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Safer Schools
Safer Schools |
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| What
do you think about this issue?
Click here to send your reaction and thoughts to John. |
| One
of the best books I’ve read in the last decade is Malcolm Gladwell’s The
Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, a
national best seller. He tells the story of the “Broken Window
Theory” on page 141: “Broken Windows was the brainchild of the criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Killing. Wilson and Killing argue that crime is the inevitable result of disorder. If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from the building to the street on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes. In a city, relatively minor problems like graffiti, public disorder, and aggressive panhandling, they write, are all the equivalent of broken windows, invitations to more serious crimes.” The authors go on to report that former Mayor Rudy Guliani and William Bratton (now LA Police Chief) reduced crime in New York City during the late 1990s by first cleaning up the little things, by applying the “Broken Windows Theory” to the streets of New York. Applying these ideas to our public schools suggests that a deteriorating physical plant will cause disorder – including the weapons, drugs, bullying and so on so prevalent and so disruptive in inner-city schools today. Does this apply to public schools in south Orange County? You bet it does. Do your children attend class in a portable? Even with a new coat of paint and when generally well kept up, portables still visually and virtually “scream” at your kids that schools are not very important places. Why should a kid have respect for a teacher working in a cheap, temporary classroom? Our schools should be the nicest and safest places in our neighborhoods. Indeed, schools are the heart of our neighborhoods. They should look like it. The broken windows must be fixed. |
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 "Rows of portables, even well kept ones at these excellent Irvine schools, speak loudly to our kids about the value the community places on education. "  |
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The 48th Congressional District includes the following Orange County cities:
Aliso Viejo / Dana Point / Foothill Ranch / Irvine / Laguna Beach / Laguna Hills/ Laguna Niguel / Laguna Woods / Lake Forest / Newport Beach / Portola Hills/ San Joaquin Hills / San Juan Capistrano / Tustin / Tustin Foothills
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