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In the Classroom
Key in on early signs of gang involvement
Educators can show students alternatives to gang life
by kris childers, professional development coordinator
The Justice Department, responding to an uptick in gang activity related to the ongoing Mexican drug war, announced plans in mid-July to consolidate its units that fight organized crime and violent street gangs. The department states in its National Drug Threat Assessment for 2010 that “Mexican [drug-trafficking organizations] have reportedly increased their efforts to recruit gang members along the Southwest Border” and that “gang members who are U.S. citizens are a particularly valuable asset” for such organizations because “they can normally cross the U.S.-Mexico border with less law enforcement scrutiny.”
This situation places at-risk Texas youth in a dangerous position. But with knowledge of early signs of gang involvement, educators can identify students who are drawn to the gang scene before they are in too deep.
Defining gang
Section 71.01 of the Texas Penal Code defines gang as a group of three or more people engaged in criminal activity. The Texas attorney general’s website lists the four most common types of gangs in the state: delinquent youth gangs, traditional turf-based gangs, gain-oriented gangs (such as gangs that traffic drugs) and violent/hate gangs. Gang members are typically between the ages of 10 and 21. According to the San Antonio Police Department’s website, gangs usually recruit middle schoolers, but they have been known to target elementary school students as potential members.
Educators are in the position to notice signs of gang involvement such as sudden poor academic performance and a lack of involvement in school activities. Students experimenting with gang affiliation may cover their notebooks or book covers with gang symbols.
General signs of gang involvement include a sudden interest in purchasing clothes of one color (e.g., a gang member affiliated with the Bloods might want to wear red clothing); possession of large, unexplained sums of money; a desire for too much privacy; and a change in friends as well as in attitude.
The attorney general’s website lists three steps for addressing gang issues: acknowledging the problem, assessing the problem and acting on the problem. The site notes that graffiti is “the newsletter of the gangs,” so before school officials clean up graffiti, they should photograph the markings to share with authorities.
Why do kids join gangs?
Former ATPE State President Jerry Bonham works with at-risk middle school students in Mesquite ISD’s alternative education program. Students are typically placed on her campus for 45 to 60 days because of a variety of behavior challenges and criminal issues. Bonham says that students who are involved in gangs feel a “need to belong” and often have family members with ties to gangs. The San Antonio Police Department website lists six reasons that kids join gangs: acceptance, excitement, money-earning potential, peer pressure, protection from gang members and social opportunities.
Reaching out to students
Students often turn to gangs because they see no alternative. If students are experimenting with the gang lifestyle, Bonham suggests encouraging them to participate in extracurricular activities. Such activities help students discover their own value separate from gang membership and give them a safe place to spend their time after school.
“Getting kids involved and interested in some kind of positive extracurricular activity during middle and high school gives these students hope for a different life,” Bonham says. “Kids who want to separate themselves from the gangs they are in have a very difficult time doing it. Sometimes the only hope for them is to help them find ways to go off to college or to move to a new place with better opportunities.”
It’s key to provide students with alternatives for their free time as well as positive role models. The national organization Big Brothers Big Sisters, which pairs children with mentors, conducted a study on mentoring’s impact on an at-risk child’s life. The organization found that after 18 months in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, participants—when compared with peers not in the program—were 46 percent less likely to begin using illegal drugs, 27 percent less likely to begin using alcohol, 52 percent less likely to skip school and 33 percent less likely to hit someone.
Bonham recommends working closely with parents or guardians of at-risk students. She also notes that respect is especially important to gang members.
“If you can’t gain the respect of a student who is affiliated with a gang, there is nothing you can do that will have a positive effect on their schooling,” she says. “At my school, we let kids know that we don’t see them as bad kids, just kids who made bad choices.”
Learn more about gangs
Visit the following websites to educate yourself on gang practices:
BOOK REVIEW: Understanding poverty’s impact on the classroom
The ATPE Book Circle recently completed a study of A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne. In the book, Payne shares insights gleaned from her research and her more than 20 years of educating poverty-stricken youth. The insights include information about the social norms of the American class system and ways that educators can help students understand and apply them. Payne has created a model in which the “focus is on solutions, shared responsibilities, new insights and interdependence.”
Payne writes: “Poverty is more about other resources than it is about money. The other resources are those that educators can influence greatly.” Such resources include financial, emotional, mental, spiritual and physical resources, as well as support systems, role models and knowledge of what Payne calls the “hidden rules” of the middle class.
As one Book Circle participant shared: “Reading Ruby Payne’s book puts a face on the ever-present struggle to learn in the midst of horrendous obstacles. Providing resources to lessen [students’] burdens and building a relationship with the students are key. Being a role model for students is key. These are resources that I can provide on a daily basis.”
Visit the ATPE Idea Exchange (http://atpe.websitetoolbox.com) to read other participants’ thoughts on A Framework for Understanding Poverty and to learn about earning continuing professional education (CPE) credit through future ATPE Book Circle studies.
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