Who Cares? Survey Shows Valley Students Believe Mutual Respect And Concern Are In Decline

Students in Central Valley School District junior highs and high schools say overwhelmingly that their peers neither respect nor care about each other.

A survey of about 1,400 students, asking questions about school climate, produced this information. Similar responses were given in two earlier surveys. In 1995, the survey found that a mere 14 percent of students agree or strongly agree that students in their schools treat each other with respect. In 1996, the number was 17 percent. Last year that number was unchanged.

A somewhat similar question about students caring about each other showed plummeting numbers. In 1989, 57 percent of students surveyed agreed with that; by 1995, the lowest percent of students agreed, just 16 percent. In 1996, the number was 18 percent; last spring, the number was 17 percent.

“At least we’ve stopped the huge decline,” said Geoff Praeger, testing guru for the district. “That in itself is a victory.”

Roughly half the students in grades 7, 9, 10 and 11 took the school attitudes and opinions survey last spring. The survey asked about everything from students harassing other students (40 percent say it’s a problem), to happiness with one’s self (74 percent say they are), to a panoply of questions about drug use.

Younger students received a simpler version of the survey. Taking the survey was voluntary.

Some questions for the secondary you personally ever brought a weapon to school?” received a 19 percent agreement. It may be that at least some of those answers were intended for shock value.

“I’m more concerned about data that reflects that large numbers of kids would not report (to an adult) if they saw a weapon,” said CV Superintendent Wally Stanley.

“One of our focuses is to maintain school safety. I’m somewhat discouraged that that has not shown more dramatic improvement.”

Only 37 percent of students said they would report seeing another student with a weapon.

In 1996, that number was 46 percent. In ‘95, it was 31 percent.

Little more than a third of secondary students said they enjoy being at school, according to the survey.

The answers to that particular question have taken a nosedive since Central Valley started the surveys in 1989.

Less than half the students said they feel school rules are enforced fairly.

Not everyone thinks these answers are the gospel truth.

Three University High School students, all student body or senior class officers, say that a significant number of students chose their answers for shock value, not honesty.

“I heard kids in the hall saying, ‘Oh, yeah, for that answer I gave such and such,”’ said Allison Fanning, senior class secretary.

U-Hi associated student body president Ken Chane, ASB sergeant at arms Sean Ruscio and Fanning said if you could remove what one might call the “goof factor,” a healthier and more realistic picture of students’ respect for each other would emerge.

“Most kids are fine. But there’s a small group of kids that makes everybody mad,” Chane said.

He hypothesized that students answering the respect question and a similar question ignored the majority of pleasant, polite students and focused on the ill-behaved minority.

“The gangster kids,” explained Ruscio. “I used to think they were cool. Then I sat with them (in class). They couldn’t even read.”

These students aren’t alone in their skepticism.

“I wouldn’t put tremendous weight in the actual numbers, Praeger said. “But I do have a lot of faith in the trends.”

The lack of students who said they enjoy school may stem in part, he said, from today’s entertain-me culture.

“When I was a kid I used to spend a lot of time lying on the grass, looking at clouds. I don’t think that’s a common form of entertainment today,” Praeger said.

The U-Hi student leaders, Fanning, Chane and Ruscio, agreed that a certain amount of dislike for school is to be expected.

“After all, you don’t miss things until they’re gone. School is all most kids know,” Chane said.

“School’s not hard. All you have to do is show up and do your work,” Ruscio said. “There have to be some rules. This is not some daycare playground.”

School officials don’t have clear answers on the source of the troubling lack of caring or respect between students.

“Time will tell,” Praeger said. He and University High School Principal Erik Ohlund emphasized that it’s one thing to change a problem, but quite another to change students’ perceptions that there is a problem.

They also each pointed out that students seemed to have more positive answers about themselves than about students in general.

For instance, 74 percent of students said they are friendly with students different from themselves. And 40 percent of students said that students harassing other students is a problem at their school.

Here are some of the other questions and answers from the secondary survey:

In a question about use of smoking or chewing tobacco 53 percent said they had not used it; 24 percent said they’d tried it; 7 percent said they used tobacco once a week; 3 percent said yes to use about three times a week; 12 percent said they used tobacco every day. The trio of U-Hi students believed that students seriously underreported their use of tobacco and alcohol.

For a similar question about alcohol, 42 percent claimed no use; 28 percent admitted trying it; 19 percent claimed use about once or twice a month; 7 percent of students said they use alcohol about once or twice a week and 5 percent answered they use alcohol three or more times a week.

Chane, Fanning and Ruscio said the numbers of students who have at least tried tobacco and alcohol is “way up there.”

“People are afraid their teachers would actually see their answers and they would get in trouble,” Fanning said.

Just 42 percent of students said school rules are fairly applied. The U-Hi students said that their peers who are regularly in trouble sometimes think that teachers have personal agendas against them. But they’re mistaken. Assistant Principal Rick Sicilia, for instance, “isn’t out there to say, ‘I don’t like you,”’ Fanning said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color) Graphic: A change in attitude?

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: District promotes theme of respect in all activities The dismal picture of students who care little about each other led Central Valley School District two years ago to develop a theme of respect. School Superintendent Wally Stanley has championed the theme and encouraged each school to develop its own program. The theme crops up in many ways in Central Valley schools. “I think it takes a number of years before you really do see a substantial impact,” Stanley said. “We have to remember this is not just a kid battle, but an adult battle as well. We have to reinforce the notion of respect for ourselves and for the institutions.” An elementary school librarian might encourage fourth-graders to work hard to be kind to each other. Posters in the school hallways underline the importance of respect. A new 30-minute TAP class is under way at Central Valley and University high schools this year. TAP stands for Tutorial/Advisory Period. The teaching subjects in advisory range from study skills to career counseling and public speaking. One of the most unusual parts of this class is that students are grouped into classes that cross all ages. Those classes will remain intact all through a student’s high school career. “The real drive of the Tutorial/ Advisory Period is a whole attempt to make connections with students on a more enduring basis than we’ve had in the past,” said University High School Erik Ohlund. The more students get to know each other and at least one teacher, the more bonding - and respect - educators hope to see. Marny Lombard