District 81 High Schoolers Search For R-E-S-P-E-C-T Only Real Solution Is To Set A Good Example, Youths Say

Tue., Dec. 2, 1997

By Jeanette White jeanettew@spokesman.com

Respect can be hard to come by at Spokane high schools, and student leaders say there’s only one way to tackle the problem: by example.

A survey of 1,156 School District 81 high school students shows their schools suffer the same shortage of respect as middle and elementary schools.

Sixty percent said students don’t care about one another or treat one another with respect. Even more - 67 percent - said there are a lot of put-downs at school.

On Monday, two dozen members of the Interhigh Senate met at Libby Center and brainstormed ways to change all that.

“I don’t know how you really teach respect other than life experience,” said Brian Donovan, a senior at North Central High School. “You don’t give them a pamphlet and say, ‘Please respect people.”’

Several students said the only real solution is to set a good example.

Befriend the quiet student who walks alone in the hallway, suggested Karen Kuhling, a junior at Lewis and Clark High School.

“Be nice to people. Make the school a fun place,” said Jonathan Parker, a Ferris senior. “Just show by example.”

Another girl suggested trying to help the kids who demonstrate the least respect. “A lot of times, it’s the kids doing the picking who have the most problems and hurt inside them.”

One boy said the respect problem among students is overblown and educators should focus instead on teaching.

“I get made fun of sometimes, but I deal with it,” said Ned Fadeley, a senior at Ferris. “It’s part of growing up. We’re not there to be baby-sat.”

Besides, Fadeley said, students will face the same problems in life after graduation.

“I don’t think it’s a lost cause,” said Janey Henning, a Lewis and Clark junior. “I really think we can do something about it.”

Another girl reminded the group about Barry Loukaitis, who shot up his Moses Lake classroom after years of being picked on.

In the Spokane survey, conducted in May, nearly three-quarters of the students said they feel safe at school.

But they must have meant only physically safe, said Mary Brown, student services supervisor.

Students learn more easily when they feel safe emotionally, too, said Ivan Bush, the district’s equal opportunity officer.

“It starts one person at a time,” he said. “Each of us reaching out to someone else.”

, DataTimes

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