SCHOOL VIOLENCE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., (UPI) - A new study finds that tens of
thousands of children in grades six through eight are probably taking
weapons to school, suggesting that classroom violence will continue.

The researchers also found that kids who smoke, drink or use illegal
drugs were much more likely to take arms to school, and at younger
ages, regardless of race, gender or ethnicity.

The study appears in the January issue of Archives of Pediatrics and
Adolescent Medicine published this Friday. It comes out one week after
two high school sweethearts in Carrollton, Ga., shot themselves to
death in a suicide pact at a bathroom in their school.

The bodies of Jeff Miller, 17, and Andrea Garrett, 15, were found
during school hours, each with a .22 caliber gunshot wound to the
head. According to reports, the girl's parents did not approve of her
relationship with the older boy. The gun had been taken from a locked
gun safe at the girl's home.

Dr. Robert DuRant, professor of public health at Wake Forest
University School of Medicine, told United Press International that a
study of North Carolina middle school students found that 3 percent
had taken a gun into school property, and 14.1 percent a knife or a
club. If children between 11 and 15 take weapons to school, the
percentages in high schools are likely higher, he said.

The study involved 2,227 randomly selected sixth to eight grade
students at 53 middle schools.

In the study, the researchers found that 10 percent of the middle
schools' kids who had taken weapons to school had started smoking at
an average age of nine, 6.6 percent were smoking at age 10, and 8.3
percent at age 11.

The younger kids are when they start smoking, the greater the risk
they might carry a gun to school, he told UPI. ``These health risk
behaviors tend to cluster for a number of reasons.''

Kids who get into fights also more likely to take weapons to school,
he said. The problem of kids taking guns to school seems to be getting
worse, he said. Strict gun control laws do not seem to deter kids from
taking weapons to school, nor do tough school policies.

He said the message of the study is clear: school officials need to
begin waging war against violence, cigarettes, alcohol and drugs when
children are in elementary school.

The study also found that:

- -5 percent of boys had taken a gun to school, compared to 1 percent of
girls.

- -20.2 percent of boys had taken a knife or club to school, versus 7.7
percent of middle school girls.

- -65.5 percent of the students had been in a fight, but only 5.5
percent had been injured enough to require medical treatment.

- -15.5 percent had actually planned a suicide, and 10.6 percent of the
middle school students had attempted suicide. Attempts increased with
age and there were no significant racial or ethnic differences, he
said.

- -Females were slightly more likely than males to have attempted
suicide, 11.7 percent to 9.6 percent.

- -30.8 percent had carried a gun outside of school for reasons other
than hunting.

DuRant said few adults are aware that so many youngsters actually map
out a suicide plan in their minds.

Dr. Howard Spivak, professor in the Tufts University School of
Medicine and chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Task
Force on Violence, said DuRant's findings weren't surprising in light
of the flurry of violence that has resulted in about a dozen shooting
deaths of teens and adults in schools recently.

``It starts with the general presence of guns in homes and communities

that is far and away out of the mainstream for any other country in
the world,'' Spivak said. ``We have to create an environment for kids
where the use of, or even the thought of the use of violence as a way
of dealing with anger or conflict, is eliminated. These episodes
(like Carrollton, Ga.) have become routine. It doesn't even make the
front pages any more.''

Commenting on the report, the chairman of the American Academy of
Pediatrics' Task Force on Violence blamed violence on TV, videos,
movie, families and communities, telling UPI, ``Kids model their
behavior after what they see.''

Dr. Howard Spivak of Tufts University's School of Medicine said,
``People are failing to make the obvious connection that kids are
learning this behavior from exposures they are getting from families
and communities and on TV and in video games and in the movies.''