AV Geeks 16mm Lunch 5-7-2025

Hello everybody. I'm Skip Alzheimer. Welcome to the AV Geeks Lunchtime streaming show where we watch old 16mimeter films and talk about them. Yes. I don't know. Just phased out of there a little bit. Anyways, uh so in the course of working with films from other collections, I run across things and I'm like, you know what? I I have some films related to that subject that I' I'd love to bring out. And that's what we've been doing these last couple of days is uh yesterday was Mexico, day before was the word angel. Uh today, vandalism. Um I have some great films on vandalism that I've shown over the years. And uh then I found some other stuff that was tangentially related. So here is we're going to start off with school vandalism, which I haven't shown in on this show for a long time. So enjoy. in the cover. Hands in the C. Okay, boys. Follow me. This was a great idea you had this time. Hey man, you were the one that said, "Let's find some kicks." All I said was, "What are we going to do this afternoon?" Guys, what are we going to do today? Can't go retreat. She's not home. Let's go to the pizza shop. What do you mean the pizza shop? I want to go to my bed. No. What's up there? Let's go find out. [Music] [Music] You guys come on up. [Music] Keep it up. I'm proud of you. Bigger and you'll be an elephant. Oh, I didn't say nothing. I'm sorry I didn't say that. Look how far it is. Take one step. Boom. Bam. Stupid idiot. You could be building our beach. I need it. You better not. Hey, you guys, you better pull it. The cops patrol this place. Heck, if I'd have known all this was going to happen, I wouldn't let Greg come along. My parents are going to blame me for this, and I hardly did anything. Come on, B. You're in it all the way. You're the one that found the window. Every day you get a good ball. Hello, Mom. Hey guys, Uncle Uncle Thomas, [Music] man. It's a cafeteria. Call Mr. Johnson slap shop. Why is it always you that makes the messes? Now I've had enough of you. Get out and stay out for one week. Come on, let's go check it out. You stay here and let us know if anybody comes. Heck no. If you just stayed up on the roof to warn us. They don't mad. We're the ones that really blew it. This is really good [ __ ] for my dad. It just means more study. I kept two jobs and helped support the family. I still got good honor grades. But dad, all my other grades are okay. It's just in English. I just don't like the teacher. That's no excuse for a bad grade. I must have been enough to get involved in this. Man, you think you got problems? I'm going to be kicked off team for this. Sam is an intelligent boy, Mrs. Garner, but his inability to read up to grade level is affecting all of his marks in school. He should be placed into one of our remedial reading classes. Remember, Sam, if you don't improve your reading ability, you're going to suffer poor marks throughout your school life. If you wish to remain eligible for the basketball team, those marks are going to have to be kept up. Did you hear that, Sam? You know, Mr. Hugh, it ain't easy to handle this boy without his father to help. I didn't like school anyway. Besides, we'll be here for a long time. Remember Charlie Short? All he did was slash Mr. Bryant's tires and he got three years in juvie. They probably called their parents by now. My dad's really going to be shook. I wouldn't be surprised if they took Greg home and left me here. No. If it's bad enough, they try in court. Even if you're underage. Man, we'd be better off in court. Cuz once you get to Julie, they just forget you until you're so old, no one remembers. And only if you guys had to mess around with that fire. [Music] [Music] Hey, you guys. Come on. It's a fire. [ __ ] Come on. We got to go the door. Over by over by the wall. Put your hands on the wall. Spread your legs. We didn't do anything. [Music] We didn't mean to do anything. Keep looking straight ahead. All right, let's go. We got 44260. 400 400 2 Hey boys, come with me. [Music] I'm sorry, Mom. You never listen to me. Now look what you've gotten yourself into. I said I was sorry. How could you do this? How could you get your little brother in this mess? He's old enough to know when he's doing something wrong. Mr. Mrs. Gomez, would you take your son and go with Officer Merrill? Mrs. Garner, will you take your son and go with Sergeant Ramsay? And Mr. Mrs. Bradley, will you bring your sons and come with me? [Music] So 1972, best year for films. Best year. We've we've seen this again and again and again. And that one is is really something. Um, this one is something because it features puppets. Enjoy. [Music] Da da da da da da da. [Music] [Music] Once upon a time there was a very nice little town just like the one you live in with pretty things all around. Beautiful parks and playgrounds, places to run and play. How would you feel if someone took that beauty away? Time to get up. Don't be [Music] [Laughter] late. And like every town, there are all kinds of children. And most of them take care of their things. Do you time to get up? Sometimes we do things without thinking a tad. Is what I'm doing helping? Or is it good or bad? Most kids are good kids choosing right, not wrong. They can tell the difference between right and wrong. Hey, stop that. You know you shouldn't be doing that. Stop that. It's not nice to mess up the walls. Uh-oh. Can't walk on the grass. Okay, you're right. Hey, you dropped something. Oh. Oh, thank you. I'm glad I saw it. Thanks again. Bye. So long. And here's your grandmother's locket for me. Yes. And I want you to have it. Okay. But you have to be careful not to lose it. Okay. Well, don't forget it's very old and it can't be replaced. Oh, I'll never lose it. Now, get along. