Sexual Assault in Toronto

[err]

And with all your wisdom, could you enlighten us to how you can be sure that this girl (or one of her friends) might not have talked to a councillor had the school not laid them off.  Kimmy, you sure must be really really smart to know all these things that nobody else knows..

Thanks for noticing.

As the original article mentioned, fear of reprisal maintained the silence. Amongst the coverage of this event, I have read that there was an element at the school that simply did not respect the authority of the administration and teachers. Bringing in counsellors does not provide security. Perhaps some police might have. More on that later.

Did you study psychology?? that bit about these hoods not respecting authority was just brilliant... However, the lack of councillors for this girl to go to when the problem started, the lack of anyone to turn to, prevented her from turning to them... didn't it. Granted, we can't be sure that this girl would have gone to a councillor, but her friends may have...

Would the alleged victim have been more assertive if there had been more counsellors at the school? 

Would it be more likeley that you'd call the cops (councillors) if there were some cops (councillors) to call ??? We'll never know... maybe "market forces" will tell us later....

Now this is particularly interesting. Do you want counsellors in schools, or do you want cops in school? Counsellors are not cops.

Can't get anything past your sharp eyes... I likened cops and councillors in the above quote as people that you would go to when in distress. I wasn't suggesting that they put cops in the school, but really, if the school is that bad, maybe it would be a good idea to put the school on a cop's beat...

Did Mike Harris cut funding for school counsellors, or did he cut funding for police?  Does Mike Harris even have control of the Toronto PD budget, or is that under City Hall's watch? 

My whole post was relating how Mike Harris' funding cuts to our schools have lead to horrible consequences. (Actually, this is only one of many places his cuts have hurt the general public) Maybe Mike Harris didn't want these kinds of things to happen, but it appears that he didn't care too much if they did....

RED HERRINGI'd be surprised if Mike Harris cut funding for police, because more funding for law enforcement has generally been something "right wing" types are in favor of. And putting a police officer in schools has generally been something "right wing" types support.

If policing the schools is what's required to control the problems, then why not do it... It's "common sense", but not Mike Harris's kind of common sense... His kind of common sense would put security around a wealthy business owner's property... or have the police shoot some Indians to get them out of a park.

Whenever people propose putting police in schools, "lefty" types cry bloody murder, for a variety of "politically correct" reasons. Lefties don't even like security cameras in public places.

pretty poor job stereotyping....

[kimmy]

councillors

Not to be pedantic, but a councillor is somebody who sits on a council, such as city council. A counsellor is somebody who gives counsel-- advice. I suspect you mean the latter, not the former.

Now this is particularly interesting.  Do you want counsellors in schools, or do you want cops in school?  Counsellors are not cops.

Can't get anything past your sharp eyes... I likened cops and councillors in the above quote as people that you would go to when in distress. I wasn't suggesting that they put cops in the school, but really, if the school is that bad, maybe it would be a good idea to put the school on a cop's beat...

I wasn't pointing out that counsellors are not cops just for the sake of being pedantic. I don't believe anybody respects counsellors as authority figures. And at a school where the teachers and administration were unable to maintain discipline, I believe an authority figure would have made more difference than having somebody to give out hugs and shitty personal advice. Pansy-ass suburban white kids don't even respect counsellors as authority figures; I can't imagine urban toughguy types would feel any differently.

-k

[err]

councillors

Not to be pedantic, but a councillor is somebody who sits on a council, such as city council. A counsellor is somebody who gives counsel-- advice. I suspect you mean the latter, not the former.

What would we do without your keen eye and razor sharp mind... People might have missed my point due to my mis-spelling of the word.

Now this is particularly interesting.  Do you want counsellors in schools, or do you want cops in school?  Counsellors are not cops.

Can't get anything past your sharp eyes... I likened cops and councillors in the above quote as people that you would go to when in distress. I wasn't suggesting that they put cops in the school, but really, if the school is that bad, maybe it would be a good idea to put the school on a cop's beat...

I wasn't pointing out that counsellors are not cops just for the sake of being pedantic. I don't believe anybody respects counsellors as authority figures.

Well, somehow this one slid past you. The counsellors in schools usually aren't supposed to be authority figures or Robocop superheroes, and I never intended to portray them as such. They're there to assist students by talking to them, helping them deal with their problems, recommend mature course of action, etc...

