Gang Violence in American Schools Essay Example for Free

Gang Violence in American Schools Essay Did you ever have to move because your kids were bullied at school? Is the community you are living in is unsafe with gang violence and you were afraid your kids will grow up to be a notorious gangster? You believe the ideal place to raise a family is in a higher income suburban area where the school system is better and your kids will be free from violence. You might want to think again. In fact, youth â€Å"gangs, now more violent than ever, are spreading to new locations† (Gaustad, 1 ) all across the country, including public schools. Gangs are moving suburban areas to recruit more members to expand their gang group. They are using new members to distribute drugs because it is appealing to young children and profitable. It is causing an increase in violence in schools because other gang group does not get along with another set of gang. Kids are scared to go to school because they are afraid they might get bullied and attack. The dropout rates has increase, more weapons are being brought to school endangering lives. School properties are being vandalized with school logos and teachers are getting injured from trying to intervene (Capozzoli and McVey, 81). Gang violence in school are getting worse that school officials, community members, and law enforcements are coming together to figure out solutions. The three solutions that seems to be showing a great impact in reducing gang violence in American schools are school uniforms, peer mediation programs, and after school programs. School uniforms are the first solution that will help cut back gang violence in American schools. Gangs use colors, certain types of clothing, and bandanas to symbolize what group they are from or associate themselves with. Students that are not involved in gangs are unable to walk down the school hallway without being accuse they are involve with a rival gang due to the color shirt he or she may be wearing. School uniforms are typically seen in private or foreign country’s schools to indicate a business-like atmosphere ( Skiba, 10). Now it is becoming more common in public schools because it keeps pupils in similar clothing. The typical school uniforms usually consist of khaki pants and collar shirts. Female pupils are sometimes in a skirt that goes down past their knees. The colors of the collar shirts vary depending on what schools students attend. School uniforms will end gang members from wearing clothing indicating what group they are from. This will help reduce violence between rival gangs because it will be difficult to point out what gang another student associate themselves with. Students will be able to concentrate more on learning than worrying about getting attack. Not only does uniform help reduce the violence but it also help schools bring unity together and help pupils who come from a family with financial difficulty feel less pressure to dress a certain way to fit in (Lopez, 4). The Long Beach Unified School District decided to establish a school uniform policy during the 1990’s to help pupils further their education in an elementary school. The school district had supports from parents who feared for their child’s safety while they were walking to school and mistaken to be a rival gang member due to the color clothing they were wearing. Violence has dropped 86% after the school uniform policy been established for 5 years (Lopez, 4). Murray states,† higher student ratings of the quality of school climate in schools with a uniform policy† after studies was done on two North Carolina schools (qtd. in Zero Tolerance, Zero Evidence, 10). The second solution are peer mediation programs. Peer mediation is a program that involves people who are chosen and educated to resolves issues between individuals that has dispute with one another. The program is used in schools, youth centers, and juvenile justice setting to help young people learn how to solve their conflict through talking it out instead of using violence. Peer mediation programs are used to help decrease lockdowns, suspensions, detentions, and to bring positive atmosphere. Instead of adults trying to diffuse the conflict between young people, the program gives students the ability to help their peer s figure out a solution to their conflict with one another. It also allows the disputers to be more open and able to express why they are conflicting with the other student. Young people tend to feel more comfortable and connect better with people their own age because they feel they won’t be judged. Students are the initiator of confrontations among other students. They have to be neutral and must go through training so they can understand the process. The process of