Lessons From the Gang

What Gang Members Think About Their Schools Suggests New Direction for Classroom Reform

Traditionally, researchers have studied youth gangs in an effort to control them. School leaders want to know how to protect their campuses from gangs. Communities want to eliminate them from their streets and neighborhoods. For the most part, we view the gang as a negative organization.

While gang-related drug trafficking and drive-by shootings have earned gangs a deserved evil reputation, we rarely acknowledge the cohesiveness of the gang or the characteristics that rank them as a powerful entity within our culture.

You may have concluded that metal detectors, suspensions, and juvenile justice centers are the most effective anti-gang measures. Yet these tactics only treat the epidemic of childhood violence after the fact. We must listen to what gang members have to say if we are to provide real intervention and hope.

Gang Perspective

Over four years, I interviewed gang members extensively from across the eastern United States to determine their views on their educational experiences and to find out what characteristics from their gang culture might contribute to their success in our schools.

Gang members interviewed for this study were between the ages of 13 and 18. Eighty-six percent were in school at the time, though their academic and attendance records were poor. Three-fourths were in trouble with law enforcement agencies. All described their family life as fragmented, and all earned money to survive.

These gang members described themselves as confrontational and defiant and they shared a nonchalance toward risks. (I never experienced any rude or threatening behaviors.) While their performance in school was lacking, they had a lot to say about their educational experiences.

Chief Complaints

This is what emerged as the gang members' 10 leading issues with their schools:

* school administrators do not listen, are uncaring, and lack understanding of gang culture;

* teachers are too rigid and make no attempt to personalize the learning experience;

* schools prefer to avoid me and ignore my presence;

* schools focus on the most unimportant details for discipline;

* schools lack choices;

* classes need more discussion and hands-on projects;

* schools lack minority teachers;

* school activities in and out of the classroom fail to relate to my life;

* gang members enjoy reading when they can choose the material; and

* tattered textbooks meant gang members were not expected to use them.

The criticism of teachers and administrators was not surprising, yet the message was powerful. The majority of gang members characterized school management as not listening, uncaring, and lacking an understanding of gang members.

As a group, they did not look up to their teachers. In one scenario a Spanish teacher spoke to a young man in Spanish. When he asked what the teacher meant, she replied, "That means you're not welcome here."

Some gang members indicated their principals and some teachers were people they could go to for help. Others accused their teachers of being rigid and of making no effort to humanize the learning experience.

On issues of discipline and control, most gang members spoke disparagingly of their schools' policies. They also pointed out weaknesses.

The fact that schools would exercise their disciplinary power to act against these small offenses was alien to gang members involved regularly in drug dealing and car thefts. One gang member, noting that his parents died in a house fire when he was 3, said the stuff he passed on the street would make his teachers' eyes pop out. He was astounded that a teacher would try to tell him when he could go to the bathroom. Many felt their minor offenses earned them permanent labels, so they gave up any effort to be respectable at school.

Reading Interests

Another control issue was the lack of choices at school. Even gang members in high school indicated they were not able to make choices about routine decisions such as when they could go to the bathroom or what courses to take.

Classroom evaluations fared a little better with these gang members, though the reviews were not stellar. Several shared their interest in class projects, especially in science. They liked classes with a lot of student discussion. These members also credited what they knew about their own history, particularly African-American, to school exposure and not to instruction from home or gang.

Many gang members shared an interest in reading and said they read when bored. A variety of materials were named as regular literature. These included sports and rap music magazines, black pride and culture magazines, newspapers, and science fiction books. Despite their ability to name reading preferences, a gang task force coordinator in Akron, Ohio, identified the greatest academic challenge of many gang members as their deficient reading skills.

An interesting and unexpected finding was the condition or lack of textbooks for gang members. They described the ragged state of their books, which often had missing pages. They inferred that "bad" kids don't need "good" books. One gang member who noted this said he was determined not to try at school because of the low expectations he felt were conveyed through the sorry materials.

Unbounded Loyalties

Gang members have strong views about their gang culture too. What schools lack can be found in the gang: loyalty, respect, power, identity, status, and affiliation. Unfortunately one has only to visit the nearest urban high school or certain neighborhoods to understand the how for the youngster in the gang. When I asked them why they were willing to risk everything, especially their future, for the gang culture, their words were frightening.

In the gang, they said:

* loyalty has no boundaries;

* members have little reason to believe they can obtain a legitimate lifestyle;

* gang members have no respect for authorities;

* criminal activity is expected and commonplace;

* gangsters who have little value for life have little fear of the consequences of their actions;

* members have a strong desire to belong and need a shared value system that makes sense;

* members command respect and they will die for it;

* power and authority come with respect and members are willing to earn both;

* long-term goals are not needed; and

* symbols are used to solidify the culture.

