Teaching writing to students of high need in an urban school is simultaneously pedagogical, curricular, and political. Students labeled "at-risk" for school failure often have lowered expectations placed upon them from without that impact how they feel within. Compounding this problem of perception is the real issue of heightened…

Those who try to deal with violence in U.S. communities and schools have tended to concentrate on suppression of violence, rather than real prevention, particularly as violence is associated with youth gangs. This discussion focuses on multiculturalism as a policy for reducing gang violence, rather than strategies that have been used to deal with…