Posted on 01/19/2009 11:44:00 AM PST by forkinsocket
Pupils are wearing stab vests to school because of fears of knife attacks, a report warned today. The study of gang violence found some children were bringing weapons in to school and hiding them in the school grounds.
One school reported students were found with screwdrivers, hammers and chisels.
Some pupils bring weapons in to schools because of fear of attack, researchers were told.
One said: "It's not a bad thing to bring a weapon into school. You might get attacked on the way to school, on the way back. It's protection.
Another said: "I can protect myself with a knife or a gun. I would rather be arrested than dead."
The report's authors were told it was only a matter of time before a teacher was shot in school.
One interviewee said gangs led to a "significant risk to staff".
"It is only a matter of time in a school in the UK that something happens and a teacher is on the end of it [a shooting]," he said.
Staff were also at risk from armed intruders coming on to school grounds.
Children as young as 12 were being drawn in to gang violence, pupils said.
The authors were also told that in one school pupils spend "more time talking about the gangs than they do learning".
Interviews were conducted with staff and pupils at four unnamed schools by Perpetuity Consulting for the teachers' union NASUWT.
The authors recommend banning the wearing of gang "colours" in school and hoods.
NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: "The research suggests that there is no widespread problem of gang related activity in schools but where it exists it is of significant concern. "Gangs in schools appear to emanate from established problems in local communities rather than developing within the school."
"It is clear that gang problems need to be acknowledged by schools to enable them to be tackled head on.
"There is a real danger that some schools will be tempted to conceal or fail to address such problems for fear the reputation of the school will suffer.
She added: "In order to tackle gang culture effectively the myth has to be busted that being part of a gang is either safe or glamorous."
A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "The vast majority of schools are very safe places and incidents with knives are incredibly rare.
"We do not see any need for pupils to be wearing stab-proof vests."
ping
“Department for Children, Schools and Families”
Does not that say it all?
Wait for it - coming to your government soon.
Get Real....
You know that any kid that wears a stab proof vest is going to say “You can’t hurt me. I have a stab proof vest on!”
Then the bully will say “Bet you don’t have on a Slit Throat vest on” - or - “You don’t have a baseball bat to the head vest on”.
“One school reported students were found with screwdrivers, hammers and chisels.”
Traditionally in the United States this is called “shop”.
I reread this. Where does one get a “stab vest”, and why do they come in kid’s sizes?
Never mind, Ebay has them for $160.
Pricier than most designer jeans.
Perhaps that aspect of the article needs some truth checking.
Kids have more sense that their parents, who have let themselves be unarmed.
Certainly if the government were to ban knives, pointed sticks and fresh fruit the little snowflakes would be perfectly safe from bad people.
Home schooling is the answer.
“...teachers’ union NASUWT.”
Did they used to be the National Union of Teachers, or NUT ?
When I was a kid, we armed ourselves with sharpened pencils. Makes for a good stabbing weapon, and you wouldn't get busted for carrying them around school.
“One school reported students were found with screwdrivers, hammers and chisels.”
They weren’t in the woodwork class by any chance?
But the point is that the very fact that kids think this implies that there is a breakdown in society and in moral values. In my day, which isn’t that long ago, the fact that you might be attacked with a gun, knife, hammer or whatever in a school, or even going to and from school, was just unthinkable. People just didnt do that. Someone who did would just get locked up, but apparently no longer.
If the State is not going to punish people for antisocial behaiviour, then expect more antisocial behaviour. And if the State is not going to discharge its responisbility to maintain law and order, then they can hardly complain when people take steps themselves.
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