school classrooms and playgrounds are safe from their effects.

In the first half of a two part series, Royal Gazette reporter Libby Francis tells what really goes on after the school bell rings. Names of some of the students have been changed.

Karen is 15-years-old and in her third year of high school. Two weeks ago, she brought a fancy flick knife to school with every intention of using it.

The reason? "It had something to do with my sister. People were going to jump her and I wasn't going to let them get away with it.'' Karen, who was interviewed with a group of other students and their school advisor, admitted that one week earlier, she planned to stab one of a group of girls who had been harassing her sister.

"The day I brought it to school, teachers were checking bags so I put it in my pocket. I wasn't going to let them check my bag because as far as I'm concerned the teachers would have to have Police authority,'' she said.

"I was going to strike the person who was bothering my sister, I had it all planned.'' Asked where she intended to stab the individual, she said, while staring off: "It was going to be a part of the body where the person would definitely feel it.'' She said she had given no thought to the consequences of the act. "I didn't care where I ended up. These girls were threatening my sister and it had been going on for a long time.'' Fortunately, the attack never took place. The girls ended up having an argument instead.

The school's advisor interrupted: "We need to take that anger and find a viable way of using it.'' The advisor also said several knives had been seized from students from the school as well as at other schools she had worked at.

Roger, an 18-year-old fifth year male student added: "It is common for people to bring weapons when they want to fight. But mainly they are used as a threat.'' However, Karen said: "When I go out to a session I take my knife because you can't trust people.

"I have seen parents send knives to school with their children for protection. A knife is definitely the weapon of choice on the Island.

"There are some students who don't come to school because they are threatened.'' In order to curb some of the frustration and hostility that students feel towards each other, this secondary school has introduced peer-mediation.

It is an outlet for the students who are fighting or having any other problems with each other to voice their frustrations with the help of student peer mediators.

But Karen did not feel the programme was beneficial.

"Peer mediation doesn't work because all your business will circulate throughout the school,'' she said.

All the students interviewed at this high school said they were fed up with doing what is right which meant being a "goody goody''.

Roger said: "Kids here are tired of being labelled as the bad boys and the rejects from other schools. After a while you figure that you might as well play the role. We just get tired of the stereotyping.'' Karen added that some of the teachers were to blame for the hostility students feel.

"I feel that teachers provoke you, they act nasty to you. You ask them a question and they don't pay attention to you and then they wonder why you don't want to do anything. They act like they don't want to be in school and most students don't want to be here either.'' Bill, 13, said students automatically pick up anything such as bottles, pipes, and wood during fights.

But there had also been talk of students carrying guns for protection in the school.

On the topic of drugs, Bill said students and outsiders come on to the school grounds and sell drugs, mainly marijuana.

"A lot of the students here buy it and smoke it. Most of the time they will take a stroll off the school property during a class or at lunchtime and smoke.'' Roger said that first, second, and fourth year students, including females, drink alcohol on the school's property. "They just don't care,'' he said.

Asked why, Karen said: "Just being at the school makes students do the things they do such as drink alcohol and smoke marijuana.'' However, Roger added that the "all around attitude'' of the school slows down the learning process.

When asked what the possible solutions were to some of the problems which also distract some of the students from wanting to learn, Bill said: "I just think that people have given up on us (young people). There is nothing to do.'' Karen added: "In order for things to be different people have to look at us differently here.'' But, Roger interrupted her and said: "I think we have to first look at ourselves differently.'' Students at another high school said if students brought knives to school, you would not know it unless there was a fight.

"But, I don't see why people would want to bring knives to school in the first place. All this nonsense shouldn't be going on,'' said 16-year-old Albert.

The students added that they felt a lot of young people today project a certain image to earn respect, and they look to the wrong people as their role models.

"Young people seem to look at the people driving nice cars and the drug dealers and they think they want to be like the bad boys. It's just ignorance,'' Albert added.

When discussing drugs at their school the students said a lot of the boys skipped class to smoke marijuana and there were some girls who smoke too.

An 18-year-old male student, Kyle, who had been sitting quietly listening to the responses of the other students, then said: "The main cause of the problems with students is not violence or drugs it's the way everything is set up for us as children.

"Parents are working, trying to pay bills and they have no time for their children. They are taught by the television and their behaviour reflects what they see. Most higher educated people know what's going on but they want to put the blame on the young people.'' He added: "It's not by mistake that drugs and violence are happening in schools. And private schools have problems too but they are kept quiet.'' On the issue of whether students miss out on learning when there is disruption in the classroom he added: "Teachers spend most of their time telling some students to do this or that. If I didn't do so much reading outside of school, educating myself, I would be violent out of frustration.'' Asked if he felt he learned, in school he replied: "I know I don't learn in school, there are only one or two teachers who can control a class. I learn more in my tutoring sessions in a week than in a whole year of class because there are no distractions.'' Sandra, 16, said it was not just the students that had "attitudes'', it was also some of the teachers.

"Some of the teachers come to class with bad attitudes because they are in a bad mood and they take it out on us,'' she said.

On the lack of discipline used by parents with their children, Kyle said: "If parents are afraid to spank their own children because they think they'll be accused of child abuse, why would students come to school and listen to their teachers. That's why there is so much crime going on, kids don't know the meaning of punishment.'' At another high school, students said that most of the violence occurred amongst the first and second year students, some of whom came to school armed with butterfly knives and pen knives.

Troy, 13, said: "Knives are in school everyday, but they don't get used. The smaller guys bring protection but it's just to scare people and get respect.'' On the issue of drugs, Troy said another student from the upper school tried to sell him a "little package'' on the lower school field.

"I think it had marijuana in it, and I told him no right out. I was scared because there was a whole pack of guys around there looking at me.'' The fourth and fifth year students in the group said they had no time for fights and drugs.

"We're just trying to do our work and get out of school,'' said one. "We have fights but it's very seldom.'' In part two on Monday: Some solutions.