My Urban Studies class was recently given the assignment of coming up with solutions to several problems the New York City Public Schools system currently faces. Obviously, there is no huge vat of money lying around anywhere, so we also had to factor in how we planned to pay for it. I figured posting it might get me some additionally idea(r)s. So without further ado................................
Part Four: School Violence
The violence in the New York City Public schools system borders on the ridiculous. Despite increased security measures, ranging from metal detectors to cops on campus, gang wars and hate crimes are still a large part of the education system. This is partially because kids are raised by their neighborhoods and partially because there is nothing better to do. While we previously addressed how to get kids off the streets after school, there is not currently a clear cut manner of keeping kids from getting violent during the school hours.
We suggested the Clockwork Orange approach. For those of you who may have missed the movie and the book, this basically consists of showing kids gratuitous violence.
"But wait!" you may say "Isn't violence in television, movies, and video games the reason kids are so violent in the first place?" Not necessarily. The violence depicted in various media surrounding kids is glorified, corn-starch blood, comeback for the sequel violence. Additionally, some statistics suggest that violence is a psychological urge, not something kids are fed in the media (for information on this, pick up the nearest copy of Freakonomics)
The violence we suggest showing is real, grotesque, unglorified, violence. If we can disgust kids by showing them warfare, genocide, rape, abuse, and the like, they are less likely to perpetuate that behavior in the future. The actual media shown would have to be funded be a private entertainment corporation. However, this would be easily done as companies like MTV and Fuse need the boost in positive publicity.
We would back this up with an increase of Big Brother/ Big Sister programs and the like to ensure that kids stay out of gangs and other hate groups.
Just a thought
Stay Tuned for the thrilling conclusion-Part 5: overcrowding.
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