Southside Middle students graduate from gang prevention program
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Southside Middle students graduate from gang prevention...
A group of thirty students at Southside Middle School in Florence graduated Tuesday from a program designed to give them the skills they need to avoid violent behavior.
Patricia Burkett/WBTW
Students graduate Gang Resistance Education and Treaning at Southside Middle School.
Published: November 24, 2009
Updated: November 24, 2009
FLORENCE - A group of thirty students at Southside Middle School in Florence graduated Tuesday from a program designed to give them the skills they need to avoid violent behavior.
The Gang Resistance Education and Training or G.R.E.A.T program consists of 13 sessions that combine interactive lessons and training designed to help the students make smart decisions and resist the temptation to get involved in a gang or turn to violence.
The G.R.E.A.T program has developed partnerships with nationally recognized organizations, such as the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the National Association of Police Athletic Leagues.
For more information, log on to http://www.great-online.org.
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There is gang activity at all of the middle school with Sneed gaining fast on Williams. Not all the students in those schools are from the surrounding neighborhoods.
Are they offering this program in the other middle schools as well?
Cuz, you know, we all know there isn’t any gang actvity in Sneed or Williams. 
I am aware of what DARE is (I would say we’re in the same age group). Is it your opinion that having self-esteem and learning to resist peer pressure has no bearing whatsoever on how kids make choices? Should it all be doom and gloom to guide them down the right path? As a parent, I believe there is no one way to teach kids right from wrong. Some will respond better to the scare tactics, while others need the boost to feel good about themselves and not rely on having the approval of their peers for their self-worth. All I’m saying is that this program is not neccessarily a complete waste of gov’t. money and time. It may very well have actually helped a few of the kids that participated.
I am fairly certain my age group was one of the first groups to go through the DARE program (Drug Abuse Resistance Education). It was all just say no, dont fall for peer pressure, happy go lucky BS. If they’d have taken the time to drop the “feel good about yourself” crap and show some real world consequences, it would have been much more effective.
Do you not remember being a teenager? Did you somehow manage to go straight from the breast to adulthood, skipping over that period in time whwn you thought nothing bad could happen to you, you knew everything, and the adults in your life were just stupid old people? Wait, maybe you were one of those kids that ALWAYS walked the straight and narrow and ALWAYS respected your elders. Kudos to you either way, but the reality is that most kids think they’ll never end up a crackhead or dead. It doesn’t matter if you show them pictures or take them on a tour of the morgue. Most kids think they are invincible no matter what you tell them! Thank God somebody is trying to do something to help these kids make the right choices. I’m sure if no one was doing anything, you would have a complaint about that too.
Wow, yet another gov’t waste of money, Kinda like DARE.
Here’s how you do drug education.
Find pictures of crackheads living on the streets or dead. Show kids pictures, tell them this is what you end up like if you do drugs.
Here’s how you do Gang Education.
Find pictures of dead gang members, show kids pictures of dead gang members, tell them this is what happens to gang members.
But the reality is, the govt wastes money on these self esteem programs. The kids see the gang members driving nice cars and wearing nice clothes and having nice things without having to work.
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