gangsinourschools.com/blog

     Welcome back to a new post on gang issues in education. I would like to make a quick announcement to all of my readers. I have recently changed my post office box number and orders will be delivered quicker and in a more timely fashion, and this is a plus for everyone involved. My new address is: Post Office Box 13591, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88013.

     In a past posting I have addressed how many parents do not wish to accept the fact that their child is in a gang even after being confronted with hard evidence. But, putting the blame all on the parents is only a small part of the equation to solving gang problems in a community. You see part of the blame has to also be accepted by the schools where a heavy gang concentration exists.

     It has been my experience, that many school districts will not admit there is a gang problem in their schools. And I can’t say I really blame them, because admitting such could have severe repercussions for schools and the school district. But I truly feel that the way to combat street gangs and the problems they present to schools should be out in the open.

     Everyone involved in education: local school districts, local businesses, law enforcement, court systems, and in fact, the whole community should be involved in gang intervention. I do not believe any one entity has the power to combat street gangs at any level and be effective. Everyone in the community must become involved for any type of intervention to be successful.

     With this being said, the main issue is how does anyone go about getting the whole community to buy into a solution. Here is where things get complicated rather quickly, because quite frankly, many of us lead busy lives and feel it is better not knowing what problems exist, by living in our own sheltered worlds.

     Sadly, without every ones cooperation gangs will only continue to thrive and expand their territories. I do not have all the answers to this perplexing dilemma, but I do feel that gangs are a community problem that can only be solved with community involvement. I truly feel everyone has to buy into a solution to combat gangs, or we are fighting a losing battle in our schools and communities.

     To find out more about street gangs in an educational setting you can go to the book order link on the right side of this post.

     Thank you and come again for another post on gang issues in education. If you need to contact me you may do so at: cabgil@aol.com.

Gilbert R. Cabrera

     Welcome back to a new post on gang issues in education.    In this post I would like to address the challenges you are probably facing in teaching to gang members. For those of you who are currently gaining such experience with members in the classroom, you are no doubt wondering how to reach these students.

     This is a question I get asked often. The only answer I can give you is to be real with your interactions with them. I believe you have to relate to their world in some way. And if you can do this successfully, you are well on your way to being able to teach to them effectively.

     You may be wondering what I mean by their world? The fact of the matter is members often participate in activities, that frankly, many of us are not familiar with nor wish to know about. But to be successful in teaching to members you have to learn as much as you can about the gang world, so you understand exactly what kind of animal you are dealing with.

     This is the most critical part in teaching to them, because then, they know that you know. I agree there are some elements of gang life that will shock you once you learn about them, but this is exactly what you need to know to understand how they think. I feel it is very important to learn their true motives for being in school and go from there. Once you are familiar with gang life, you can use this information to your advantage in teaching to them. 

     You must also understand that many of the members you get in your classroom are older and have very few credits needed to graduate from high school. Often, members will have been suspended from school repeatedly and do not have the skills to keep up with their peers in the classroom.

     Each year they begin to feel intimidated by the knowledge their peers possess over them and act out more, to get themselves purposely suspended. Many feel that if they are suspended from school enough, they don’t have to learn and can concentrate on gang issues. For a member this becomes a vicious cycle they are not able to escape from, and will eventually drop out of school.

     Now for a strategy, I feel you can use that will allow you to hook them into learning. Once you identify who the members are in your classroom and you find their educational weaknesses, you can water down the curriculum at whatever level they are at, for a short time, which lets them taste success. Show them their grades often and boast about their progress, but by all means, keep this information discreet.

     The last thing they want to be perceived as is a school-boy, not a good thing in the gang world. But I can assure they do want to learn and will do so if you take their learning in baby steps, until they have tasted enough success that they willingly want more.

     I could go on and on as far as to what other strategies you can use, which are successful for me. But it would take more writing than I can put here. So instead, you can follow the links on the right side of this page for the order instructions to buy a copy of my book.

Thank you and come again for another post on gang issues in education. If you need to contact me you can do so at cabgil@aol.com 

Gilbert