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. [Music] Ah, but there's a few like sneaky. They don't like to do their share or play fair. [Music] Sneaky doesn't care. He won't even follow the rules. Sneaky doesn't care. He thinks me first. He'll choose the worst. He'll mess and spray, break and steal. He never ever thinks of how you or I may feel. Sneaky doesn't care. He won't even follow the rules. Oh, if Sneaky only thought of others first, maybe he wouldn't have written on the walls or knocked over the trash or ruined the desk. I wonder why does Sneaky only think of himself and not about others? Oh, I hope you can't come over. I'd like to. Oh, that'd be [Music] nice. Hey, that's my locket. Give it back to her. That's my locket. Give it back. Oh, please don't take it. I feel so bad. Why did he take it? I don't understand him. Oh, why do some children do what others tell them to do, even when they know it's wrong? Are they weak or not very strong? Just going along. They're just as bad as sneaky. [Music] Good [Music] boy. Shh. Shh. Quiet. [Music] Quiet. Quiet. Quiet. Hey. Hey. Hey. Over here. In the desk. The desk. This. Knock it over. Knock it over. Wow. Yeah. Do they do it cuz they're angry or just feeling mad? Or are they like a little baby who gets attention by getting other people in trouble and making them act bad? [Music] Some kids are copycats and only imitate. They go right along knowing that they're making a mistake. Why be like a copycat doing what you see others do? Do what you feel is right. It'll be all right for you. Now think about those children spray and breaking steel. That's good. That's good. That's good. Oh, Lord. How would you take it if they busted your wheel? Now tell the truth, it's unfair. How do you fight? Why do they do it? Why do they do that to me? It's unfair. It's unfair. Why did they do that to me? [Music] What can we do about those few? The ones that aren't being fair. Soon all the places will be ugly spaces. No more beauty anywhere. It's not too late to care. It's not too late to care. You see, others pay to give you a school. It's not all just free. It costs money to repair and repaint. It cost your parents. It even cost you and me. Think of all the wasted money because of a few. It isn't fair. What can we really do? Pretty soon, your parents might not care and maybe no longer want to pay to fix things up or make a repair. Did you know that to repaint one building wall cost about the same as a thousand cartons of milk? [Music] To replace one school desk costs about the same as what your mom and dad would have to pay for 10 pairs of tennis shoes. And to fix one broken window glass costs about the same as 300 new crayons. And to replace one broken bike would cost about the same as 34 kickballs. [Music] Have you ever tried to write on a desk that someone else has ruined? [Music] How would you feel if you had to use the phone to call for help and someone had broken it? [Music] Have you ever wanted to play in a park and someone had messed it all [Music] up? Once there was a very nice town until Sneaky went running around. So let's all work together. Let's all cooperate and start building. Stop destroying. Soon it may be too late. Be good to one another. Yeah. Life will be so great. It's your town. What do you think we should do? It's your turn now. It's up to you. Uh, so that was Bob Baker's Marionette and the Bob Baker Marionette Theater still exists and one day I hope to go there and ideally show films there uh featuring Bob Baker marionettes. So I would show this film. Um, yeah, it seemed like it was a hodgepodge of different uh puppets that they pulled out. They didn't make any new ones for this. Uh, and Sneaky was um pretty great. Pretty great character. Him and the organ grinder monkey. Um, all pretty great. All right. Uh, let's flash forward to uh a latterday coronet that's animated. Taking responsibility. What's wrong with vandalism? Enjoy. [Music] There are a lot of things about you that other people see every day. But deep inside you is something that other people don't always see. Your feelings. A lot of the time you probably feel happy. But sometimes you might feel other ways. For instance, suppose you own something you liked a lot and one day you accidentally broke it. If this happened to you, you'd probably feel very sad. The more important the thing was to you or the harder it was to replace, the worse you would probably feel. It might take you a long time before you started feeling happy again. Other people have feelings, too. And even though different people might look different on the outside, most people's feelings work about the same way yours do. Like you, other people are often happy. Once in a while, they have reasons for feeling sad, too. Of course, like everyone else, you have a lot more feelings than just happy and sad. Sometimes you feel bored or angry. And sometimes you feel like doing something you know you shouldn't do. For instance, there might be times when you feel like damaging something or breaking something on purpose. Everyone has feelings like this at one time or another, even adults. But why do people have these feelings? Sometimes