Welcome back to a new post on gang issues in education. In this writing I hope to try to help you delve, a little, into the mind of a gang member as to what and how they think at school.
First and foremost, remember this mantra when dealing with all gang members in school. You are the enemy! They will always view you, the educator, as the enemy.
Next, hard-core members will usually only attend school to socialize with other like members, and to conduct gang business. Gang business at school can often include, but is not limited too, recruitment, jump-ins, drug dealing, gang intimidation, tagging, and defending their reps and colors. Every thing else associated with school is of insignificant value.
My experience with members has led me to the conclusion that most members in your classroom will fall into two distinct categories.
The first would be the observers, as I like to refer to them. These members will be the ones who sit back and scrutinize your every move, always searching for your weakness’s.
It is their intent to have other lower tiered members push your buttons and disrupt the flow of your lesson, by being disruptive. These types of members are usually higher up on the chain of command in their respective gangs and thus can dictate the disruption.
The second category are the ones being controlled and dictated by the hard-core members. These members are usually the new recruits and at the bottom, the wanna-bes. These new and wanna-be members will do whatever is asked of them by their sponsors and other hard-core members in the gang.
No matter what they are asked to do it must be accomplished, because part of being in a gang is accepting the fact that you are mandated to earn hard-core status. And because of this mandate, everyone involved in education, teachers, administrators, security, ancillary staff, and students can and will be affected by their actions. No one is immune to the violence members can cause, especially by ones trying to solidify their reps.
Often these new recruits will be more standoffish and will behave more aggressively toward you than even the hard-core members. Do not ever forget that these recruits are always looking to add to their reputations, and an authority figure on their mantles will always help add to their stature.
I know I have covered a lot of information in this post, and I could literally go on and on about this. But I have only begun to scrape the tip of this issue. For a more detailed view please refer to my book:
Gangs in our Schools An Educators Guide.
You can buy a copy for yourself by going to the, Buy link, on the right hand side of this post and follow the order instructions.
If you wish to drop me a comment, feel free to contact me at cabgil@aol.com.
Thank you and come again for another look at gang issues in education.
Gilbert R. Cabrera