
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 17, 1993                   TAG: 9312170220
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

`CULTURE OF VIOLENCE' SURROUNDS SCHOOLS

Eleven percent of teachers and 23 percent of their students have been victims of violence in or near their public schools, according to a survey that suggests schools have become a place where children "learn to cope with the daily fear of being harmed."

Thirteen percent of the students said they had carried weapons to school at one time, mainly to impress others and make themselves feel important, according to the Metropolitan Life Survey of the American Teacher.

"Whether it is the shooting death of an associate principal in a Wisconsin high school, the self-inflicted wounds of a northeast D.C. teen-ager who carried a gun into school, or the stabbing death of a Manhattan student over a pair of sunglasses, there seems to be no refuge from the culture of violence," said Harry P. Kamen, chairman of MetLife.

There were 33 homicides in schools or on school grounds last year. This year, there have been six, according to William Modzeleski of the Education Department.

Though the survey found violence to be widespread, it said it occurred predominantly in urban schools and in those with poor academic standards.

Teachers and students said the most frequently reported violent incidents involved pushing, shoving, grabbing, slapping, verbal insults and stealing, according to the study.

Attorney General Janet Reno told a daylong conference on school violence that incidents among schoolchildren cannot be addressed without looking at society at large.

"What good does all the work of the schools do if they go to the world of violence in the afternoon?" she asked. "What good does all the supervision in the day mean if they go to a world where there is no supervision, no parent and no structure?"

She said parents, educators and community leaders must work together. "We've got to teach children now that you don't solve problems by guns and fists and knives," she said.

The study said 6 percent of the boys and 1 percent of the girls had threatened someone with a knife or gun in or around school. Those with poor grades were more likely to make the threats, the survey said.

Five percent of the students - and 21 percent of those with poor grades - said they had threatened a teacher.

Teachers and police officials attributed the problem to a lack of supervision at home, lack of family involvement in schools and exposure to violence in the media.

Students said violent acts occur most often because of provocation from others, trying to impress friends and jealousy over a boyfriend or girlfriend.

Students committed 95 percent of the violent acts against teachers, according to the survey.

The survey said teachers more likely to have been victims of violence were those who believe their school provides only a fair or poor education and those who teach at schools with mostly minority students.

Violent acts were more likely to occur outside the school building.

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB