Calllie Roberts 2300 Alameda de las Pulgas, Belmont, CA 94002

April 23rd, 2013

Mr. Geordie Grieg Head Author, The Daily Mail Northclifffe House 2 Derry Street London W8 5TT020

I hereby convey my message towards the millions readers of The Daily Mail regarding violence practiced by students, zoomed in the secondary level of education. Writing as Callie Roberts from California, I graduated from Carlmont High School in Belmont. It has been more than a decade since I left school. However, this issue came up to me as I came across an article about an Ohio high school student killed three classmates in a shooting rampage somewhere in March 2012. Fellow readers, have it ever occurred to you about the extent of violence in school? I remembered during my time in the 90s, vulgar words are openly used amongst students in our conversations. Even with a teacher that is. Living in a ghetto area, winning fights is a glory and thus students tend to get into fights aggressively within the school compound that it even become a legal case. Worst of all, my classmate Emilio Ramirez was shot a few blocks away from school. Nowadays, violence in school is not only restricted to these criteria but also numerous acts such as vandalism, bullying and even raping. Shockingly, even the elementary kids are involved with such acts.

The reason behind this violence is the students' background. From my ghetto neighbourhood, it is an in trend to get into fights and winning is glory. Boosting with pride, they would walk straight along the alley with heads held high. Schools and teachers do contribute to this issue. Sadly, they prefer to ignore rather than to get involve. Emilio for example, he is shot because of a personal grudge that would have probably do justice by now. The main tools to tackle this issue are the schools and teachers themselves. They should stop turning by a recently-released thug after being abandoned by my Principal at his most crucial moments just because he did not knock. If the Principal would be there for him instead, he put a blind eye into this matter. Legal actions should be taken towards those involved in violence at school. Community social service is a good form of penalty. Teachers should be allowed to intervene into fights and should have their own initiatives to capture dangerous minds. As a conclusion, I really do hope that this problem will be taken seriously for the future of our younger generations. In or out of school, violence is not our way of life. I would also like to take this opportunity to voice out my gratitude towards Miss Lou Anne Johnsons, our whitebread teacher who were always there for us and captivating our minds through her determination.

Yours truly,

Callie R
Callie Roberts

448 words