Their job would also have them take appropriate course of action on discovering a situation as tragic as that described in this thread... They should not be the cops, but they should know to call them when appropriate...

[Argus]

As the original article mentioned, fear of reprisal maintained the silence. Amongst the coverage of this event, I have read that there was an element at the school that simply did not respect the authority of the administration and teachers. Bringing in counsellors does not provide security. Perhaps some police might have. More on that later.

Did you study psychology?? that bit about these hoods not respecting authority was just brilliant... However, the lack of councillors for this girl to go to when the problem started, the lack of anyone to turn to, prevented her from turning to them... didn't it. Granted, we can't be sure that this girl would have gone to a councillor, but her friends may have...

It's hard to believe, sometimes, the level of ideological fanaticism amongst some of the posters here. This desperate attempt at pinning the blame on what happened at this school on Mike Harris, without a shred of evidence that anything he ever did had the slightest affect on things, is simply absurd. You'd do better to pin the blame on everyone who supported open immigration from third world cesspools. They, at least, can be directly blamed. No teachers to go to? What? The school had no teachers? She had no parents? There were NO guidance councellors? Drivel. She didin't go to teachers because she knew what would happen - which is what did happen; a large segment of the student body became an angry black mob and chased her out of school permanently. Their sympathies are all for the accused, and they've got nothing for the alleged victim but curses and threats.

[Guest eureka]

You would have to try to make accusations of ideological bias, Argus, when faced with an incontrovertible point. The fact is that the Harris destruction of the School system did do what err claims.

The war on teachers; the so-called Safe Schools Act; are responsible for much of the increased disaffection in the schools. When allied to the actual funding and staff cuts and the separating of principals from teachers, his agenda was devastating. A large part of the solution to the problems will be the reversal of his revenge and tax driven policies.

[err]

It's hard to believe, sometimes, the level of ideological fanaticism amongst some of the posters here. This desperate attempt at pinning the blame on what happened at this school on Mike Harris, without a shred of evidence that anything he ever did had the slightest affect on things, is simply absurd.

I would hardly say "desperate" to blame things on Mike Harris... It's rather plainly obvious the destruction his actions has brought to much of the social fabric of Ontario, not alone its school system. I would say that it is you who is desperate to deflect the blame from it's root cause, and put all the blame on the "blacks from the third world cesspool" as you wrote below...

While there might not be "a shred of evidence" that this situation would have been prevented had Mike Harris not gutted the infrastructure at the schools, I wonder if you think crime wouldn't go up if the city of Toronto laid off half of their policemen ??? Or would there not be a "shred of evidence" to correlate the two.

You'd do better to pin the blame on everyone who supported open immigration from third world cesspools. They, at least, can be directly blamed. No teachers to go to? What? The school had no teachers? She had no parents? There were NO guidance councellors?

... guidance counsellors were some of the first things chopped due to Harris's wonderful school "reforms". Under-staffed schools don't usually have an abundance of personnel to monitor the halls, etc...

[Argus]

You would have to try to make accusations of ideological bias, Argus, when faced with an incontrovertible point. The fact is that the Harris destruction of the School system did do what err claims.

Made Jamaicans sexually assault white girls?

The war on teachers; the so-called Safe Schools Act; are responsible for much of the increased disaffection in the schools.

<insert rude sound here>

You forget that it was years of anger and frustration on the part of parents at the lousy education their children were receiving which inspired Harris' actions, and helped to get him elected. Harris' reforms didn't come out of nowhere, you know. Schols were in a miserable state of incompetence and confusion before Harris ever became Tory leader. They remain in that state largely because Harris didn't go far enough. He should have disemboweled the teachers unions and engaged in mass firings while slashing their salaries and benefits. Then he could have hired people who had more interest in teaching than lining their pockets while putting in half a day's work.

[Guest eureka]

I forget nothing, Argus: least of all your ignorant and uninformed rants on this topic in other discussions.

You are quick to come to the defense of civil servants against the accusations of featherbedding but cast the same accusations against teachers. I agree with you about civil servants but I also know something about teachers and the education system.

Harris was one of the few teachers to whom your insinuations apply. Fired for incompetence and laziness, he went into politics to get revenge. That and the obligation to those who put him there are all that he was about.

Schools were not in any desperate mess before Harris. Not at all. Harris created the mess.

