School Community vs. Gang Violence

The schools in the gang affected area are also part of the community. If the community is threatened by gangs, then the schools are threatened as well. I know from personal experience, about gangs in schools. My high school had two gangs that always fought each other at school and some days I was afraid to go to school because I feared the gang fights.
In a survey taken by my group for this project, we asked 100 people questions about gangs and if they knew people in a gang, or had problems with gangs during school. One of the questions we asked was if gang violence ever broke out during school hours. Out of the 100 people we asked, 50% said yes, that some type of fighting broke out because of the gangs in the school.
When children fear going to school because of the gang violence and what can happen, the results from an academic stand point can be awful. In my third text I read for this class, And Still We Rise, Miles Corwin discusses the point that children who go to school in gang ridden communities fall to the pressures of gangs all the time. If these children in gangs go to school at all, they go to hang out with the other gang members. The children that actually go to school to learn have a hard time doing so when every day; a fight breaks out because of gang competition.