people feel they'd like to damage something because they're bored and looking for something to do or because they're curious about what will happen if they break something or because they want to show off and think that might be a good way to do it. Or even because they're angry with themselves or with another person. But whatever causes these feelings, suppose people just allow them to run [Music] wild. The world would be a noisy mess and everything would be broken. No one wants that. So people have to learn how to manage these feelings. But suppose you don't manage these feelings and you damage something on purpose. That's called vandalism. It isn't vandalism if you damage something by accident. And it isn't vandalism if you want to damage something but don't. It's only vandalism if you actually do it. Suppose one day you decided to break something just for fun, something that belonged to someone else. Suppose the thing didn't look very important to you. You might think, what would be the harm in breaking it? It takes some imagination to see the harm. One way to see it is to imagine how you might feel if someone broke something of yours. [Music] You might feel afraid and worry about what else the person might do. Or you might feel sad that anyone would do something like that. Or you might feel angry because you think you don't deserve to have your things broken. Even if the broken thing didn't look important to anyone else, it could have been very important to you for all sorts of reasons. Maybe you just happen to like it a lot, or it was a gift from someone very special to [Music] you, or you had some especially good times with it. Whatever your reasons for liking it, if someone broke it on purpose, you would probably feel terrible. So, it's easy to see that if you broke something that belonged to someone else, the other person might feel just as terrible and that that's where the harm would be. But that's not the only harm. Someone would have to clean up the mess and that would take time. And suppose the owner wanted to replace what was broken, that would take time, too, and cost money. And it's possible that there wouldn't be enough money to buy another one. Then what? The owner would have to get along without it. So, it's pretty easy to see that if you damage something that's owned or used by someone else, you can really cause a lot of harm. But what if you damage something that's used not just by one person, but by many people? Suppose you were very angry about something. And suppose you didn't control that feeling, but instead took your anger out on something many children use, a swing on your school playground, for instance. There would be many people who couldn't use the swing, maybe for a long time, and they would probably all feel bad. What else would happen? Someone would have to repair the swing or replace it, and that would take time and money. money that might have helped to buy something else like a new slide or a new teeter totter, but now it couldn't be spent that way. So, if you didn't control your anger and you broke the swing, you'd really be taking something away from a lot of people, people you know. What if you damaged something that belonged to someone you didn't know? Suppose you saw a flower garden and you had a feeling it might be fun to tear up that flower garden and you didn't control that feeling. What would be the harm in that? You might not care about flowers. The flower garden might not be important to you at all, but it is very important to somebody. And that person would probably feel terrible because of what you did. But what if you damage something that doesn't look like it's owned by anybody? For instance, what if you decide to write on the wall of a large building like a post office or your school or a restaurant or a department store? Would that harm anyone? The answer is yes. Every building is owned by somebody. sometimes by more than one person, sometimes by many people. You might not know the owners. They might even live far from you. But whoever the owners are, in one way or another, they would have to pay to repair the damage. So if you feel like damaging something on purpose, and if you don't control that feeling, but actually do some vandalism, you don't just hurt a thing. In one way or another, you also hurt real people. That's what's wrong with vandalism. But no matter what your feelings are, if you try hard enough, you can manage them. Sometimes that's not easy. And there might be one time when it's especially hard. Suppose you're with some friends and they feel like doing something they shouldn't do, like breaking a window. But you don't want to break the window. You do feel that you want your friends to like you. So at a time like this, it might be very difficult to keep from going along with them. Once again though, it helps to think about what might happen next. Suppose you do break the window. Then what? A broken window can be very dangerous. Someone could get seriously hurt. Maybe you or one of your friends. And vandalism is against the law. So you could get into serious trouble. But even if these things didn't happen, someone would still have to clean up the mess and pay for a new piece of glass and put it in. That would be a lot of trouble for somebody. So, for all these reasons, you'd need to manage your feelings and not go along, even though that might be very hard. It could be that some of your friends don't really want to break