Possible Strategies

As educational leaders, we might initially react to such findings by suggesting we have no ability to influence the outcome of the gang members' educational experiences. Yet in spite of all the external variables, schools and school districts are making progress with these at-risk students both academically and socially. The key is to listen. The concerns that gang members relate about their schooling can be transferred into effective practices.

* Intervention begins early.

Opportunities for third and fourth graders to belong to groups and organizations with positive influence are critical. We must recruit these youngsters into afterschool clubs and activities. We must work with community groups to ensure that Scouting programs and Little League opportunities are available through school settings. These youngsters are trying to belong. If schools don't fill the void, something else will.

One such program, Partners Assuring Student Success or PASS, at North Hartsville Elementary School in Hartsville, S.C., offers positive options at a young age.

One way to address this issue immediately is to be sure that your district spends as much money on elementary counseling as it does on high school counseling. If we are truly committed to prevention, we must engage our students at a younger age.

* Everyone needs to feel they belong in school.

Perhaps the toughest strategy of all is changing attitudes. Every student deserves to feel accepted and respected at school, even those who initially want to be cool and give you a little lip. Choose your battles carefully. Four years of interviews convinced me that even our toughest customers can be respectful when they believe we really care about who they are and what they can achieve.

* Gang members' leadership shills can be channeled into positive school experiences.

While this concept is discomforting to some administrators, it holds merit. Develop relationships with gang members in order to understand who they are and what makes them tick. Offer them alternatives they can lead. For example, gang members rarely want their siblings or younger students whom they care about to follow in their footsteps. Older gang members can speak to younger students in your school system about why they should not get involved in gangs. Their words are far more powerful than ours.

Many high schools are effectively adding gang leaders to their leadership councils and peer mediation boards. Authentic involvement in school problem-solving gives the gang leader positive engagement at school, an approach taken at Cleveland High School in Reseda, Calif.

* Students need to make choices to feel empowered.

Empowerment for students is not just a gang intervention strategy. It is an imperative to active learning for all students. Gang members repeatedly indicated their need for choices. In many schools, students can choose literature within each thematic unit.

Students also can select projects that benefit their school or community. From the simplest ideas about student recycling to the complexities of changing a school schedule, student empowerment pays. As one gang member articulated: "When I chose to read [Stephen King's] The Stand, I read the whole book and enjoyed it." The book was not required reading.

* Students' personal experiences need to be integrated into the school curriculum.

How do we personalize the themes and concepts of our curriculum? Schools having the most success with personalization have achieved it through problem-solving. Students can apply their learning to real problems. Through personal applications, youngsters are able to bring their world into the classroom.

In a previous district where I was an elementary principal, students pointed out that the homework hotline did not work because many students did not have a telephone at home--a simple thought generated by fifth graders. They took it on themselves to devise a poster system to share the information with students without telephones.

Gang forums have used problem-solving techniques in the same manner to declare truces in neighborhoods. Sharing these experiences in essays or oral communication projects allows the gang member to earn credit at the same time he earns legitimate respect.

* Individual student expression must be valued, recognized, and celebrated at school.

Gang members would like to be able to rap, draw, sing, and sculpt at school. Using expressive approaches through drama, dance, and technology engages learners quickly and intensely. Many urban high schools have found success with expressive approaches to learning among at-risk youngsters. Writing and producing screenplays about important youth issues, sharing interpretive dance to communicate about a piece of literature, creating a video re-enactment of an historical battle, and lobbying city government to provide more city parks are all ways that students can use expressive approaches to learning.

Gang members reported that assignments that included discussion and projects were their most enjoyable interactions at school. I believe most students would concur.

Refocused Energy

I am the first to acknowledge there is no magical recipe for eliminating the violence confronting young people. But evidence exists to support our efforts to influence the lives of our most at-risk students in a meaningful way.

Schools that make a difference will create a welcoming environment for every student whether the quiet student who sits relatively unnoticed in class or the outrageous gang member commanding front and center. These schools will exert a positive influence by empowering learners to make choices about their learning. As individuals, students will be validated by the integration of their personal experiences into the learning process.

Homeboys in Los Angeles coach Little League baseball. They provide love, discipline, and family spirit to kids on the streets. While we may view gangs as deadly, their members have the ability to make meaningful contributions to society, particularly in education. Their insights, coupled with the talents of dedicated educators, can yield interventions and strategies that will allow us to succeed in this arena.

The gang member personifies a tremendous energy that affects all of our schools. We must work together to channel that energy into a force of hope for our young people.

COPYRIGHT 1996 American Association of School Administrators
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group