This school year, 20 Chicago Public School students have been killed -- 18 by guns. Last year, more than 30 CPS students were killed, 24 by guns. This story from msnbc provides some of the details but not a lot of additional context. One important point that it does note, however, is that none of the students have been killed at school. Indeed, schools are still seen by many students as a safe space.Still, the number of school-aged children being killed is alarming. As much as I want us to see beyond the stereotypes of urban schools and neighborhoods (and I hope you feel we've tried to do that), I think it's important not to ignore realities like this one. But I wonder what "outsiders" will think when they read this msnbc story. Will they be saddened? Angered? Or will they simply shake their heads and think, "Yeah, that's how those kids are?"
I think we need to move past our initial reactions to really think about what some of the root causes of youth violence might be. Why are so many kids in Chicago being killed? Where is the violence concentrated, and what does that say about other social conditions that may give rise to it? Can anything at all be done about it? Can schools and teacher play a role? If you were a teacher in Chicago, would you try to address this issue with your students, or is it too risky?
2 comments:
I never knew the true statistics of the number of deaths of CPS students. It does sadden me when I hear these types of events happening. I feel that many people are just used to hearing this kind of thing on the news. Many people just assume that is their life, and just go about their day. This is a horrible thing going on. I feel that not enough is being done to help these students. School should be a safe place. I remember after the NIU shooting, we had are class. All I could think about was how I didn't feel safe in that classroom. Schools should be a safe haven for students. After Greg posted the questions, I thought of what we could do to prevent these horrible act from being committed. I feel that there are many things students, teachers, and the community can do to prevent these shootings. For one, more after school programs need to be opened up for students to attend. Teachers need to work hard to stress the importance of these clubs. This will allow these students to get off the streets.
Also, teachers should be talking about these shootings. I know this sounds like Freedom Writers, but students should talk about these issues and how it makes them feel. English teachers should create projects of poems and writings and group discussions over the matter. Students write from the heart when the material pertains to them.
As a math teacher, I feel that I cannot do much with my content. However, when any major event ever happens, the students want to address it. I remember after September 11 happened, teachers went on with their lesson plans without addressing what just happened. It is all I could think about. As a teacher, I plan to address subjects of this magnitude, and get a good group discussion over it. I want to see what these students feel we can do as a community to change these acts of violence. I wish more people would act then just hang their heads in shame. We, as a people, have an obligation to do whatever is best in the interest of our students. Isn't keeping them alive apart of the equation?
I am sadden by the statistics of the effects of the violence in CPS but unfortunately this is happening everywhere! Like Mike had mentioned, its scary to even think that colleges are now not so safe anymore. When the news of the events of NIU reached my grandparents out in rural (and I mean rural) Ohio my grandmother's first question to me was, "Now how did he get a gun in ther' if he had to walk around campus? Don't you guys have cops and such to keep y'all safe? I'd never heard of such a thing about shootin' in a college. It's just crazy, good night nurse!" (say it a southern drawl and its even funnier, lol) But the point is, is that violence is really becoming a problem for any kind of school in any kind of area.
The question is why? Why are these students so upset that they result to such measures? In response to what can teachers do, I just think that we just need to always give attention to all of our students. And take into consideration of what and how they are expressing themselves. That is the what they say is the reason for the violence, its a cry for attention. We shouldn't push kids aside that we don't understand or don't want to deal with. I think that, that could be some reason that violence has become such an issue. Though I'm not saying that teachers are ignoring students, I'm saying that parents, peers, other people are ignoring these students.
Overall, I don't think that there is truly an answer to stop violence. It happens everywhere and anywhere (its not just our country either), and it doesn't help to say "STOP THE VIOLENCE" while we are currently at war. That's just hypocritical. I'm not saying that because we are at war that it is ok for a student to come to school with a shot gun and kill anyone in his way, but its hard to say violence is wrong during a time such as war. Unfortunately its human nature.
I just hope that there are still some teachers and classrooms that students feel safe in. I know that I plan to make that a point to my future students that they are safe in my classroom and I hope that they can feel safe in their school. Because, in a perfect world, it should be.
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