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Dr. Pedro Noguera is a professor of education at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also past president of the Berkeley School Board. His in depth analysis of the causes of and assessment of succesful programs for reducing and preventing youth violence is published here by In Motion Magazine as a series of hyper-linked articles which can be downloaded in segments. All sections can be reached from the intro page, or readers can follow from one section to another.
In the final pages, I will present an analysis of three case studies that demonstrate how strategies, that take culture into account have been successfully applied. Each case presents a concrete example of how a normative frame of reference that supported violent behavior was challenged. The strategies described grew out of trial and error and emerged in response to particular problems and conditions.
Case Study I:
During the 1992-93 academic year, Lowell Middle School was distinguished from other middle schools in Oakland because it was the only school at which no weapons had been confiscated from students. *38 Particularly noteworthy was the fact that Lowell is located in West Oakland, an economically blighted community with a reputation for drug dealing, poverty, and high rates of crime and violence.
This reputation requires even further clarification in order to truly understand what has been accomplished at Lowell. There is no viable local economy for the residents of West Oakland as there are no banks, hardware stores or pharmacies. There is one relatively large grocery store, but according to published reports, it charges 22% more on average for common household goods than other supermarkets in Oakland.*39 Liquor stores, in contrast, are plentiful, and the landscape is filled with culturally oriented billboards, most of which advertise liquor and cigarettes. This community has been a magnet for TOADS (Temporarily Obsolete or Abandoned Derelict Sites) and LULUs (Locally Unwanted Land Uses). According to recent environmental impact reports, there are 630 sites of potential soil contamination due to leaking tanks or mismanaged toxic materials. The area is also characterized by illegal dumping, which occurs not only on vacant lots but on street corners and school grounds as well. *40 The combination of traffic emissions from the surrounding freeways and air pollution from local industry -- such as the sewage treatment plant managed by the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD)-- has created poor air quality which many residents believe to be responsible for the higher-than-average asthma rates and respiratory problems among children.*41 In between residential areas, and on some streets right next door to family homes, there is a smattering of heavy industry and warehouses (the kinds of businesses that once provided union jobs at decent wages), but for the most part, West Oakland residents are not employed at these companies. *42
As might be expected, this is a community in which the rate of youth violence is very high. West Oakland youth account for a disproportionate share of the homicides, rapes, and aggravated assaults committed by youth in Oakland each year. *43 At Lowell, 69% of the students are from families whose income makes them eligible for federally subsidized free breakfast and lunch programs: school district records indicate that 64% of the children are from families that receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).*44 In the 1992 academic year, approximately two-thirds of all Lowell students lived with someone other than their biological parents,*45 which for most students meant living with another family member-- usually a grandmother-- or in a foster home.
As is true in many urban schools, most Lowell teachers commute to work and are not familiar with West Oakland. In fact, for many, the surrounding neighborhood embodies all of the negative images associated with inner-city life. The perceived threat of crime and violence emanating from the community invariably influences the way that many teachers see the children. Fear and suspicion have thus added to the difficulties created by differences in race, class, and age to reinforce profound psychological barriers to cooperation and constructive communication between teachers and parents, school and community.
Not surprisingly, past efforts to promote safety at Lowell relied on the traditional kinds of responses to discipline problems and the threat of violence in the schools that have been popular elsewhere.*46 For example, in response to complaints over the lack of safety at the school filed by four teachers in 1992, the school adopted an experimental approach to the problem of disruptive students, which in the eyes of many teachers was intimately related to the problem of school violence. Teachers compiled a list of the most difficult students at the school and with district funds, assigned a new teacher the task of working with 18 of the most incorrigible of them in an isolated classroom. The plan was characterized as being in the best interests of the targeted students, in that it was intended to "provide a culturally relevant curriculum and enhanced academic and social support to at-risk students." *47
Before long it became clear that for the teacher and the 18 students, the class was not working. Students complained bitterly about being isolated and deprived of participating in school activities. Even the young teacher, who had previously seemed optimistic, threatened to quit because the class proved impossible to manage. Interestingly, when other teachers were interviewed about how their classes were going without the more troublesome students, several told me that students, who had previously not been regarded as problems, had emerged to fill the role of class troublemaker. One teacher even suggested that another classroom for disruptive students should be created.
Eventually, this experiment was abandoned and in its place concrete steps were taken by the staff to create a school environment that provides students with a sense of security and stability. Recognizing that many students come to school hungry, the school offered children in need three free meals a day. Coats and shoes were also made available to children through donations collected by the school staff. For the past two years school hours have been extended for tutoring, photography, and recreational activities. In the evenings and on weekends, the site is used by community organizations that provide services to children and the community, such as the Omega Boys Club, West Oakland Mental Health, and the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of Oakland.
The gap between the school and community has also been bridged by Betty Maze, the school's campus monitor, who is a grandmother living in the community. Unlike the physically intimidating men who are hired to patrol most urban school grounds, Ms. Maze provides discipline through compassion rather than coercion and is able to promote school safety because she is familiar with the life experience of the students. Without using force, Ms. Maze is able to break up fights, handle students who are too difficult and disruptive for most teachers, and keep strangers off the campus. Because the students respect her-- and not because they are physically intimidated by her-- they listen to and comply with her instructions.
Frustrated by the failure of traditional methods, Lowell teachers began thinking more creatively about ways to respond to discipline problems. They recognized the futility of relying on suspension from school to punish students who don't attend school regularly anyway, and devised alternative forms of discipline which occur at the school. Through group discussion teachers have challenged practices such as the use of public humiliation as a form of discipline. To encourage students to reflect upon their actions and take responsibility for their behavior, they have explored ways of teaching ethical and moral issues within their classroom. And as individuals, the teachers have been critically examining their own behavior in an effort to become more aware of the ways in which their style of teaching and disciplining students might be changed to enable them to better meet students' needs.
Gradually, these initiatives have helped to transform the school culture at Lowell and have helped to make the school a source of stability and security for the children. Although it is difficult to quantify the effects these changes have had on the school site, for students and teachers, the difference is real and appreciable. For the students in particular, even those who behave differently on the streets, Lowell has become a place that is no longer seen as appropriate for or conducive to violent behavior.