the window either, but no one wants to be the first to say so. So, if you speak up, you might actually be doing some of your friends a favor, and you'd be helping to stop something that could be really harmful. But what if sometimes you really have a lot of trouble managing your feelings, no matter how hard you [Music] try? Then you should talk about the problem with someone you trust. An adult might be able to help you think of ways you can handle your feelings without vandalizing. The important thing is to remember that in one way or another, vandalism always hurts real people. So if you feel like damaging something and you manage that feeling, you have every right to feel another way. Proud of yourself. Heat. Heat. [Music] that suffers from that wow and flutter problem. Sorry about that. And this next film might have a little bit of that with the music as well. Um but uh yeah, at least they address boredom because man, the times I got in trouble for doing stuff like that that was destructive when I was a little kid was because I was bored. I was bored. I wasn't mad at the world. I was just bored. Just break bottles or break whatever cuz I'm bored. Um, so this next film is about vandalism and just general bad behavior in the classroom and it features our good friend Edner. Combat in the classroom. Enjoy. We teacher, we have broken every rule. We have set the school on fire. We have killed the principal. There ain't no school. Remember this song. You can still hear it on many playgrounds. Only now there's a frightening truth to it. Violence is a fact of life at many schools throughout the United States. the door. Last year, 110,000 teachers were injured in attacks at schools. 280,000 students were assaulted every month. The cost of vandalism and arson has been estimated as high as $600 million every year. That's nearly enough to supply school books for the entire nation. I'm Ed Asner. This government study on schools reports that nearly 1 in 10 has a serious problem with violence. Many are in urban areas, but according to the report, the problem is spreading to the suburbs, too. Violence in schools affects every single one of us, whether or not we are a student, parent, or teacher. It takes its toll not only in victims but also by spreading a climate of fear that can paralyze the learning process. When that goes, we all lose. There ain't no school no more. This is Windgate High School, Brooklyn, New York. Every hour, a force of security guards and teachers sweeps the halls to pick up trespassers, class cutters, and troublemakers. It is all part of the daily struggle to keep the school under control. But reach the point where you have 20, 30 kids roaming the holes, banging on doors, breaking windows, but there's nothing I can do cuz what can one teacher do against 20? It doesn't bother me generally, but when I ask somebody to put out a cigarette in the wall, they start using this language and referring to my age and my sex and everything in in the most degrading kind of way and there's no backup. It's really disrupting. They be in the hallway cutting, banging on dogs, calling your names out. It really be disturbing the ones who are here to learn. Windgate student body has for years been predominantly black. Two years ago, it was considered a model school and was praised in the New York media. But last fall, 1,9th graders were added to Windgate student body. Designed to accommodate 2600 students, its enrollment was pushed to 3700. The result, Windgate's ranking in the number of serious incidents jumped from 28th to third. The conditions at Windgate began to resemble a combat zone. What's the problem up there in the girl's bedroom? This was a school where all of us were proud to teach. And suddenly the mayor of New York and the board of education decided that that children were not worth educating anymore. And they started the faculty and students at Windgate decided to fight back. On a cold February morning, teachers, parents, and students demonstrated against the conditions that threatened to destroy their school. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about our job becoming not possible and simply keeping the peace is not our job. Our job is providing a tremendously necessary education. Now, let's stop kidding the public. Let's stop saying, "Are you getting your money's worth?" No, you're not getting your money's worth because for babysitters, we're overpaid. And for educators, we're not being given enough help to do the job. That's the case. As a result of the demonstration, more security guards were assigned to Windgate and the school board froze the number of new admissions for the rest of the year. Peace returned to Windgate, but it is a fragile piece. More budget cuts loom in September and again the possibility of overcrowding. As one hopeful teacher told us, if the number of students remain stable, we'll make it. All over America, young people are going to school armed with knives, clubs, machetes, and guns. This is just a sampling of weapons confiscated at schools in Los Angeles. I've talked to a lot of kids. Oh, I brought my gun because I, you know, I was afraid today. I bring knives. Why? I'm afraid. All you have to do is look at the number of people out there carrying big. They're scared. They're afraid to go to school. Gary Spencer is getting ready to go to school. He is one of 300 Los Angeles security agents who are not fully dressed without handcuffs, a baton, and