Students from 12 area high schools discuss what makes them feel unsafe in their classes. While some see racial tolerance increasing, others point out that there are still problems. Photo by Clinton Lewis

For many students, high school is as scary today as it ever was. And for a lot of the same reasons. As the Daily News Teen Roundtable discussed recently, racism and harassment are still alive and well. Kids who dress differently are still made fun of. Bullies still roam the halls, looking for someone to pick on. And, in spite of revised school policies and tighter security, weapons can still easily be brought into schools. As roundtable moderator Taylor Loyal found, the situation can sometimes become unbearable. Logan High School sophomore Ashley Malone started the discussion by telling what happened at her school. Ashley: Last year, freshman year, in the first six months that I came to high school, there were like six instances of racial harassment at my school and it was like a big to-do about it. I had to nearly sue the school before they were willing to do something about it. Loyal: Were they things that directly involved you?Ashley: A few of them were, like one in particular was directly me. … I was sitting at the lunch table with some friends and this guy I wont say his name, but he came in right beside me and like somebody at a table right behind me was like, Shes black. And it progressed to Youre sitting by a nigger. And so it would be stuff like that. Loyal: Have the rest of you seen stuff like that at your schools?Liz: If somebody did something like that at my school, theyd get killed. Michael: We have very few black people or Mexicans or minorities of any type at our school, so if there is someone black at our school, they get a lot of harassment. Ashley: I know that there are more black people in my school, but I never see them because theyre not in my classes and there are so few of us. Beth: I think we have like two. Kayla: At my school, its like half and half. And there is a lot of racial tension, because we have a lot of rednecks at our school and so its kind of hard, because you just want everybody to get along. And they dont. So its very hard going to my school. Loyal: Why do you think that people dont get along?Ashley: Its about closed-mindedness, pretty much. Because those people who were saying stuff to me, theyve never met me in my whole entire life and Ive never seen most of them, and they are going to go ahead and judge me before they ever said a word to me. Liz: I dont think anyone would be stupid enough to walk into Russellville (High School) being too racist. I mean, theres jokes now and then. Kenny: The way I see it, theres two reasons people harass others. The first is somethings different and you dont understand the situation. The second is theyre compensating for their own internal deficiencies. So its kind of touchy on how to remedy that. Chad: I dont think things like that really happen at my school. I go to an extremely diverse school like one of the most diverse schools in the state. So we have a lot of different nationalities and just races and everything going on at my school. What we do see at my school is we see a natural segregation between the different groups. For instance at lunch, youre going to see blacks sitting together, youre going to see whites sitting together and youre going to see Bosnians sitting together. Kayla: At my school, you never see blacks and whites sitting together and theres so much tension. At the beginning of the year, there was a situation where a black student and a white student got into an argument. And that day, one of the students left school and got a gun and brought it back to school and was planning to shoot the other students. So its so bad at our school it could lead to some major violence there. And its really scary because you dont want it to be that way, and there are a lot of closed-minded people in my town, (not to mention) my school. Loyal: What are the schools doing to stop this?Chad: If you wanted to bring a gun or anything into my school … its unreal the way you can just bring a backpack to school and stick it in your backpack and nobody would ever know the difference. Michael: We have metal detectors, but theyre just the ones that scan over you real quick and sometimes they pick up stuff, sometimes they dont. But theres early morning classes, all the athletes, they bring in their bags. If you wanted to bring in a weapon, its extremely easy. Its no problem. Kayla: Its not that hard at my school either, because the guy that brought the gun to school kept it in his car. The cops were called because there was suspicion that there was a gun in the car, and the cops searched the car and there was in fact a gun. So it was that easy. And at our school theres really nothing to stop that. Its scary how possible it is that someone could bring a gun to school. Ashley: The only thing that we have at Logan County are surveillance cameras … if somebody wanted to bring a gun, it wouldnt be that difficult at all. I dont think that whoever is supposed to be watching the video even looks at them half the time. Loyal: Are you scared about that?Ashley: Sometimes I am. I mean, after Columbine and all those other school shootings, who isnt scared at school?Kayla: The racial tension at my school, it doesnt get scary until the end of the year, because it gets really bad at the end of the year. And I remember at middle school, it got bad at the end of the year because we were studying the Civil War and thats when it always got bad. But Ive noticed that thats the only time that racial tension really gets bad … every year its just going to be there. Its a guarantee. Kenny: Im not really scared to go to school. I dont think about those things on a daily basis. Maybe its just because Im more comfortable at our school. I mean, theres not been really anything that I can think of since Ive been in high school thats really been scary as far as violence. Michael: It seems like after Columbine is where you got all the chain reactions of other school shootings. But they just kept getting quieter. It hasnt been in the news as much so people dont really think about it as much. Kruti: Im not really scared to go to school. I guess its a little freaky thinking that somebody can stick a gun in their backpack or whatever and come and theres no telling what theyd do. But whenever I go to school in the morning, Im not scared. I dont think anythings going to happen. But I think at this point in our life, all teenagers think they are immortal and whatever happens, theyre always going to be here. Kayla: I dont think its really scary until you start to think about it. And I know that our security, like after the gun was brought to school, there was a police officer in the parking lot and all around school the whole day. But now that its over with and forgotten, theres a police officer in the parking lot in the morning, but thats it. And you know, other than that, they have just forgotten the whole situation. Kenny: I havent noticed any really big changes since the whole string of school shootings. The only thing thats really changed in the school policy is where they were forced to make stricter rules on the things that were brought and weapons that might be near the school and so on. We had a guy at graduation, I think my freshman year, who when he went up to accept his diploma had something under his gown and pulled it out and it was a can of silly string. He just sprayed the principal with it, but they banned him from the school grounds