[Minimus Maximus]

Maybe I have missed something here, but there seems to be a lot of blame put on the school system and not much discussion about the family life of the victim and the aledged victimizers here.

What about the parent/s? As a society we are putting more and more pressure on the school system to raise our children and less and less responsibility on parents. A great man by the name of Don Cherry once made a point about how european hockey players were more likely to wear face shields which resulted in these players having less of an awareness of how high they would carry their stick. The end result being more high sticking incedents.

I find there is a parallel to social programs and our social behavior regarding the way in which children are raised today. For many the issue of behavior problems with children has become an "its not my job" situation. We blame schools which lack counselling services while the parent/s are not even brought into the piciture. Why did this young girl not go to her parents? How is it the gov'ts fault that she didn't?

We are losing our social structure in this country due to the fact that many households have both parents working, some working more than one job or overtime and someone else has the responsibility to raise our kids. People are less connected to their communities and the children are not learning to respect both family structure and community structure the way they once did. This is intensified the lower you go down the income scale.

More social programs are not going to solve this, an awarness of family and community would have a much greater impact. Just my opinion.

[BHS]

My two cents: if the blame rests within the school system, we're better off looking past superficial funding issues and concentrating instead on an education mindset that gave up on discipline a long time ago, preferring to elevate student self esteem at the expense of teaching adherence to rules and deference to authority.

[Argus]

I forget nothing, Argus: least of all your ignorant and uninformed rants on this topic in other discussions.

You are quick to come to the defense of civil servants against the accusations of featherbedding but cast the same accusations against teachers. I agree with you about civil servants but I also know something about teachers and the education system.

What did I say about civil servants? I said that the idea any civil servant could get anyone they wanted hired was silly. I said there was a wide variety of jobs in the civil service which pay well. I don't believe I made many other claims. As to teachers, I spent enough time in school and knew a number of teachers. I don't blame individual teachers for the fact our education system is in a mess. I blame their union (which, of course, does mean that all teachers share in the blame). I think I detest them mostly for continually wrapping themselves in the self-righteous rhetoric of "what's best for the students" when all of their demands are clearly intended to improve their own lot in lives, not the students', even at the expense of the students.

I also blame the teaching professionals with an alphabet soup of letters after their names, infesting various boards and ministries. And I blame political idiots at boards and at various provincial governments for listening to these idiots. The fact is that we are paying a fortune for a substandard educational system, and the highest cost, by far, is the overly generous salaries and benefits of teachers with their often exagerated credentials. Teaching is a calling, and if you have that calling you're a great teacher - with or without a university degree or a visit to teacher' college. All the credentials do, for the most part, is justify large salaries. Which, in turn, draws thousands of people into teaching who shouldn't be allowed to choose their own wardrobes in the morning, let alone try to teach children anything.

Schools were not in any desperate mess before Harris. Not at all. Harris created the mess.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Talk about a memory lapse. Schools were in the toilet before Harris. That's one of the reasons he was elected in the first place.

[Guest eureka]

What you said about civil servants was a defense of their wotk ethics and load. You are too churlish to extend that same truth to teachers.

Your post is nothing more than a rehash of the Harris attack on the teaching profession. It stems from supreme ignorance of the profession and of the system. Really, "I spent enough time in school!" Is that supposed to be an argment for knowing anything at all?

Try finding something to support what you say and we can deal with that.

Meantime, your vicious and scurrilous rage is contemptoble.

[Argus]

What you said about civil servants was a defense of their wotk ethics and load. You are too churlish to extend that same truth to teachers.

Not at all. I said nothing of ethics. Nor do I believe I mentioned work loads. It is true, however, that many public servants work extremely hard. It's also true that a lot of them work somewhat less strenuously than their private sector counterparts.

Few of them get as many holidays as teachers, however. Actually, none that I'm aware of, nor their benefits. Nor are they constantly, constantly whining but self-righteously pretending that they're not after improvements for themselves, but for "the welfare of the children" (sob-sob)

Your post is nothing more than a rehash of the Harris attack on the teaching profession. It stems from supreme ignorance of the profession and of the system.

It stems from far too close acquaintance with the products of that system. You're like a lawyer telling me how beautiful the Charter is because it protects so many peoples's rights, when what they really mean is it lets so many guilty people walk free (aka maggie trudeau) because (sob-sob) their Charter rights were breached! (sob-sob)

Really, "I spent enough time in school!" Is that supposed to be an argment for knowing anything at all?