peer mediation are broken down into six steps where the facilitator has to come up with rules that must be followed, hear both sides of the story, determine if it is the same issue causing the problem, suggest solutions that will fix the problem, make sure solution fits the goal of the outcome, and help dispute agree on a solution (Crawford and Bodine, 23). Classical high school in Lynn, Massachusetts has been using peer mediation program for 14 years now and feel that the program will help decrease violence in schools. The program is very important to the school that students have to put an application in and go through an interview process by the coordinator of the program, Miriam Markowitz to become a mediator. Student who have conflict dispute with one another are brought into a private room where the student mediator tries to resolve their issues by easing the pressure off the disputers to act a certain way if they were around their friends. Classical high school reported a â€Å"90 percent success rate† (Weber, 9). When school is out; kids can keep themselves occupied and out of trouble by going to an after school program. After school program is a safe place where kids are supervised, kept busy to drift them away from negative behaviors like gangs and drugs. A lot of the kids who goes to the after school programs lacks adult guidance, or come from a low income family that the parents are working a 12 hour shift and cannot be around to supervise their every move. The staffs at after school programs don’t just help kids with their homework but they build relationships with them and try to guide them in the right direction (after – school activities and clubs). After school programs are not just programs where kids come to do home works and activities, it is also a place where they learn about gang violence, how to prevent involvement. Council for Unity is an after school program located in Riverhead, New York that was developed by Riverhead high school. The program consist of students from different ethnic backgrounds that come together every Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays to talk about what issues are going on in the community, ways to prevent the violence in their schools and to learn about gang violence prevention. The coordinator, Mr. Desenna ask special guest to come by to talk and educate the kids (Council for Unity). Another after school program that is a major success and has been around since 1988 is Roca located in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Roca is a nonprofit organization that works with young people from ages 14 to 24 to help them stay away from gang, teen pregnancy, being incarcerated and graduate high schools. Roca work very closely with young people who are involved in gangs. Staffs from Roca have a program that they call outreach that consist of them walking the streets and trying to build relationships with the gang members. Most of the staffs have gone through incarceration or is an ex-gang member that has turned their lives around and using their experience to influence youths in a positive way. The program â€Å"helped more than 15,000 young people make positive, profound changes in their lives† (rocain.org) Gang violence in American schools is not going to go away overnight but if efforts are put in like: establishing school uniforms, peer mediation programs and providing more free after school programs, it soon will not be an issue facing the school systems. Having positive young people trying to influence their peers will help tremendously. Works Cited Capozzoli, Thomas, and R. Steve. McVey. Gangs and Schools. Kids Killing Kids: Managing Violence and Gangs in Schools. Boca Raton, FL: St. Lucie, 2000. 81-82. Print. Council For Unity. Riverhead.net. Web. 5 Apr. 2011. http://www.riverhead.net/html/RHSnewscouncilunity.html. Crawford, Donna, and Richard Bodine. Conflict Resolution Education. Rep. Champaign,IL: Research, 1996. Print. Gaustad, Joan. Gangs.ERIC Digest. Ericdigests.org. 2005. Web. 29 Mar. 2011. http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9216/gangs.htm. Lopez, Rebecca A. The Long Beach Unified School District Uniform Initiative: A Prevention-Strategy for Urban Schools. The Journal of Negro Education 72.4 (2003). The Long Beach Unified School District Uniform Initiative: A Prevention-Strategy for Urban Schools. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. http://elibrary.bigchalk.com.proxy6.noblenet.org/elibweb/elib/do/document. Project, – Key. Roca : Who We Are. Welcome to Roca. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. http://www.rocainc.org/about.php. Skiba, Russel J. Zero To lerance, Zero Evidence. Rep. 2000. Print. Weber, Gretchen. Peace among Peers. The Lynn Educator 2008. Print.

