Gangs in Class
Even before I arrived at the gilded gates of Dunn Middle School in South Trenton, I knew I would expect to encounter gang members, gang references and possibly even gang violence within the brick walls of this school for 6-8th graders. It is a scary thought that every prospective teacher has had cross her mind at least once in her teacher preparation program: “Will there be gang members in my school, in my classroom? What will I do? What can I do”. During my first day at my JPE site my suspicions were turned into a reality. Within my two classes I have two affirmed gang members and several students suspected of gang affiliation. Both of the affirmed members have since been removed from school due to their
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There are street gangs, copycat gangs, pretend gangs, cliques and delinquent groups to name a few. Luckily, most middle school aged students involved with gang behavior are involved with the less serious forms including delinquent groups and pretend gangs. Those students who are more susceptible to joining gangs are becoming harder and harder to identify. “Memberships tend to cross ethnic lines and have more female involvement than ever before” (National 5). Previously, gangs were thought to be limited to black or Hispanic male youths in low income communities but even the socioeconomic status of gangs has changed. “Youth gangs in the United States may form in any school district, regardless of the predominant social class, national origin, or ethnicity of its student body. Some districts are more at risk than others, but none can assume ‘it can’t happen here’” (Goldstein 20). Beside the socioeconomic and race factor changes, the view of the age for membership in a gang has changed as well. “In reality, modern members are usually 14 to 16 years of age, dress conservatively and display subtle gang identifiers” (National 5). Some gang identifiers include color of clothing, hand gestures, tattoos and other apparel. With this wide range of possibilities for who can be a gang member, we may ask ourselves: why then, are some teens more susceptible to gang membership than others? The answer to this question may be found in examining what gang membership has to offer the students, especially the
Shropshire, K. L., & Davis, T. (2008). The Business of Sports Agents (2nd Ed.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Ulinski, Michael. "AN ANALYSIS OF SMALL COMPANY FRAUDS AND." American Society of Behavioral Society. Dept of Business, Pace University. 05 Feb. 2008.
This paper will cover issues that young minorities encounter in the movies; Crips and Bloods: Made in America (2008), Gran Torino (2008), A Better Life (2011). Movies will be summarize, and compare and contrast youths experienced. Criminological theories shall be utilized to further elaborate issues. Finally steps and theories will be utilized towards solving issues, also possible methods to correct the issues will be addressed in the end.
There are few known active members of street gangs attending district schools. The gang activity that is seen is that of ‘want-to-be’ gang members who are influenced by family members who are involved in street gang activity. Other ‘want-to-be’ members are often swayed by popular culture. Primarily, school administrators and district officials encounter smaller groups of students, anywhere from 3 to 10 students,from elementary to senior high, who band together and give the group a name. The group serves as a support system for members. These groups tend to be fluid and can disband as quickly as they formed. Most of these groups are benign and caused few difficulties. On occasion there have been groups that have caused greater disruption including violence, intimidation, and drug use. This has led to suspension and student transfer. When a student is identified as a street gang member or has shown signs of street gang influence the first intervention the district takes is to inform the parents of the individual, awareness is
Gang involvement has been quite higher than past years. The 2008 National Youth Gang Survey estimates that about 32.4 percent of all cities, suburban areas, towns, and rural counties had a gang problem (Egley et al., 2010). This represented a 15 percent increase from the year 2002. The total number of gangs has also increased by 28 percent and total gang members have increased by 6 percent (Egley et al., 2010). This shows how relevant gang related activity is in today’s society. More locations are beginning to experience gang activity for the first time. Gang crime has also been on the rise in the past...
Zimbalist, Andrew S. Unpaid Professionals: Commercialism And Conflict In Big-Time College Sports. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Sports transformed into a business where profit was the main concern. “As the pecuniary returns of the game increased, the value of the individual player was enhanced: the strength or weakness of one position made a difference in thousands in receipts, and this set the astute managerial mind at work” (Ward 315). This pertains to baseball, football, basketball and any other sport today. The more money a person could make off the game, the more significant the players became. The players were the ones making the money for the owners or the gamblers, and so many of these people no longer saw the person in the player, only the prowess in the player. The players soon began to be thought of as property and were often coerced into giving their permission to be traded to another club. “[T]he buying club bought not only the player’s services for the unexpired term of the contract, but the right to reserve or sell him again” ( Ward 315). Clubs claimed that this right to the player’s prowess was necessary to conserve the game and so many clubs abused this idea and ignored getting the player’s
People believe that paying college athletes will ruin the tradition and innocence of the game. However, people forget that Olympians get paid, and most of them are amateur athletes. "Gold medallists from the United States receive a minimum of $15,000 for their success (from the U.S. Olympic Committee and the national governing body of the winner's sport), USA Today, Final Ed." These Olympians can also capitalize on endorsement deals and other additional bonuses, most of which are illegal in college athletics. The innocence of the game is already in jeopardy, in a June 24th, 1996 issue of The NCAA News, " Studies indicate that 75 percent of underclassmen have received cash or gifts from an agent." That’s a pretty high number, three out of every four are involved in illegal activities involving agents, and 90...