for the rest of his life. He cant ever come back. Theyre really touchy about things that could be dangerous, but nothing seems to ever happen. Emma: I dont know if I can speak for my whole school, but just from what I see, we dont have a lot of diverse people in our school, so therefore to me when someone new from a different culture or something comes in, its like, Oooh. And we have a lot of foreign exchange students and were excited to learn about them and their culture and what they do. Michael: Its kind of strange that when we have foreign exchange students come to our school, everyone treats them nice and with respect. We have minority people from our own country come into our school, people in our school treat them with disrespect. Beth: I wish we had more diversity in our school, because I would like to learn about other peoples cultures and I think its nice to know that everything is not the same for everybody. I wish we did have more like that. Kenny: I think its important to consider that there is just as much hostility between people of the same race and they dont have racial tension. There is as much hostility there as there is for other small reasons. Loyal: But how do you solve the problem of hostility in schools?Kayla: I know at our school its really hard to stop fights, because once somebody hears that theres going to be a fight, its like Oh, a fight! I cannot wait! … I guess were so bored with school that we have to see that to entertain us. I mean, theres no way to stop it. Loyal: What is it about our culture or society or whatever? Im sure there are some places where they wouldnt be excited to see people beat each other up. Kruti: I remember it was the second day of middle school and we were just coming out of elementary school and youre like, Wow. And the second day these two girls, they got in a fight on the bleachers. They were rolling down and we were like, Oh my gosh. Ive never seen anything like this. This is going to be awesome. Kayla: I guess its bad to say, but I mean, its like a break from your day. When you see a good fight, its like Oh, joy. My day is just going to be good from here on out. Loyal: But what about the people who are actually victims of that? Ashley: Nobody has actually tried to physically hurt me, but as for the emotional affects, I still notice stuff. Like even today, I question people that I just meet, like, Are these people really trying to be my friend or do they have some ulterior motive that I dont know about? And like the only good thing that Ive seen come out of it is that Ive grown up a lot since last year. Im a completely different person. … I just decided that Im just not going to care what people think about me anymore, because thats what allowed those people to hurt me last year caring. Kayla: I think that this may not be true for other people at other schools, but I know that people at our school love to see people hurt each other. It doesnt matter if its physically or emotionally. Last year, my friend and I decided to do a project and we made it into a movie. We started a rumor about us. It was a simple rumor and people just jumped on it. You know, its like So and so is going to be hurt by this and they loved that. I mean, they loved the tension and they loved seeing people getting their feelings hurt. And I think thats a big part of it. I mean, if people werent so entertained by hurting other people then maybe it wouldnt be so bad. Loyal: Why do you think that is? What is it about us that wants to be superior to somebody else?Kenny: Its just a part of human nature. I mean, its really amplified among young people because were concentrated in a group and you can see it in a closed environment, but it happens in the adult world, too. I mean, you have people break out in fights when theyre 30 years old … Its not a a problem thats isolated with the teenage community. Its just a lot more evident in us because were extremely over-emotional at times just because of all the stuff thats going on with us. Kruti: I think in high school the main reasons for harassment or whatever is because people are so closed-minded. Theyre not willing to accept new changes. The only thing that can help that is time and (if) more schools would become more diverse. I can tell already, from my freshman year to this year, Warren East has definitely become more diverse. I know that we have more Mexicans at our school this year and theres also more black people compared to my freshman year. Michael: Some of the fights are caused by someone cheated on this person or something, but the other half of fights are like bullies that pick on people. Loyal: Is there a school bully? At every school?Kayla: Its more like a group of people instead of just one certain person. Liz: It always tends to be that group that everybody, in the back of their mind, they want to hang out with because they seem to be the most attractive people, the most popular people. Kenny: It always stems from this need we all have to fit in somewhere. I mean, we can say as much as we want to that we dont care what people think, but deep down, when somebody directly insults you, its going to hurt you a little bit somehow. … The real cause of why its such a problem is the fact that we are, at our age, yearning to find our niche somewhere in the world and dont know where its going to be. Saurin: Well, I havent really noticed anything like some of you had said, even though we do have diversity. Theres probably an equal number of African-Americans and Caucasians and we do have a few Asians including myself, but I havent really noticed any tension. People joke around … but none of it is serious and everyone is OK with it. Kenny: I dont see a lot of hostility for those reasons as much as I do just basically social groups, which is going to happen anyway. Its a problem in human nature the need to want to feel better than somebody else. We catch ourselves doing it. Everybody does it some time or another. But I dont think its something we can really remedy. Its one of those horrible things like war or anything else that goes on that is just ingrained in us. I dont think we can ever phase it out completely. Chad: Some jokes arent funny. Ashley: One thing that nobody has said, like another group that really gets a lot of harassment, or at least at my school is the Gothic kids and like everybody who dresses in all black. And that really irritates me, too, because a lot of the people who say stuff about them, they dont know anybody like that and I dont know. I guess I just dont like to see people hurt like that. Loyal: Do you think thats part of the problem? They dont take the time to get to know them or (find out) why they do what they do?Ashley: Thats probably most of the problem. Kruti: High school people are so closed-minded that they cant see beyond the clothes. Like if you just sit down and talk to somebody, you will find out Im sure that you have a lot in common with them. Because I can say that I have personally done that, and me and this girl have become really good friends. Kenny: Most teenagers are egocentric and so concerned about ourselves most times that we dont take the time to consider how someone else feels before we are going to say something or do something that might hurt them and its because we consider our own feelings so much that were not really concerned with the other persons. So Id say if anything, you should try to teach people how to empathize, but again, I dont know if that could really be done.——————————269241705132237Content-Disposition: form-data; name=”picwidth”200