NCJ Number
75132
Journal
Action in Teacher Education Volume: 1 Issue: 2 Dated: (Fall-Winter 1978) Pages: 3-10
Date Published
1978
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Positive steps are suggested for reducing and preventing crime and delinquency in schools, including improved community-school relations and teacher training courses in student discipline and survival skills.
Abstract
Underlying problems of delinquency are intimately connected with the nature and quality of the school experience. Hence, enriching the school environment should not only discourage disciplinary problems, but also have a positive effect upon juvenile delinquency as well. Teacher training courses often ignore issues relating to discipline, violence, and vandalism. Proper disciplinary procedures should not be limited to a select group of specialists. Furthermore, teachers should be assigned a manageable and reasonable number of students so they can work together in a productive educational atmosphere. The cooperation and commitment of all elements of the education community can overcome the problems of violence and vandalism. Ten positive approaches to enriching the classroom environment and creating the kind of atmosphere in which education can flourish are recommended. These include community education and optional alternative education programs, codes of rights and responsibilities, curriculum reform, police/school/community liaison arrangements, inservice and preservice teacher preparation courses, school security programs, counseling and guidance strategies, architectural and design techniques, student and parental involvement programs, various alternatives to suspension. One reference is provided.