No. And that's the problem.

[Guest eureka]

Just a couple of personal observations, Argus, that illustrate a teacher's life!

Two weeks ago, my son-in-law had to disarm a knife weilding student, a twelve year old, who was threatening to kill a girl in his class.

Three years ago, my daughter was punched in the stomach by a Grade two girl student.

Most teachers can tell you of similar incidents. And these two were in "good" schools - a rarity since Harris ruined the system. The twelve year old was the son of a middle class professional couple who were too busy to ever have taken steps to socialize their child but, like so many, left it to the schools.

My son-in-law has now decided to take a principal's course: something he did not want to do. He is doing that because it is about the only avenue left that gives any hope for making a difference in the system.

Whiners! I don't think you could even begin to cope with the demands on teachers. Your ravings on the forums suggest that you are to angry at the world to ever hope to handle the stresses AND workload.

[Canuck E Stan]

My son-in-law has now decided to take a principal's course: something he did not want to do. He is doing that because it is about the only avenue left that gives any hope for making a difference in the system.

Your son-in-law, doing something for the good of the education system.....even though he didn't want to.What a martyr.

Not to mention he will get an increase in pay and pension and can leave the teaching to someone else.Smart move.

[theloniusfleabag]

Dear BHS,

My two cents: if the blame rests within the school system, we're better off looking past superficial funding issues and concentrating instead on an education mindset that gave up on discipline a long time ago, preferring to elevate student self esteem at the expense of teaching adherence to rules and deference to authority.

Your two cents oughta be worth a million bucks. I couldn't agree more. While we're at it, society itself is suffering from the same malaise...self-gratification has won out over personal responsibility.

[err]

You forget that it was years of anger and frustration on the part of parents at the lousy education their children were receiving which inspired Harris' actions, and helped to get him elected. Harris' reforms didn't come out of nowhere, you know.

They came from the necessity to find cash to pay for his big tax grab... that decreased taxes only for the wealthier citizens of the province.

I remember well when Harris was running for office, his wagging his finger at the camera saying "not one penny from education"... So that he wouldn't be called a liar, the Conservatives came up with the "province wide testing" designed to show that Ontario schools were substandard.

I don't know if you are old enough to remember these tests, and some of the examples of questions from the test that made it onto the news because they were so ridiculous. They didn't make the "mentally challenged" who are babysat by our school system write the test, but their average (0%) had to be included in the provincial average. Then they did all kinds of bogus comparisons, like comparing Ontario science students with students from a "British school", not mentioning that the particular British school was exclusively for near-genius students... The whole thing stunk....

And all this so that he could break his promise... because he had to reform the school system... And he did only one reform in the first year.... he removed a half of a billion dollars from the school system budget... Now that's really working to fix our school system...

Schols were in a miserable state of incompetence and confusion before Harris ever became Tory leader.

I think it is you, Argus, that is in the state of confusion....

They remain in that state largely because Harris didn't go far enough. He should have disemboweled the teachers unions and engaged in mass firings while slashing their salaries and benefits. Then he could have hired people who had more interest in teaching than lining their pockets while putting in half a day's work.

Vote for Argus's CPC party to "disembowel the teaching staff", "engage in mass firings of qualified teachers", "slash their salaries and benefits"... You forgot to mention security and guidance counsellors... but then again, I forgot... They all went with Mike Harris's school reforms...

[Argus]

Just a couple of personal observations, Argus, that illustrate a teacher's life!

Two weeks ago, my son-in-law had to disarm a knife weilding student, a twelve year old, who was threatening to kill a girl in his class.

Three years ago, my daughter was punched in the stomach by a Grade two girl student.

Most teachers can tell you of similar incidents. And these two were in "good" schools - a rarity since Harris ruined the system. The twelve year old was the son of a middle class professional couple who were too busy to ever have taken steps to socialize their child but, like so many, left it to the schools.

So expel the 12 year old and send the 7 year old home for a week, then tell the parents if she hits another teacher she's going to a special class for social retards.

