94-02-15 Teachers Learn How Cultural Differences Can Trigger Violence in Schools

TEACHERS LEARN HOW CULTURAL DIFFERENCES CAN
TRIGGER VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS

     CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Feb. 15 -- What are the flash points that incite
violence in and
between cultures?  And how can teachers curb violence stemming from ethnic
differences in the
schools?
     These are two of the central focal points in the second course in the
Virginia Youth
Violence Project, a series of programs being conducted throughout the state
to help teachers cope
with students' aggression.  The course, titled "Language of Violence Across
Cultures," started earlier
this month at the University of Virginia Hampton Roads Center and will
continue through April
16.
     Taught over the weekends by Courtland C. Lee, a U.Va. educator who
studies ethnic
differences in school settings, the course will help participants learn
strategies to diffuse the
potential for violence.
     He says this will come, in part, from a better understanding of how
diverse cultural groups,
such as African-Americans, Asian-Pacific Americans and Latino/Hispanic
Americans, view their
identity, family structure and roles in society.
     Lee believes one reason youth violence is increasing is that adolescents
are acting on
stereotypic assumptions of race or cultural identity.  He says a key to
reducing violence in the
schools is to bring ethnic differences into the open.
     "Students should be encouraged to recognize -- and celebrate -- cultural
differences," said
Lee, author of a book on counseling African-American males and editor of a
book on multicultural
counseling.
     The Hampton Roads Center is launching a statewide project tying Virginia
universities with
the Federal Bureau of Investigation and several state agencies, such as the
Department of Criminal
Justice Services.
     As part of the series, a course that describes the psychology of youth
aggression will be
taught to educators in Richmond beginning Feb. 25.
     Upcoming courses will address family systems and their relationship to
violence and
aggression in youth, the legal implications of violence in classrooms and the
role of the legislature
in preventing violence.
     "We know of no other project in the nation that is giving educators
facing the threat of
violence such comprehensive information.  The project pulls together
nationally noted authors and
researchers with experienced practitioners from law enforcement and community
agencies," said
director Dyanne Bostain.
     She has made presentations about the project to Virginia secretaries of
education and public
safety, the Governor's Commission on Violent Crime and the Governor's
Commission on Drug
Abuse and Alcohol.
     She also recently presented the project to educators at the University
of Wisconsin at
Madison and will describe it to hundreds of educators at a Florida conference
this spring.
     "The project may serve not only as a state, but a national model as
well," Bostain said.
     In addition to offering courses statewide, Bostain is developing a
series of televised programs
and video presentations.
                               ###
                                                February 14, 1994
     NOTICE TO REPORTERS:  The "Language of Violence Across Cultures" course
is being
taught at the U.Va. center on selected weekends.  It will be held from 4:30
to 9 p.m. on Fridays on
March 4, 25 and April 15.  It will also be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on
Saturdays on March 5, 26
and April 16.  Topics that Lee will cover include:  the dimensions of
violence within cultures, March
4 and 5; patterns of conflict across cultures, March 25 and 26; and cultural 
violence in the schools, April 15 and 16.

     Participants in the course include educators from the Virginia Beach,
Norfolk, Chesapeake,
Newport News, Smithfield and Poquoson areas.  For a description of the
Virginia Youth Violence
Project or participants in this course, contact Dyanne Bostain at (804)
552-1890.  For more
information on how ethnic differences can fuel violence in the schools,
contact Courtland Lee at
(804) 924-3119.

[Submitted by: Karen A. Castle  (kac@uva.pcmail.virginia.edu)
               Tue, 15 Feb 94 09:14:08 EST]