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Shortcomings and suggested changes.
Students had many criticisms of their
schools and recommendations for change. These criticisms focused on school
rules, safety, activities, classes and teachers, and the effects of tracking. These con-
cerns appeared with consistency across the cities and schools.
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School rules
. An issue for some U.S. high school students is whether their cam-
pus is open or closed (i.e., whether students have the freedom during the day
to leave the school and return, either during lunch or free periods). Asked what
she would change if she could change one thing about her school, a 17-year-
old female said ‘‘I would make it an open campus so that students could have
more freedom.’’ Similarly, at a large high school in a neighboring suburb, a fe-
male in the ninth grade who was asked the same question, responded:
The campus rules. They are so stupid. Like for the last 2 years all sophomores
have to stay on campus for lunch . . . . During your free periods you used
to be able to leave campus, now you have to go to the library or
something . . . . I would change stupid stuff like that.
These rules have an effect on students’ perceptions of their schools. The stu-
dent activities director of one of the large high schools in the study expounded
on students who feel less positive about the school:
This is an institution. Those kids that are most creative and are most likely
to thrive in a situation that does not have as many rules, regulations, policies,
and provisions as this one does, they are the ones that look forward to get-
ting out of here with the most passion. (To them), it is like a prison.
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Safety issues
. At some of the schools we visited, students (and staff and visitors)
must enter through metal detectors under the scrutiny of hired security forces.
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In these schools in particular, one of the central concerns students share is per-
sonal safety. They expressed both anxiety and anger over the impact of gangs
in their schools and a sense that the situation is continuing to deteriorate. A
student at Uptown said:
(The worst thing about the school) is the gangs. It’s so many different gangs
and they don’t get along. It causes a lot of student conflict. I haven’t had
any trouble, because I don’t say anything to them and they don’t say anything
to me. I would like to see more security guards here though, ‘cause there
are hallways where there are not security guards and in those hallways, they
have fights. (Eleventh-grade male)
Few schools in Metro City, where we spent the most time observing, seem im-
mune to the problem. Even in a suburban high school, a white female ninth-
grader said that the one thing she would change about her school would be:
The whole gang thing. It seems to be getting bigger. One kid recently got
shot, and even though the shooting wasn’t gang related, the reason that the
gun was brought to school was gang related. I think that it’s really sad and
stupid.
Students at this school worried over the potential intrusion of metal detectors
and what that would represent for their school and for them as individuals.
They expressed concern that a sense of trust and civility would be lost in the
process of attempting to make the school safer and were angry that this might
become a necessity in a school that had previously appeared remote from such
problems.
Students in West City were equally concerned about gangs and the potential
of violence, with even middle school students expressing concern about the
safety of their schools, because of the presence of gangs. High school students
reported the recent curtailing of school events and changes in-school policies:
At my school there were good bathrooms but they are all messed up now
because of the gangs. And now they only have them open during lunch and
break. They do not have them open at other times, because they are afraid
they are going to mess them up, and they do—it is the truth. (Eleventh-grade
male, West High School)
There were few schools we visited where students seemed to feel that personal
safety was not a concern. Because the issues of safety, violence, and gangs are
broader concerns that extend beyond the schools, these will be discussed in
more detail in a later section.
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