I realize that parenting isn't necessarily what it used to be. But a lot of the trouble is caused by the system, which no longer requires any measure of discipline from students, which doesn't allow teachers to discipline students. And which puts more importance on reassuring the student of his or her value than in enforcing rules and regulations in behaviour. And the lax discipline came about through the advice of legions of "teaching professionals" who felt discipline was archaic. They liked the idea of kids calling their teachers by their first name, of a more relaxed interaction and free form teaching style. They wanted less testing, and more feel-good reassurance for students egos.

Then more feel-good teaching professionals decided to dump all the "challenged" kids in with the regular classes, which was another disaster, because even with special assistants they interupted, disturbed and distracted the class.

Then more touchie-feelie people decided to import millions of illiterates from third world countries who didn't speak any English, and dumped them all into classes with their lousy grasp of the language. And that screwed up education even more. Pity the poor kid who gets it first time round but has to sit in his or her chair while teach repeats herself ten times over for the benefit of all those Chinese and African and Arab kids who don't understand, not to mention the occasional nut job in the back.

You want my solution to public education (that was a rhetorical question)? Slash most teacher salaries by 25%. Remove all the retards, autistics and assorted other psychological problem children to special classes. Refuse to allow any child who can't pass English speaking, reading and writing tests for his grade into that grade. Put them all into ESL classes, away from everyone else, until they learn the language.

Enforce discipline. Yes, sir. No ma'am, mouth closed and do your homework or out the door into a special school for those who won't do what they're bloody well told. And charge parents of those kids an extra fee, based on ability, for the extra cost of those schools. That oughto give them some motivation to have a look-see if their kids is doing his homework or not.

[Guest eureka]

Thank you for the information about "pocking:" though why you give it, I don't know. It does show, though, that you did spend long enough in school to learn to read a science fiction book. Or perhaps it was a comic?

Would you like all those teachers whose salaries you would slash to apply for the cushier jobs in your service. They would be quite a threat to you if they did, I would say, since I have never met a teacher who is as boneheaded as you.

All the ills you speak of are inherent to the education system. However, they are there because of voters like you who keep putting into office governments like that of Harris, who think of the system only in the context of producing fodder for the economic machine.

When you can adduce the slightest evidence to support your malignities, then you may say something worthy of comment. The work and pay bit has been done before on other threads. You were wrong then and are wrong now. I had thought you might have learned.

[err]

Then more feel-good teaching professionals decided to dump all the "challenged" kids in with the regular classes, which was another  disaster, because even with special assistants they interupted, disturbed and distracted the class.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the classes that used to hold the "Basic and General level" students were removed when Mike Harris cut their funding, an so the advanced students are in the same classrooms as the "challenged" kids..... Directly linked to Mike Harris's cuts.....

Then more touchie-feelie people decided to import millions of illiterates from third world countries who didn't speak any English, and dumped them all into classes with their lousy grasp of the language. And that screwed up education even more. Pity the poor kid who gets it first time round but has to sit in his or her chair while teach repeats herself ten times over for the benefit of all those Chinese and African and Arab kids who don't understand, not to mention the occasional nut job in the back.

See above for why the blame lies with Mike Harris... Directly at that...

You want my solution to public education (that was a rhetorical question)? Slash most teacher salaries by 25%. Remove all the retards, autistics and assorted other psychological problem children to special classes. Refuse to allow any child who can't pass English speaking, reading and writing tests for his grade into that grade. Put them all into ESL classes, away from everyone else, until they learn the language.

So should we get the funding back for these "special classes" or was Mike Harris right ???

[Argus]

Thank you for the information about "pocking:" though why you give it, I don't know. It does show, though, that you did spend long enough in school to learn to read a science fiction book. Or perhaps it was a comic?

Forgot to edit that part out when I changed the post.

Would you like all those teachers whose salaries you would slash to apply for the cushier jobs in your service. They would be quite a threat to you if they did, I would say, since I have never met a teacher who is as boneheaded as you.

Personalizing things. Tsk-tsk. Grow up and try and address the argument without getting sulky. Teachers are overpaid because of their largely unecessary educational backgrounds. Reduce the requirement to, say, a community college diploma, or eliminate the need for a degree, and then pay them appropriately.

All the ills you speak of are inherent to the education system. However, they are there because of voters like you who keep putting into office governments like that of Harris, who think of the system only in the context of producing fodder for the economic machine.

Pustulant drivel. The calamity which is the educational system was created by "educational professionals", the soft-headed, overeducated, arrogant elitists with the subliterate IQs who had all sorts of theories about child development and were eager to experiment - on other people's children. The Left is entirely responsible for the poor condition of schools today.