a loaded 38. Spencer goes to work each day at Rita High School, a predominantly white school in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Quiet suburban Rita High has a reputation as a safe school. But when the district-wide crime reports were released, it was ranked number two in reported crimes. These are the arrest reports for the criminal activity that has occurred at Pursa High School during the past 8 months. Here's an arrest report for burglary. This is for 211 robbery, possession of concealable firearms on campus, extortion. I don't know what other schools do. It's perhaps because we're a little too honest that we're number two in reported incidents. We report everything. Even uh I facitiously say sometime if a kid spits on the sidewalk, we report it. Threatening school officials battery. Whether or not Recita deserves to be number two, the stack of arrest reports makes it clear that crime in the schools is quite at home in the suburbs. As far as we've been able to ascertain, uh, the asalent entered this gate here, made his way across the campus and simply walked down the hall looking for a point of opportunity and found it with a lady sitting in a room with an open door. On March 28th, 1979, a 20-year-old parole walked onto the campus during the sixth period at Los Angeles High School. He was armed and looking for a victim. He found teacher Miriam Schneider alone in her classroom. He pulled a gun and demanded her purse. He then asked me to take off my clothes and I gave him all kinds of excuses why he didn't need me and why taking off my clothes would not help him, but he indicated that I should take them off. I then got up and left everything from the waist up on the desk and proceeded to where he indicated on a floor at a spot about right here. He asked he told me to lie down and he proceeded to get on top of me due to all the foreplay he needed to get himself aroused and at one point told me to put my arms around him. At that moment I saw that his gun was lying unattended on the floor and I made a move to grab it. He at the same moment made a move to grab it, grabbed it by the handle, got up, stood about here and took point blank aim and shot me. 341 Charles. The asalent's bullet struck Miriam in the abdomen, but luckily passed through her without striking any vital organs. She was taken to the hospital where she spent a month recuperating. Victory. I had nightmares about someone coming into my room in the hospital with nobody being around to see what happened. I can never picture a face, but I always saw someone coming in and finishing me off with a gun and going bang bang bang like in a gangster movie. Miriam has been transferred to a new school, but the effects of the attack have followed her. I became very depressed. I became very nervous, very anxious. Okay, the next word is When I first went back to teaching after the shooting, I was still scared. really scared and I will always stay that way. I think Miriam's life was not the only one affected by the attack. Other teachers felt the shock as well. My immediate reaction was one of fear. I just wanted to get out of the building. I kept thinking about my kids. I just wanted to get home. The day Miriam was shot, Adrienne Manpearl cradled her in her arms while they waited for help. She's not been back to LA High since the shooting was the last in a series of incidents and frustrations that have left her burned out. I didn't want to see the school. I didn't want to have anything to do with the school. I perceived that what happened to Miriam would continue to happen not just to a teacher, but to students also. I didn't see any way that the district or administrators could make it better or could make it go away. I couldn't go back and I won't go back. Adrienne taught at LA High for 10 years. Though she has not been back in a year and a half, in her heart, she is still a teacher. I love teaching. And uh I miss uh I miss the kids. I miss the feeling of being in in my classroom and uh all the all the good parts. I did it for 10 years and um I love the feeling of being with the students and uh growing with them. We learned a lot from each other and I miss that. That's the only part that I miss. Several changes have been made to improve the security at LA High. Teachers had already been asked to work in locked classrooms. Now, peeppoles have been cut in the doors. A full-time security agent was added as well as aids to monitor the entrances. New locks were purchased and more radio equipment. But the improvements were not enough to eliminate the climate of fear that left teachers feeling threatened. How come? I watch students eyes, watch their behavior. I'm cautious about continuing a conversation with a student who appears not absolutely normal. So I'm very cautious so that I can feel comfortable. And of course as soon as I can leave, I always leave. I never hang around. You don't stay after school? No, never. Bob Zampier has been expelled from school 11 times. He admits to maintaining a tough guy image, but he is now attending college and has some insights into why teachers get attacked. A lot of the times you get forced into it by your peers or by the teachers. Body in class says, "Wow, look at the teacher getting bad." So you have to get even better with this certain teacher just to save face. When the teacher got on me, it was a math teacher here. He bagged on me one day, told me, you know, I'm dumb, illiterate, so he turned