Assignment 1

Read pages 1 - 61 in the text! Write a response to the 1st 61 pages with this prompt: What is Crenshaw High School like in comparision to Mililani High School? You may write in terms of the community, the layout/enviornment of the school, and the students/faculty/teachers? This needs to be at least 300 words. You may use quotes from the text to support you.

Crenshaw High school has many differences when compared with Mililani High School. One main difference that is quite apparent is that the environment of Crenshaw High School is much more hostile than the one at Mililani High School. Students at the Crenshaw High School have to face things such as gang fights and lots of vandalized property, while the worst thing that Mililani High School students have to worry about on a daily basis would be the unusual weather. Vandalized property at Crenshaw High School is so bad that it is said that the school smells of freshly painted paint because custodians at the school always have to be at the ready to cover up some new graffiti.

Crenshaw High School students are often involved in gangs as well. Sadifuku is an example of a student that attends Crenshaw High School and was involved in gang activity. Mililani High School has no gangs, granted, there are social factions such as the jocks, geeks, nerds, band kids, etc. But, there are no violent groups that are opposed to each other like the gangs in Crenshaw High School. The level of violence between gangs is so high that while Sadi was involved in gangs, he experienced the death of one of his friends who had the unfortunate incident of being shot by a rival tagging crew called Nothing But Trouble.

At Crenshaw High School, there are a few policemen on campus because of the need to restrict the violence of the gangs on campus. Mililani High School rarely has cops on campus unless there is some sort of lock down drill or something relative to that. Students at Crenshaw High School, especially the students that have been introduced thus far, have to face many more obstacles than the students at Mililani High School. They each have their own tragic story, such as Olivia, who was beaten by her mother and has to work to sustain the life that she wants to lead.