[scribblet]

[quote name= monitor the halls' date=' etc...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

When are parents and the kids going to take responsibility for their own actions and quit blaming it on everyone else. Mike Harris had nothing to do with it, poor upbringing, lack of values, ethics and integrity have more to do with it. No amount of social programs and basketball courts will prevent actions like this if there is no solid grounding and teaching in the home.

Accusations of racism are simply to deflect from the real problem, and the lack of empathy towards the victim is absolutely astounding.

" Det. Ling said in an interview before the meeting. "There's no indication there's anything racially motivated about this. This is a girl trying to fit in at a school where there's a lot of students of colour. It's just unfortunate."

[err]

... monitor the halls, etc...

When are parents and the kids going to take responsibility for their own actions and quit blaming it on everyone else. Mike Harris had nothing to do with it, poor upbringing, lack of values, ethics and integrity have more to do with it. No amount of social programs and basketball courts will prevent actions like this if there is no solid grounding and teaching in the home.

I'll agree somewhat about the parents, but after I address the main theme.

Mike Harris had everything to do with it. Supposing, in your neighborhood, the police no longer policed, and made it publicly known.... "We aren't going into that neighborhood anymore". If the crime rate escalated in your neighborhood as a consequence of the police action (or lack thereof), nobody would be surprised. However, following your logic, we should blame the parents of the criminals responsible for the escalated crime rate..... not the police (or lack thereof). In reality, the public would blame the person(s) responsible for the withdrawl of police services from the neighborhood.

Similarly, Mike Harris's cuts that removed guidance counsellors, and reduced staff to the point that there's no-one left to monitor the halls, etc... created an environment for the witnessed criminal behaviour to flourish....

As for parents, they should be more responsible for their kids' actions. And further, teachers should be empowered to deal with problem children in their classes.... and there needs to be enough staff in the schools to deal with what really happens in schools....

[Canuck E Stan]

Mister H err-ass

Read how one of Ontario's leading NDP'ers feels.

FC: Is Canada’s New Democratic Party too wedded to philosophies of the past?

BR: No and yes. No, because there is a lot of innovation in their ideas on the environment and their continuing concern with respect to poverty and housing and the need to address the needs of the people. I think those are always at the forefront and are very critical issues. I think where the party is not so much wedded to the past is in identifying the problems, but the party tends to be a little bit less inventive in identifying the solutions. Unfortunately, there is a tendency for people to say, "Well it’s either just more government or more regulation, and, in the case of higher education, lower tuition." They tend to go a bit for the slogans that don't, when you actually analyze them, add a whole lot to the policy discussion. That’s where I part company with folks because

I think there is a need to really address the underlying issues and to be much more creative in our solutions.

FC: If you had to offer advice to make the NDP more relevant, what would it be?

BR: I think it needs to make a stronger and more categorical embrace of the simple fact that Canada is a market economy. It should certainly remain a market economy and that we want to support companies and individuals in their aspirations. I think that’s something that we should be prepared to say in an unembarrassed way.

The notion that the party allows itself to be perceived as simply being anti-business or anti-enterprise is really not helpful and not functional in today’s world and in today’s economy and in today’s general thinking in society.

Before Err-Ass

"They tend to go a bit for the slogans that don't, when you actually analyze them, add a whole lot to the policy discussion."

Maybe you should come up with some tangible solutions instead of constantly going to back to Mister H err-ass.Stop living in the past,follow Bob's advice.

[Guest eureka]

O don't think you are reading that too well, Canuck. Rae seems to be talking about the perceptions of the NDP by the public NDP not its focus.

How are parents who cannot put food on the table or keep a roof over their childrens' heads to teach them the values of the middle clas? Of the people who post here blaming the victims of society.

The latest assessment of poverty in Toronto is that one third of all children now live in poverty. Food Bank usage has increased significantly in the past few years: years when we are supposed to be enjoying an economic boom.

The fault is in the lack of resources to treat the disease. It is not the symptons that can be treated.

Poverty, unemployment, and drug use are the cause of alienation though culture does play a part in that - not in crime itself.

err is bang on in his assessment of needs in the schools. That, however, will only lead to the containment of the problem. We must go beyond that to the social disconnection.