Male Youth Resistance in Schools

1
Male Youth Resistance in Schools

• Pedro A. Noguera, Ph.D.

2
Safe Schools Our 1 Priority

• Rising concern due to high profile incidents
• Rates of violent incidents in schools are down
• Juvenile violence is also down
• Juvenile incarceration rates are up
• Schools are safer than most places where children
  spend time

3
Re-thinking Zero Tolerance

• Current approaches to safety emphasize security
• Metal detectors
• guards
• Surveillance cameras
• Locate discipline problems in students not in the
  environment

4
Zero Tolerance Contd

• Discipline policies emphasize exclusion and
  humiliation
• Tend to target students who are behind
  academically and who are at-risk
• We respond to student needs with punishment
• Suspension and expulsion rates have increased,
  perceptions of safety have not
• Increased reliance on law enforcement
• Teachers role in relation to student discipline
  has been reduced

5
What We Know About School Violence

• Lack of strong relationships between adults and
  students is a contributing factor
• School shootings - No one knew there was a
  problem
• Anonymity and alienation is pervasive
• Perpetrators of rampage shootings - quiet, middle
  class, white, male, harassed by peers, easy
  access to weapons
• Inner-city incidents are often an extension of
  conflicts outside of school
• Related to threats in status and respect

6
What We Know About Safe Schools

• Safety is a by-product of social relationships,
  not advanced security
• Cannot separate safety from academic mission
• Schools tend to have a shortage of adults with
  moral authority
• Design of school facilities contributes to sense
  of security and social responsibility

7
Use Data to Monitor Effectiveness of Discipline
Strategies

• Examine patterns
• Who is being disciplined? (race, gender, academic
  profile, year in school)
• Do disciplinary practices serve as an effective
  deterrent?
• Which teachers/administrators give most
  referrals? For what reasons?

8
Alternative Strategies

• Affirm community values
• what is your schools mission and how is it
  conveyed to students and adults
• Respond early and often to minor infractions
• What are the values behind school rules
• Create school environments where all students are
  known (size matters)
• Decrease alienation, increase personalization
• Engage students more actively in school
• Utilize extra curricular activities

9
Alternative Discipline Strategies

• Effective deterrence
• Extra work - in-school suspension
• Community service
• Counseling
• Parental involvement
• Interaction with community agencies

10
Understanding Gangs

• Not all gangs are the same
• Entrepreneurial
• Territorial
• Age, race, gender specific
• Inter-generational
• Links to organized crime
• Manifest and latent functions
• Manifest - security, money, territorial
• Latent - social support, rites of passage

11
Responding to Gangs

• Learn about how they are organized, what they do
• Engage members in school related activities
• Teach them about their history and culture
• Work with gang members to have schools designated
  neutral territory
• Work closely with community agencies and law
  enforcement

12
Safe Schools are Nurturing Communities

• Parents work as partners with school personnel
• Students have a clear sense of their future
• Teachers have moral authority and close
  connection to kids
• Kids feel accountable for their behavior