Fear of gangs in highschool

[Cainkane1]

My highschool had about 2000 pupils going into a poorly heated and unairconditions overcrowded building. There were a number of toughs attending this school and fear was rampant. The teachers and staff were either oblivious or possibly frightened themselves.

One day three gang leaders decided it would be fun to vandalize the school. They painted obscenities on the sidewalks and the asphalt and broke into the building and threw paint all over the floor and on the glass door separating the principals area from the rest of the school. The paint was of course indelible and could not be cleaned up without taking up the floor and repainting the walls and replacing the glass.

Of the 2000 students enrolled in this dump I doubt if a single person was unaware of who had done this. No one came forward.

The school posted a $200.00 reward for information as to who had done this but none of the kids came forward. In the middle 60's this translated into at least $500.00 in todays money. Most of the staff is dead now and I'm sure they never found out who it was.

 

[Vortigern99]

That sucks.

What's your point?

 

[dirtywick]

Most of the staff is dead now and I'm sure they never found out who it was.

Gangs must have got them.

 

[iknownothing]

I wonder how much of the drop out rate in some areas is due to fear of this sort of problem. If the school is poorly controlled and unsafe, and you still have a couple years until graduation, it's understandable to want out of it.

 

[Cainkane1]

I wonder how much of the drop out rate in some areas is due to fear of this sort of problem. If the school is poorly controlled and unsafe, and you still have a couple years until graduation, it's understandable to want out of it.

Basically this is my point. An out of control dump of a school when everyday is a question of survival. Will I get robbed today? Will I get assaulted today? I can sure understand why kids wanted out of school and in fact if I had it to do over again I'd have transferred my records to adult school and escaped this anarchy.

It also clear to me that as bad as it was in my day its obviously worse now than it ever was for some kids in school.

 

[Aepervius]

The school posted a $200.00 reward for information as to who had done this but none of the kids came forward. In the middle 60's this translated into at least $500.00 in todays money. Most of the staff is dead now and I'm sure they never found out who it was.

That's because nobody is THAT dumb. 500$ , 200$ or 5000$ don't get you much once you are beaten to a bloody pulp on the floor(*).

And before you start on telling me "the denonciator would have stayed anonymous" , HA ! Such things never stay hidden very long. Especially if member of the gng are watching over to take note on who is entering the pricnipal room and who isn't.

(*) happened to a kid who thought to dnounce anotehr kid at my middle school. Did not happen twice.

 

[The Fallen Serpent]

From what I understand school violence has been trending downwards.

http://www.indiana.edu/~safeschl/facts.html

http://youthviolence.edschool.virginia.edu/violence-in-schools/national-statistics.html

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/archives/pressreleases/2005/BJS06001.htm

Now of course I am only seeing statistics going back to the early 90s. It is difficult to tell if this trend continues on back into the 60s. Or if the spike of violence in the 90s fully translated to school violence and the downward trend we have seen since has yet to recover to 60s levels.

Which is not to argue that school violence is far from being an issue. It most certainly is and one which we need more efforts to combat. There also seems to be a trend of problem schools attracting problem students and compounding the problems. Some of the links above mention an increase in adolescent violence, but point out that it happening outside of school. I have heard the claim (I don't have a link off hand) that there is a correlation between the dismantling of after-school activity funding and increased out of school violence.

 

[Cainkane1]

That's because nobody is THAT dumb. 500$ , 200$ or 5000$ don't get you much once you are beaten to a bloody pulp on the floor(*).

And before you start on telling me "the denonciator would have stayed anonymous" , HA ! Such things never stay hidden very long. Especially if member of the gng are watching over to take note on who is entering the pricnipal room and who isn't.

(*) happened to a kid who thought to dnounce anotehr kid at my middle school. Did not happen twice.

Truer words were never spoken.

 

[GreyArea]

The school posted a $200.00 reward for information as to who had done this but none of the kids came forward. In the middle 60's this translated into at least $500.00 in todays money.

$1,386.11 according to the CPI Inflation Calculator.

 

[Cainkane1]

$1,386.11 according to the CPI Inflation Calculator.

Still not enough. If a person had squealed on them there would be no way you could stay in that school and if you went out on weekends it would be even worse. There was an unfortunant kid in another school not far from this one and two punks had beat and stomped him to death for squealing as they called it in those days. The punks got arrested but what happened after that I do not know; hopefully they both served long prison sentences.

The three goons who did vandalised the school were way above six feet tall, over 200 lbs and very athletic not to mention sadistic and violent.

 

[Uncayimmy]

Have you considered that possibility very few people actually "knew" who had done it whereas most of the school had "heard" who had done it? Those who "knew" were probably tight with the gang and not likely to say anything. Those who "heard" may have actually said something, but what good is hearsay? It's not like the administration could act on it? And since "everybody" knew, how could the gang have figured out who squealed?

I have little doubt that people fear gangs. I mean, that's the point of forming a gang: power. But this story is, well, meh.

 

[Molinaro]

I saw nothing like this at school. Mine was an all guys school. There was no violence, no gangs, nobody to impress with acting like a tough guy. Everyone just focused on school work and getting good grades.

 

[Halfcentaur]

My personal school did not really have an issue with this. There was a group of suburban middle class kids who liked gangster rap and would beat you down if you messed with them, as well as a group of Hispanic kids who all wore brown jackets and would also attack you if you gave them a reason, but it was never really an issue at school. Especially after I was a part of the weirdo/stoner crew. I lived one summer outside the school district in an apartment complex however where I was jumped and beaten by eight to ten 15-18 year old boys, when I was 15. A friend and I were crossing a busy street on our way to Barnes and Noble when they came running from behind us, yelling for us to "Get off of our turf!". It did not help that my friend yelled out the "n" word as he ran away, as they were all African Americans, and we were two little white kids.

My friend fled and watched from a distance as they focused their aggression on me. It was absolutely terrifying, but my adrenaline kicked in, and my mind literally went into a primal blank mode, devoid of thought. After being repeatedly hit and kicked as they crowded around me, I decided to surrender and take the beating by collapsing to the ground.

As they continued to pummel me for probably another 30 seconds it seemed, I suddenly became aware of the fact that I felt nothing at all, there was no pain. I rose up like a bear amongst a pack of hunting dogs and began to grab the closest ankle or wrist that I could, and I spun them around me to keep the others at bay, loosing one and hurling them through the air and immediately grabbing whomever then tried striking or kicking me. My movements and thinking was absolutely mechanical and I seemed to be operating on instinct. This spinning seemed to work rather well, but I seemed trapped in a situation that wasn't going to end. So I decided to throw one of them into the busy road they had decided to jump me by. It was the 4th of July, and there was quite a bit of traffic. Thankfully, the car braked and swerved and began to honk their horn at us.

To my amazement, the gang fled the scene, leaving me there, dazed. I felt like a giant

I've had a phobia of gangs ever since, but I try not to ever act on it. I had summer school the next day, and the school district I was jumped in had students attending. It was dark when I was attacked, so I had no idea what they looked like really. It was an uncomfortable month.

 

[Cainkane1]

Have you considered that possibility very few people actually "knew" who had done it whereas most of the school had "heard" who had done it? Those who "knew" were probably tight with the gang and not likely to say anything. Those who "heard" may have actually said something, but what good is hearsay? It's not like the administration could act on it? And since "everybody" knew, how could the gang have figured out who squealed?

I have little doubt that people fear gangs. I mean, that's the point of forming a gang: power. But this story is, well, meh.

I was one of the ones who knew who it was and you can bet your sweet *** I never told.