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High School Program Combats Racism 12/10/08 Is racial discrimination becoming a problem in this country? Three weeks ago, an innocent boy was surrounded, bashed and robbed by a group of thugs when he arrived at school in the morning; just because he was a different race to them. Fifteen year old Kevin Chang received a broken nose and several bruised ribs; as well as his phone and Ipod being stolen. He was taken to hospital and remained in a stable condition. Several students from Forrest Grove SHS were taken to the police station for questioning and two are in custody. A distraught Ms. Chang was seen entering the hospital. “I can’t believe that Kevin was bashed just for being different to those other boys, I could help him deal with the names and taunts but this is too far.” Since he started attending Forrest Grove a few years ago, Kevin formed friendships with other Asian students and was friendly with most people; while he shared the dislike of the ‘alpha’ group of the school, or ‘insiders’ as they were commonly known by staff. “There was always that one group, if there was a problem with bullying or teasing, they would have something to do with it.” Following investigation, it was found that the group consisted entirely of Caucasians. The school has had a history of racial altercations between different groups. Following the incident the school decided to introduce a mandatory two period a week program designed to combat racial profiling and stereotypes in hope of reducing the number of incidents. The program was called ‘War on the Words’ developed by the school’s chaplain. The program involved students exploring their own lives and comparing them to other students in the class, looking for similarities and shared experiences. The idea was to break down barriers between students from different backgrounds or groups and allow them to associate with each other. By combating the students’ intolerance of differences with each other while they were still at a lower level of hostility, the program aimed to build good relationships before the situation got out of hand. Staff had concluded that most of the altercations occurred between certain groups and trialled the program on them first, with pleasing results; as explained by year ten teacher Ms. Erin Neill. “We found that after conducting the program with this group that the students were able to concentrate better in class, while also being pleasant towards each other, which I was yet to have seen at this school. I personally would like to see our school develop a sense of community, where there are no ‘groups’ and nobody is left as an outsider.” After two weeks of the program running, the number of incidents at Forrest Grove involving race had decreased by 60%. Even the Caucasian group which had been causing the most problems was allowing students of other races to associate with them. Professor. Marvin Allome from SCU (South Central University) was very impressed by the results. “I think that this program has the potential to change attitudes of people across the country and help prevent racism in schools. After studying the program and its results we found that it is one of the most effective seen in a long time, it allows different groups of people to come together and work collaboratively, where nobody is classed as an outsider.” SCU is now studying the program and plans to use it in some of their Psychology courses. They have praised the Chaplain of Forrest Grove, Mark Stevenson, for his initiative and skills. “What makes his achievement even more amazing is that it was an improvised program that was created over a short period of time,” said Professor Allome. SCU asked Stevenson to help them develop the program and make appearances at Psychology lectures. Professor Allome regards him very highly. “It is cases like these that give me hope for the future of the human race; that there are some people out there that actually care about others and are working to eliminate racism. A world without racism seems like what part of a perfect world for me.” Kevin Chang recovered fully from his injuries and returned to school a week later. The boys from the group that bashed him were waiting again for him at the front gate; only this time to apologise and try and build a friendship with him. “This is very pleasing,” Ms. Neill said. “Racism is a huge problem in this world, so it is very encouraging to see results; change has to start somewhere.” // Rhys Joiner //
 * War on the Words **