his head and I hit him in the head with a book. We used to scare a lot of teachers, you know, especially white teachers. They they come to school scared, especially in a black school. They they're just they're scared from jump street. I mean, they come in, you know, and you walk for day one, walk in class, everybody's noisy, and the teacher, "Excuse me, could you kindly be quiet?" You know, nobody shuts up. I shut up. You know, from that that moment on, once you got that teacher scared, it's over with. You know, forget class, bring your friends in, sit back, don't have to do nothing. Come in 10 minutes late, cuss her out, him out. Cuz, you know, you can feel when they're scared. Once you got them scared, they're scared forever. I think that there are some black youngsters who have some anti-white feelings. On the other hand, sometimes it serves as an excuse for for the failures that they feel in this in the school system. Uh if they can't read, if they can't learn anything, they have to point the finger somewhere. And if you have white teachers there, they'll point the the finger at white teachers. One time I got into a fight with a teacher and I threw a chair at her and I knew it was wrong, but uh a lot of times she'd tell me to do something or a certain teacher would tell me to do something and I would sit back there and I didn't know how to do it and when I went to go ask her how to do it, she would like uh wouldn't explain it to me. Then I would end up just sitting there doing nothing and I end up failing, you know, and I didn't want to fail. What the teacher was doing was further damaging an already damaged self-esteem which is very provocative in a teenager. And then the teenager feels like striking out and striking back and feels that that person does not have an interest in them. And then they uh turn to uh retaliation, you know, and I just couldn't take it anymore. So I just picked up a chair and threw it at her and that was the end of that. Violence is just one of the symptoms indicating that public education in the United States is in jeopardy. Other signs suggest that the situation is critical. Nationally, one in 10 high school students drops out before graduating. At some urban schools, the rate is almost 1 out of two. According to the National Education Association, 40% of our teachers currently wish that they could drop out by changing careers. The statistics make one thing clear. Many teachers and students are fed up with school. When I first began to teach, it was real teaching. It was teaching high school kids who were reading at the grade level they should have been reading. And now it's custodial care and elementary school for the most part. How well did you read? Did you read at the same level as the other kids in the class? No. I've never been very good at reading. And if you can't read, you can't learn. And there's going to be disruption. And there'll be disruption in any organization where the people believe that what they're there for they can't do. And like I wish I could sometimes I wish I could read like everybody else and do things in school like everybody else, you know? I wish like I wish my life could have been different. Right now, I'd rather be doing something else as a career. It's not teaching anymore. The problem of violence is not being ignored. All over the country, school officials are searching for answers. Many types of programs have been started. From teacher training courses to elaborate security hardware. In a few places, the programs are working. Prince George's County, Maryland. This is one of the few areas where violence in schools is decreasing. Last year, assaults in schools were reduced by 10% and assaults on teachers dropped 25%. I don't think that because there's crime in the street that we have to then accept it in the schools. I think that chance of it coming into the schools are very great, but I think that we do not have to uh accept it. We just spotted two intruders on the ground trans. Check it out. Every incident, no matter how minor, if it is reported school property, the reputation is out that our schools are not the place to come in and pull any kind of shenanigans. Ed Spidler is in charge of security at High Point High School. This year, he made over 40 arrests, but he is charged with more than law enforcement. Part of his job as set by the policy of the school district is to establish a rapport with the students. I enjoy working with kids. Uh I have good rapport with all the kids here in the school. I feel that the kids are looking for some kind of regulations and rules and guidelines to go by. If we say you're going to get suspended, you get suspended. If we say you're going to get charged, you get charged. And we don't make exceptions. The circuit court for Prince George's County is now in session. Prince George's County schools have received help from an unexpected source. The juvenile courts. I see the first case on our doctor. Judge Vincent Famia and three other juvenile judges have abandoned a policy of leniency in favor of harsher sentences for juvenile law breakers. Once a week, Famia visits schools to spread the word. Committing a crime on campus is a no-win proposition. There is one way you can absolutely guarantee you're going to a state institution. You or anybody else who commits an offense in this school or any other school in this county is going to a state school. Period. They're going to a state institution. That's