A Culture Of Fear

An article from the Toronto Star discusses school safety in light of the School Community Safety Advisory Panel's report (summary available here) released this past week.  The report indicates that the TDSB is underfunded and not equipped to manage the situation it finds itself in.  The Star explores the findings with supplemental stories, including a girl discussing the first time she saw someone stabbed (among other things), an excerpt from the report about a group sexual assault of a Muslim girl in a boys washroom, and a survey piece that shows that violence and fear are common in schools.

The Star also ran a questionnaire at two schools in the troubled Jane and Finch area (Jefferys and Westview), with shocking findings:

• 18% of Jefferys students and 15% at Westview say they have been threatened with a weapon at school.
• 37% of Westview students say they have been assaulted at school in the past two years.
• 22.5% of Westview students say they have seen a gun at school in the past two years, and 5% have seen a gun on four or more occasions.
• 11% of Jefferys students and 10% at Westview say they have been assaulted with a weapon at school in the past two years.
• 12% of Jefferys students and 2.9% at Westview say they have had a gun pointed at them in the past two years.
• 22% of the 51 Jefferys staff who responded say they feel unsafe at school.
• 94% of students at both schools are not white; most teachers at both schools are.
• 86% of Jefferys teachers report having seen drunk students, and 74% at Westview.
• 40% of Westview teachers say they have seen a student theft.
• 48% of black students said they feel discrimination in marks and discipline; few teachers at either school said they believe racism is an issue.
• 39 Westview students (4.8% of respondents) claim to belong to a gang; 93 ( 11.8%) said they have been in the past.
• Nearly 70% of Westview gang members and 63% at Jefferys say they have seen a gun at school in the past two years.
• 52% of Westview students said they have seen a knife at school in the past two years, and 19% say they have seen a knife on four or more occasions.
• 141 Westview students (16.4%) admit they have brought a knife to school in the past two years, and 51 students (6%) have done so "on many occasions."
• 73 students (8.5%) have been threatened by someone with a knife at school.
• 19% of female students at Jefferys and 7% of females at Westview said they had been victim of a sexual assault at school in the past two years, with black and white girls victimized more often than those of Asian and South Asian background.
• 29% of female students at Westview said they have experienced unwanted sexual contact (touching and grabbing) in the past two years.

Taken from Why schools aren't safe

Let's set aside all possibility for misunderstanding first. While the questionnaire was directed at two schools in a part of town with a reputation for crime and violence as well as a predominantly non-white population, this is not a "black problem" or a "Jane and Finch" problem. This is a Toronto problem, and arguably an Ontario or even a Canada problem. That Jane and Finch was centered out in the reports only comes about because the panel's inquiry was prompted by the shooting of Jordan Manners at Jefferys.

Now that we have established that this is everyone's problem, how do we fix it? In May (after the Manners shooting) I wrote about conflict resolution without violence (especially guns), but the panel has found (not surprisingly) that the problem goes beyond guns. There is a culture of fear, not just in Toronto schools, but in our society in general. The strong and the powerful intimidate and abuse the weak, and the weak are too afraid of the repercussions to report the attacks. So, we are left with the appearance of calm waters while underneath the sea ravages its victims.

It would be easy to leave it at that: people need to stop being afraid, and notify the authorities (specifically, the police, since in the sexual assault case above, the principal did not do so). However, that is unrealistic, because despite our hopes to the contrary, there is validity to the fear these people feel. Revenge is a very frightening reality of standing up to bullies under any circumstances, let alone involving the police.

And this is where I am stuck. I want to find a solution to this problem, but short of a police state, I cannot see one. It is so disheartening to look at the circumstances and see no recourse. Maybe one of the readers of this blog will come up with one.

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