associate themselves with. Students will be able to focus more on pick uping than worrying about getting attack. not only does uniform help reduce the violence but it withal help schools function unity together and help pupils who come from a family w ith financial difficulty feel less pressure to dress a certain way to fit in (Lopez, 4).The great Beach unite School District decided to establish a school uniform polity during the 1990s to help pupils further their education in an elementary school. The school district had supports from parents who feared for their childs safety while they were pass to school and mistaken to be a rival gang member due to the color clothing they were wearing. Violence has dropped 86% after the school uniform policy been established for 5 years (Lopez, 4). Murray states, higher student ratings of the quality of school climate in schools with a uniform policy after studies was done on two North Carolina schools (qtd. in home in Tolerance, Zero Evidence, 10).The second solution are peer mediation course of instructions. accomplice mediation is a program that involves people who are chosen and better to resolves issues between individuals that has dis entrape with one another. The program is used in schools, youth centers, and juvenile justice setting to help five-year-old people lift up how to solve their conflict through lambasteing it out instead of using violence. Peer mediation programs are used to help decrease lockdowns, suspensions, detentions, and to bring irrefutable atmosphere. Instead of adults trying to diffuse the conflict between young people, the program gives students the ability to help their peer s figure out a solution to their conflict with one another. It also allows the disputers to be more open and able to express why they are conflicting with the other student.Young people tend to feel more comfortable and combine better with people their own age because they feel they wont be judged. Students are the initiator of confrontations among other students. They have to be sluggish and must go through training so they can pull in the process. The process of peer mediation are broken down into cardinal steps where the facilitator has to come up with rules that must be followed, hear two sides of the story, determine if it is the same issue causing the problem, suggest solutions that will set about the problem, make sure solution fits the goal of the outcome, and help dispute grant on a solution (Crawford and Bodine, 23).Classical high school in Lynn, Massachusetts has been using peer mediation program for 14 years now and feel that the program will help decrease violence in schools. The program is very important to the school that students have to put an application in and go through an interview process by the coordinator of the program, Miriam Markowitz to become a intermediary. Student who have conflict dispute with one another are brought into a private room where the student mediator tries to resolve their issues by easing the pressure off the disputers to act a certain way if they were almost their friends. Classical high school describe a 90 percent success rate (Weber, 9).When school is out kids can keep them selves occupied and out of trouble by firing to an after school program. After school program is a safe place where kids are supervised, kept busy to drift them away from disallow behaviors like gangs and drugs. A lot of the kids who goes to the after school programs lacks adult guidance, or come from a low income family that the parents are working a 12 hour shift and cannot be around to supervise their every move. The staffs at after school programs dont just help kids with their readiness but they build relationships with them and try to guide them in the right counsellor (after school activities and clubs). After school programs are not just programs where kids come to do home works and activities, it is also a place where they learn about gang violence, how to hold open involvement. Council for Unity is an after school program located in Riverhead, New York that was developed by Riverhead high school.The program consist of students from different ethnic backgrounds that c ome together every Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays to talk about what issues are going on in the community, ways to prevent the violence in their schools and to learn about gang violence prevention. The coordinator, Mr. Desenna direct special guest to come by to talk and educate the kids (Council for Unity). other after school program that is a major success and has been around since 1988 is Roca located in Chelsea, Massachusetts.Roca is a nonprofit organization that works with young people from ages 14 to 24 to help them stay away from gang, teen pregnancy, being incarcerated and graduate high schools. Roca work very closely with young people who are involved in gangs. Staffs from Roca have a program that they call outreach that consist of them walking the streets and trying to build relationships with the gang members. most of the staffs have gone through incarceration or is an ex-gang member that has glum their lives around and using their experience to influence youths in a positive way. The program helped more than 15,000 young people make positive, profound changes in their lives (rocain.org)Gang violence in American schools is not going to go away overnight but if efforts are put in like establishing school uniforms, peer mediation programs and providing more free after school programs, it soon will not be an issue facing the school systems. Having positive young people trying to influence their peers will help tremendously.Works CitedCapozzoli, Thomas, and R. Steve. McVey. Gangs and Schools. Kids Killing Kids Managing Violence and Gangs in Schools. Boca Raton, FL St. Lucie, 2000. 81-82. Print. Council For Unity. Riverhead.net. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. . Crawford, Donna, and Richard Bodine. Conflict closing Education. Rep. Champaign,IL Research, 1996. Print. Gaustad, Joan. Gangs.ERIC Digest. Ericdigests.org. 2005. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. . Lopez, Rebecca A. The Long Beach Unified School District homogeneous Initiative A Prevention-Strategy for Urban School s. The Journal of Negro Education 72.4 (2003). The Long Beach Unified School District Uniform Initiative A Prevention-Strategy for Urban Schools. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. . Project, Key. Roca Who We Are. Welcome to Roca. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. . Skiba, Russel J. Zero Tolerance, Zero Evidence. Rep. 2000. Print. Weber, Gretchen. quietude among Peers. The Lynn Educator 2008. Print.