separation of powers Essays -- essays research papers

In the United States government there are 3 branches of government, the power given to the central government is divided among these 3 branches. Each of these branches are given powers so that they can check the powers of the other 2 branches ensuring that one branch doesn’t become to powerful One of these branches is the legislative branch this is the branch that includes congress, they are responsible for making laws. The second branch of government is the executive branch this is the branch that includes the president, they are responsible for carrying out laws. The last branch of government is the judicial branch, this branch includes the Supreme Court they are responsible for making sure laws are constitutional. There many different ways at which each of these branches check the powers of the next branch, they include appointing new members to each branch, vetoing laws proposed by a branch, declaring a law unconstitutional and many other different powers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The legislative branch just like every other branch in the government has the power to check other ones and is checked by the opposing branches. This legislative branch checks the powers of the executive branch in many different ways ensuring that they do not become overpowering. One way in which the legislative branch checks the power of the executive branch is if congress †the legislative branch† decides that the president is not doing his job to the full extent that he should, they have...

Miles Davis’ Milestones

One very interesting genre of music which is as popular before as it is today is Jazz. Jazz is often termed as the music of the soul, and it tends to manifest in words and melody the feelings of the heart. This music started as early as the 1800, with the birth of the blues by the African-American community. The blues, which are songs that are derived from hymns and work songs, became the foundation of jazz. The full-blown birth of jazz came about at around 1900 at New Orleans. Jazz in here is depicted as a blend of different types of music – opera, military bands, church music, ragtime, African drumming, and even some dance styles (Marsalis, 2008). Through the time, jazz has evolved in itself, giving birth to a number of sub-styles such as bebop, dixieland, swing, and modern jazz. This evolution also brought about a number of great composers, and hundreds of great songs. Miles Davis is one of these composers. He was a pioneer in cool jazz, a type of experimental jazz which involves voices unfamiliar to traditional jazz. One of his famous songs holds his name in it – Milestones. This track was recorded at around 1958, and is an advent on Miles’ take on working with modal jazz – another type of jazz (Biography, 2005). In this essay, I will try to expound more on this recording by discussing some important elements found in it, namely its melody, harmony, and rhythm and how they blend together to form a jazz sound. Read also about  Coleman Hawkins Melody is simply defined as a flow of notes, a flow of tones which sounds pleasing to the ear. In regular jazz music, there are usually two kinds of melody. One is melody being played at the start and end of pieces. These are usually notated, and strictly followed. The second one is the melody produced when a soloists improvises. Improvisation is very important in jazz, and the melody produced in here must be exciting at the same time pleasant to listen to. It should not be boring and must never outshine the other instruments too much. In the song Milestones, there is a distinct difference heard between these two melodies. Its first melody flows smoothly, creating a feeling of easiness, being subsided by notes. Then, the solo kicks in with a series notes alternating between fast and slow speeds. These contrasting melodic patterns give a great deal of interest for the listener. It creates a relaxed sensation at one moment then gives a slight tension at another. If melody is the horizontal aspect of music, harmony is its vertical counterpart. It comprises of notes being played together, such as triads, major chords, fourth and other intervals. In the song Milestones, harmony is best described as an accompanying effect to the soloist. Better known as â€Å"comping†, this provides a bed on which the soloist improvises on. The song’s harmony has a very strong and tight feeling. This is due to the modal take of the song, wherein the song uses a single scale. Thus, both the soloist’s melody and the harmony of the other players fit perfectly with each other. Also, the harmony is not only played as strict flow, but it is constantly modified. For example, it plays on counts 2 and 4 for some bar, and then suddenly shifts to 1 and 3. The harmony also plays syncopated notes, notes that are off beat the normal rhythm. This gives an additional excitement to the overall feeling of the song. But most importantly, it supports the soloists and never tries to overpower it. Milestones also portray another important element common to jazz takes – its swinging rhythm. This is usually attained by the rhythm section by playing triplets, or three notes at a count, and omitting the middle note. This rhythm gives a forward feeling and tends to move along that direction. It is very different from common contemporary songs, where the downbeat or the quarter note is very much accented. In Milestones, the downbeat is almost lost; in fact the first count of every bar is usually unaccented both by the rhythm section and the soloist. In a whole, the rhythm of the song produces a slightly danceable feeling, but in a cool and slow way. The song’s tempo is not that fast, but the swinging rhythm gives it a kind of push that tends to create a continuous flow of music. These elements give the song a traditionalistic view since it holds the very foundation of jazz music. The swinging rhythm, the accompanying harmony, and the soloist’s melody are the main components of a good jazz song. Miles Davis expanded more on this by creating a much more intricate solo filled with varying tempos and dynamics. The other band members were also able to add to the flavor of the song by playing their parts in a very interesting manner yet still being in perfect fit with each other. In a nutshell, Miles Davis was able to fuse traditional jazz elements with a great deal of experimentation, producing the masterpiece Milestones. References Marsalis, M. (2008) History of Jazz/Black History in America. Retrieved February 22, 2008 from http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/bhistory/history_of_jazz.htm Miles Davis Biography (2007), retrieved February 22, 2008 from http://www.milesdavis.com/bio.asp

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