it. In 1974, a code of student conduct was established to regulate all the schools in Prince George's County. administrators, teachers, parents, and students had a voice in setting the rules. Each year, a copy of the code is issued to every student and his parents. Junior high school students who are suspended in Prince George's County may end up here in a supervised discipline center. For most, this is a fate much worse than suspension. All the people in the school, they just hate this place. They wouldn't want to be here. Like it's a jail. You can't see nobody. It's stupid because you can't look and turn around, can't talk. And I think they give you too much work. Most Prince George's County students would rather be home watching television than stuck here. But the choice is not up to them. It's up to their parents. And 95% of the parents pick the supervised discipline center over suspension. Mister, what about you and Valerie? You know, you just going to tell her shut up and get put out of class? Hey, but if I don't, I can't. How are you going to get what you want? Then at some junior high schools, troublesome students spend one or two periods a day learning how to keep conflict from escalating into combat. This is an activity room. And the goal here is to teach youngsters self-discipline and to show them how their behavior may provoke a teacher. Call me names running down the hallways, too, and I get mad. You've got to find a way. The goal is to have one person, the activity room teacher, work intensively with one student talking about acceptable and unacceptable behavior and how that student can cope in a regular classroom setting, still be himself, but how to cope and how to show behavior that is more acceptable in a classroom so that that student can be maintained there and and flourish in a classroom setting. In an activity room, students learn how to avoid provoking a teacher. These teachers are learning how not to provoke students up and took them home to my parents that I'd get a good grade on this. Let's let's go over what it is. At workshops organized by the school board, they practice handling the type of confrontation that in the classroom might lead to violence. You had for me ever since I have come into this school. Yeah, I think teachers get hurt, but primarily in many cases they bring them on themselves by the way they do or do not respond to students in ongoing situations. And I think they're teachers that really do ask for and get conflict from from youngsters by the way that they that they do behave. Keeping violence out of schools is toughest in the inner city, especially in areas with high crime and high unemployment, but it can be done. Manual Arts High School used to be one of the most violent in Los Angeles. Yet now it has half as many assaults as other high schools in the area. The students are the same. The difference is the principal, Dr. David Boick. You did a good job yesterday. Very proud of you. Now, if you missed it by one point, you take the course, you should pass it. Yeah. Okay. Will you come to summer school? Yes, I will. Okay. Then I'll let you participate in graduation. You will. In 3 years, Boick has set a positive tone which is filtered down to the students and faculty. There's a fantastic school spirit here. Yesterday I went to the play rehearsal and I looked at those kids up there doing their thing and that is what it's all about. Dr. Boe Dr. Boe channels it that way. He constantly rallies around the idea. Okay, let's unite manuals. Let's have school spirit. Let's do this as a group of manual arts students. [Music] This is going to go here. See? And this is going to go here. Okay. All right. All right. Everybody see what's happening? I like to be on the campus. I like to be involved. I like to stick my head in classrooms to find out what's going on. How can I be of more assistance to teachers if that's needed? 35. I I remember you to be all day long in every classroom. That correct? Okay. These kids learn because of us and because of the sacrifices and the uh extra responsibilities that we accept. You're having trouble letting go. Right. Crucial to the success of any school is the involvement of parents. Be right if they leave home. the other she's deal but you're overprotecting them. Boick has organized weekly sessions for parents to come on campus for consultations about their kids eventually key thing I think is that the principal should be visible see uh and he is visible he should have some rapport with the students Dr. Boy has that when something's done well, he praises him. If it's not done well, he does whatever he's supposed to do and the students respect him. Good morning, sir. How you doing? What is that you have? Radio. And where are you going with it? To the locker. To your locker. And I've never seen you with a radio before. Now, are you going to your locker? Yeah. Can I take your word for it? Yeah, you. Like, may I ask you to do something else for me? Well, there. Don't bring that radio on campus anymore. Okay. If you do, may I take it? Yes, you do. And you won't give me a hard time. No, a boy. Come on. Shake my hand so you can have a good day. All right. All right. Thank you, friend. Turkey. If we can say to kids, hey, the guy at the top likes you. It gives me a chance to relate to them. It gives them a chance to say, "Hey, I can trust this guy. If I can trust him, maybe I can trust my teacher." And it builds a feeling of solidarity among the staff and the students in terms of their relationships. Manual arts is not a school without problems. It has yet to achieve major victories in the war against low reading levels and high truency and dropout rates. But the campus is calm and it has a positive energy and spirit. The lesson of manual arts is that even the most battlecard school can be turned around if it has leadership that is firm, consistent, and caring. