Education News from the Caribbean
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USVI senator to conduct school survey on gang membership and violence
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| Published on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 | Email To Friend Print Version
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ST THOMAS, USVI -- During the week of September 14-18, Senator Wayne James, in his capacity as Chairman of the Committee on Education, Youth, and Culture, will conduct a territory-wide survey on gang membership and gang-related violence in the US Virgin Islands.
The survey, which will be distributed to all public school students from grades 5 to 12, will be administered by the Department of Education. Private and parochial schools will be offered the survey on a per-request basis.
The purpose of the 19-question survey is to glean as much information as possible about the documented increase in gang activity in the US Virgin Islands so that appropriate measures can be implemented to address the needs of the young people who regard gang membership and violence as an alternative to mainstream society.
The questions are direct and wide-ranged, covering information as basic as age and grade and as subjective as whether it is wrong to carry a gun to school. Students will not be permitted to write their names on their surveys, thereby ensuring anonymity.
“The youth-on-youth violent-crime rate in the territory is totally out of control,” James said. “Clearly, there has been some fundamental breakdown in society when children -- who should be enjoying the happiest days of their lives -- see little or nothing wrong with taking a life and forfeiting their own in the process.”
James plans to present the data derived from the survey at his Committee on Youth, Education, and Culture hearings scheduled for October 13, 14, and 15 on St Croix, St Thomas, and St John, respectively.
“I plan to work closely with the Departments of Education and Human Services as we address this rapidly escalating problem of violence in our community,” James said. “It is imperative that we, first of all, agree that there is a solution to the problem. Then we must go about implementing our solution, acknowledging that we will have some casualties along the way, but that victory will be achieved in the end.
“At the end of the day, it is the adults who are responsible for the children. And our children fail because we have failed them. We must instill hope and self-worth in our children. And we need to equip them with skills to survive legally in the real world: education, talent, discipline, tenacity, and faith,” James concluded. | | | | Reads : 820 | | | |
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