`One in 5 US teens took weapon to school last yr'

`One in 5 US teens took weapon to school last yr'
SARAH TIPPIT

LOS ANGELES, APRIL 3: A majority of US teens indulged in acts of violence in the past year, and one in five high school-age boys took a weapon to school, according to a survey conducted by the California-based Institute of Ethics.

‘‘The seeds of violence can be found in schools all over America,’’ said Institute of Ethics President Michael Josephson, who also heads the institute’s ‘‘character counts’’ initiative dedicated to teaching character-building skills to young people.‘‘Today’s teens, especially boys, have a high propensity to get violent when they are angry, they have easy access to guns, drugs and alcohol, and a disturbing number take weapons to school,’’ Josephson said.

America is experiencing an epidemic of deadly school violence. In 1999, two teenagers killed 15 people, including themselves, at a high school in Colorado. In March, two teenagers died and 13 people were wounded at Santana High School in California, after a 15-year-old who was new to the school allegedly opened fire in a boy’s bathroom. The suburban San Diego shooting spurred a flurry of copycat shootings across the US and a renewed national debate about youth violence.

The random survey, conducted last year among more than 15,000 teenagers at schools nationwide, showed 75 per cent of boys and 60 per cent of girls saying they had hit out at someone in anger in the past year. The survey also showed that 43 per cent of high school boys, 37 per cent of middle school boys and 19 per cent of high school and middle school girls believed it was alright to hit or threaten a person who made them angry.

More than one in five (21 per cent) of high school boys, and 15 per cent of middle school boys, took a weapon to school at least once in the past year. At the same time, 60 per cent of high school and 31 per cent of middle school boys said they could arrange for a gun if needed. The category of weapons was broad, including guns and knives, said an institute spokesman.

‘‘Kids are as much the victims as the perpetrators of the societal trends and pressures demonstrated in the survey,’’ Josephson said. ‘‘Metal detectors and gun regulation can’t solve this problem alone. We have to work on the character of youngsters, change their attitudes towards violence and fortify their ability to deal with anger and feelings of alienation.’’

In 2000, for the first time, the survey asked questions about student alcohol use and produced some disturbing results.

Alcohol use seemed to coincide with the increased likelihood that teens would exhibit violent behaviour, the survey said. Teens who said they had been drunk at school were more likely to have access to a gun than their classmates: 71 per cent versus 47 per cent in high school, and 59 per cent versus 22 per cent in middle school, the survey found.

Josephson said teachers, coaches and parents needed to pay more attention to warning signs to avoid the types of school violence the country had seen in recent years. ‘‘You hit someone when you’re angry, but if somebody is bigger than you are and is bullying you, you’re not going to hit that person, you’re going to do something worse,’’ he said, adding: ‘‘We’re not talking about just schoolyard fighting anymore. (Kids) are trying to find a way to vent their anger in a violent way.’’

Reuters