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 41 million students attend public school in the United States. In our look at violence, we must be mindful that only a small percentage are involved in crime on campus. Even in the most war torn school, we found many students and teachers working well together. Have anything else to validate? Good. That's a good one. A belief, a common belief. This school, I mean, I like this school. None that people start trouble with anybody. I mean, they get along really good. This is a nice place to be. I like the school. These are the students you never hear about. The ones who go on to graduate, enter college, or get jobs, stay off welfare, and out of prisons. They are the ones for whom our schools must be preserved and strengthened. Every school in the United States should have a security system to keep intruders off campus, a system that works. Every school should have a code of conduct that is understood by all the students and their parents. How come you're so late? Every school should have a principal who enforces the rules firmly, fairly, and consistently while at the same time setting a positive tone. And no school should be overcrowded. For overcrowding is frequently the source of violence or disruptive behavior. As society becomes more violent, schools become more violent. We heard that at nearly every school we visited. While it may be true, it doesn't mean we have to accept it. Here's Woodsy owl. Do you know a dirty bird? You see one every day. To him, pollution is a word he reads and throws away. The dirty bird is in the street and in the mountains, too. He's in the forest on the beach. Could be he looks like you. So look around and pass the word to everyone you know. And never be a dirty bird no matter where you go. Bear has got a pal who was always on the ground. Woodsy is his name. You know he's the [Music] anti-pollution show. Leave a trail that's nice and clean. Wherever you may go, this great country is our own and it's up to us to care. Woody owl will lead the way. So come on, let's do our share. [Music] Ocean in the north, east and west. in the north, south, east, and west. [Music] I'm Woodsy Owl and I'm here to tell you about a dirty word, pollution. Help Woodsy spread the word. Don't pay to rent out buildings. That's pollution. [Music] Turn your radio down. That's noise pollution. In the city or in the woods, help keep America looking good. What's up, Woody? This schoolyard's a mess. Look at that. Boom. And that. Some people just don't know what trash can pans are for. We'll stop littering, Woodsy. Great. Now, if you'd each pick up a litter bit. I will. I thought first. Okay, let's vote. Thanks, kids. If everybody does their part, we'll keep America looking good. Give a hoot. Don't pollute. [Applause] My friends hurt. Oh, what happened? Woodsy. Vandalism. But vandalism is breaking windows and carving on tables and painting rocks and wrecking signs and hurting trees. We got to help Woodsy spread the word. Stop. Thanks, kids. If you help me stop vandalism, we'll keep America looking good. Give a hoot. Don't pollute. I'm Woods the Owl. You know trees are America's most important natural resource. So when you plant a tree, you help our country grow because trees fight air pollution, noise pollution, and sight pollution. Oh, give a hoop. Don't pollute. Plant a tree today. Help Woodsy spread the word. Tell your friends what you've heard. No matter where you go, you can plant a tree to grow. In the city or in the woods, trees keep America. Trees keep America. Trees keep America looking good. Cuz trees are like kids. They're America's future. Help Woodsy spread the word. Tell your friends what you've heard in the city or in the woods. Trees keep America. Trees keep America. Please keep America. Looking good. and that was the many many voices of Woodsy Owl. Not Woodsy the Owl, Woodsy Owl. Um, uh, so combat in the classroom. I apologize. That got a more intense than I anticipated. Uh they did talk about vandalism, but then they went down another path entirely. Um so but you know there's a whole bunch of genre films about kids misbehaving in the classroom. Um juvenile delinquent films and um so there's many to explore. Uh I would recommend class of 1984. That's a good one. and then class of 1999. They both uh deal with similar topics and one is purportedly a sequel of the other. Uh anyways, thanks so much for tuning in today. Um in spite of that, um we saw lots of different people talking about vandalism in lots of different ways and that's what I delight in here at AV Geeks. If you like what you saw, uh, you can contribute via the superthanks button, which is what Jeremy did, and thank you for that. You can also go to ko-fi.com/avgeeks or patreon.com/avgeeks. Uh, or uh, hit the thumbs up, hit the like, even if you've done it recently, continue to do it to voice your support, give a hoot, and hit um, like, you know, okay, whatever. All right, thanks everybody. Uh, we will see you again tomorrow. Take care. Bye.