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An anonymous student at Fenger High School talks about life before, during, and since the fight that killed one of her classmates and fixed the world's attention on Chicago's gang violence problem.
Letter from a 17-year-old senior at Fenger High School
salon.com - 4 weeks ago - 551 views
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Wow. A very powerful letter. It's nice to get an insider's perspective on how things are going and what the kids are feeling.
This comment on the essay is worth reading, too:
http://letters.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/10/19/chicago_fenger/perma...
And another comment worth reading. The rest are crap:
http://letters.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/10/19/chicago_fenger/perma...
The environment at Fenger sounds toxic. If, as the letter writer says here, only 20% of teachers are actually IN THE CLASSROOM when class starts, it's not hard at all to understand why so few students at these troubled south side schools go on to graduate.
Wow, I'm so far removed, I didn't realize all that these kids have to go through just to go to school. No wonder most are reluctant to attend. This is totally disgusting. I can't imagine having to be concerned about my safety everyday at a place where I should be safe. I'm sure Fenger isn't the only school with these problems either, CPS has totally dropped the ball...
It's a real shock, isn't it?
I grew up in a bunch of small towns around the U.S., attending public schools that were very safe, very white, and mostly pretty good.
Sure, I'd hear stories about schools with violence and metal detectors, but like you said, I was removed and didn't really understand what that would mean for students attending there.
My first job out of college was as a college admission officer. One year I was assigned to visit schools around Philadelphia to talk with students about applying to Princeton and meet with teachers and guidance counselors there. Even the worst schools had a few sharp kids who could be worth applicants to Ivy League schools, the theory goes.
Anyway, visiting some of those schools showed me firsthand how different others people had it. I saw the metal detectors, the security guards and so on. I know it sounds trite and uncool to admit this, but I didn't really get how oppressive and threatening it would feel until I was there in the flesh meeting with students who saw it every day. The sharp kids who make it out of those schools impress me greatly.
Shows how Obama Duncan is failing upward, eh? Not he is in a position to help gangs kill kids in every school, not just Fenger!
I find it shocking that Daley says separating the gangs is giving up on the city. I agree that sending gangs to separate schools all of a sudden would make them seem like they run the city. But Daley... this isn't something that is new. It is just newly public.
I remember growing up and being told about the "scary" areas of Chicago that a white kid from the suburbs couldn't go. Everything was just rumors and stories. The huge housing projects were the center of most of the legends. When those started to get torn down I think a lot of people that a lot of problems were going to be solved in this city.
In high school I would go to different events for Cross Country or Track, or just to see friends. Either at the Proviso schools or in Cicero I would run into trouble even there, largely for being white and being from a wealthier suburb.
And if this is getting worse according the the first-hand account in the letter, then Mr. Daley, you may say you aren't giving up on the city, but you sure are losing it.
Dedicating schools to individual gangs was simply intended to make a point that it's not the schools which cause violence but unresolved neighborhood problems.
My recent Chicago Tribune share on the gauntlet many urban school children pass to get to & from schools explains clearly gang affiliation, but leaves it to community leaders how to reduce violence.
Whatever you may think of the effectiveness of the Ceasefire program, it appears to address many of the salient causes of violence. Gun rights advocates might agree with me that controlling violent impulses & rechanneling aggression would help to reduce the murder rates. Our Windy Citizen discussion may not resolve these problems, but our investment in this cause hopefully moves Chicago closer to the resolution of urban violence.
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