I agree with 11:04 and 11:17.

I think many of the comments here are coded racism and also classism. It's not only AA kids who yell and curse, just like drug trafficking is not only in low income AA neighborhoods. It comes down to deeply ingrained societal prejudices -- we turn a blind eye/ear to behavior in other races that is somehow deplorable when it's perpetrated by AAs.

There are just as many if not more drug transactions on middle and upper class white college campuses as there are on the corners of low income AA neighborhoods, but there are no cops on the college campuses breathing down those students' necks.

The posts here show that inappropriate behavior in teens crosses race and class lines. Some of the folks posting here are media-saturated -- the media loves to print and produce polarizing data, often out of context, as that is sensationalist, and sensationalism sells. Some of the PPs seem to have read the story and forgotten to seek out the context.

I also totally agree with 11:17 in that my personal taste would be to eradicate every item listed in that post.

Then please tell your children to act like the people you expect them to be in public. I will do the same, and perhaps this attitude will spread. As an AA, it pains me to no end to see the crazy behavior among our teens when I move about in the city.

No cursing
No sagging
No tattoos
No fake hair
No screaming at each from across the street
No littering

Is that too much to ask? I mean, what it up with the body art and the fake hair??? When are we going to explain to our boys what the droopy pants are all about?

Nice to see that coded racism is alive and well with DC moms.

The kids "at the bus stop" are the ones cursing, they sound "so ghetto," look like the folks "in lock up" -- you people make me sad.

WTF. Rest my case.

Anonymous wrote:Observing the Wilson students as they were let out of school in the afternoons is one of the reasons I sent my kids to private. And I'm black. Call me elitist if you will, but no way was I sending my kid to a school where that behavior is common.

Agreed. I would not want my son in an environment where if you don't curse and speak slang you are accused of acting "white"

Anonymous wrote:Re: Hardy

I had those same concerns until I visited the school. I think there's the inside the building culture - calm, quiet, and the outside culture (rowdy teen behavior). It really is interesting. When I'm in the position to do so, I will ask the administration about dismissal. My understanding is that most do not linger. I may visit again soon to see what happens at dismissal.

Are children the same at Deal?

The Deal kids are divided. Most are polite young people. My daughter avoids the park by the bus stop which she refers to as "the place where the kids say f*** every other word". She also doesn't want to go to Wilson because the kids are so crude and loud after school. I have to say I agree.

How about a poster campaign?

"Think you'll ever get a #$%^!?@? job if you keep talking like that?"

Are you on DCUM, Mr. Mayor?

Exhibit A on the cause of the problem: the two responses above. Nice.

I like all those people whining, I am a 37 Y.O. woman, and I definitely remember cursing all the time as a teen, bitch, fuck, whatever. I turned out fine, so did all of my classmates. Stuff being so fucking full of yourselves.

I love the fact that certain words are "off-limits" just because someone said that it was inappropriate.

Tell me why saying "fuck" after some disappointment is any different then "Oh shit"? It's because most people have been taught that it's just inappropriate. Fact is that many of these curse words' meanings have changed from years ago. As a high school teacher, I know that my students use curse words, I hear them, we are not deaf, and you know what? Fuck is rarely used to mean sex. It's used to show disappointment, to show anger, etc...

Also, when you were in high school, were you 100% polite and good?

Anonymous wrote:Re: Hardy

I had those same concerns until I visited the school. I think there's the inside the building culture - calm, quiet, and the outside culture (rowdy teen behavior). It really is interesting. When I'm in the position to do so, I will ask the administration about dismissal. My understanding is that most do not linger. I may visit again soon to see what happens at dismissal.

Are children the same at Deal?

So again, how about having principals , coaches etc. transmitting that they CARE about what happens outside? Walking around and chiding/encouraging kids in these clusters of cursing on the doorstep would be a great start. developing an honor code with a code of expectations for 'public behavior' when associated with the school - coming, going, field trips etc. -- may not be legally binding but would communicate the school has an expectation that kids are able to aspire to some basic honorable manners

Re: Hardy

I had those same concerns until I visited the school. I think there's the inside the building culture - calm, quiet, and the outside culture (rowdy teen behavior). It really is interesting. When I'm in the position to do so, I will ask the administration about dismissal. My understanding is that most do not linger. I may visit again soon to see what happens at dismissal.

Are children the same at Deal?

It's pretty pathetic after school at Hardy too. It hurts my ears to walk by those students talking so ghetto. Really embarrassing. While I think it may be a good idea to place a principal or other administration staff during dismissal, I highly doubt that they will do anything about it. Like many say, it is a zoo there.

That is good to hear re: Gonzaga. We'll be looking at that school in a few years.

There's the school culture, and then there's the home culture. I think a lot of this starts at home. My kid knows that I do not tolerate lazy language (cursing and slang), and I do tolerate some of the street fashion of our neighborhood. I tell my child that it is possible to be fashionable without looking like the people who are in lock up and it is important to know when to code switch. Many of the city's children have no clue. Mom and Dad are not teaching it at home, and school isn't addressing it either.

I am beginning to think that we need to explore expanding single sex public education options. It might help if our young people can re-imagine what it means to be a man or woman.

Easternite here and you're absolutely correct about the Gonzaga boys.