The $6 billion heist: Robbing college athletes under the guise of amateurism. (2013, March 20).
Additionally, what kinds of people are in gangs? Well first off, there are Latinos, which make up forty-nine percent of gang members'; African Americans, thirty-four percent; White, ten percent; Asian, six percent; and the other one percent is just the other category (“Facts About Gangs” 109). Also in 1996, according to the National Youth Gang Survey, the members of gangs were fifty percent under eighteen years old and fifty percent were eighteen or older. In that survey during 2006, the number of juveniles dropped to only being thirty-six and a half percent of member, on the other hand, the percentage of adult gang members consisted of sixty-three and a half percent of the gang population . Gang members wear simila...
The presence of gang violence has been a long lasting problem in Philadelphia. Since the American Revolution, gangs have been overpopulating the streets of Philadelphia (Johnson, Muhlhausen, 2005). Most gangs in history have been of lower class members of society, and they often are immigrants into the U.S (Teen Gangs, 1996). Gangs provided lower class teens to have an opportunity to bond with other lower class teens. However over time, the original motive of being in a gang has changed. In the past, gangs used to provide an escape for teens to express themselves, let out aggression, and to socialize with their peers. It was also an opportunity for teens to control their territory and fit in (Johnson, Muhlhausen, 2005). In the past, authorities would only focus on symptoms of gang violence and not the root. They would focus on arresting crime members instead of preventing gang violence. Gangs are beginning to expand from inner-city blo...
This research paper will examine professional athletes who participated in the major leagues and Olympic Games who used steroids to defraud the Major Leagues Business and Olympic Associations to gain fame and fortune. The paper will examine the BALCO scandal (CNN.com, 2014), where many professional athletes admitted to taking steroids to improve physical sports performance. The BALCO scandal "outs" players from the American National sports leagues to Olympic competitive sports. A cover up of drug use led to not just a few but many players who chose to use steroids to improve their game. The case went to the courts and left many players to tell the ugly truth about other professional players. In some cases, the players denied responsibility and ...
Statistics show that school-based programs as well as community-based prevention programs minimize gang involvement. School-based programs address substance abuse and violence, which reduces the risk factors for gang involvement. For example, in the article “What Can Schools Do to Prevent Gang Involvement,” by Gary D. Gottfredson, he states, “universal programs in kindergarten through secondary school, which [is a] rewarding educational environment im...
One issue that these high salaries cause is that having all this money spoils the athletes. Athletes buy so much unnecessary stuff after they get their money. For example, Michael Jordan has about 28 cars. Who needs all these cars? He didn’t buy all of these, but there is a certain limit on how many cars a person needs. Athletes spend their money on cars, entertainment, clothes, and their big mansions. Another instance of athletes spoiling themselves is the use of illegal drugs (“Pro Salaries”). Michael Irvin of the Dallas Cowboys has been involved in many of these altercations. He has been through all the punishments there possibly is and still makes his money (“Pro Salaries”). Athletes think they are at a higher level and that they can do whatever they want. An issue that everyone hears about everyday that a pro athlete has committed a murder/crime. Ray Lewis, a safety for the Baltimore Ravens, is being tried for two accounts of murder. He is an excellent athlete. He is on the pro-bowl team for the 1999 season and led the league in tackles. He has just ruined his career by even being involved in a situation like this. Another player is Robert Lewis, a 20 year-old basketball player from the Dallas Mavericks. He was convicted of beating his girlfriend almost to death. A 20-year-old basketball star doesn’t need to feel that he is a king to be a leader. What kind of role model is he setting to other youngsters that want to follow in the same footsteps?
According to Bursuck & Damer (2011) phonemes are “the smallest individual sounds in words spoken.” Phonemic awareness is the “ability to hear the phonemes and manipulate the sounds” (p. 41). Phonemic awareness is essential because without the ability students are not able to manipulate the sounds. According to the National Institute for Literacy (2007), “students with poor phonics skills prevent themselves from reading grade-level text and are unable to build their vocabulary” (p.5) Agreeing with the importance of phonemic awareness, Shapiro and Solity attempted to use whole class instruction to improve students’ phonological awareness. The intervention showed that whole class instruction assisted not only the students with poor phonemic awareness, but also on-level developing readers.