Graffiti Letters by Students Inspire Others
Excerpts from letters written by sixth-graders about graffiti at Rosemead’s Savannah Elementary School (Times Dec. 6, 1992) inspired sophomore English teacher Karen Blumenfeld to propose an assignment in argumentative writing to her students at Ganesha High School in Pomona.
Their views on graffiti, ranging from admiration to fear to disgust to resignation, came in a deluge of 88 letters. “Thank you for ‘Children React to Graffiti Problem’--it led me to an exciting assignment in which nearly all students got involved. This is a real accomplishment,” Blumenfeld wrote.
The majority of the writers harshly disapproved of graffiti and related gang violence, but some looked at the problem from the perspective of the tagger, reaching a different conclusion. Following are excerpts, with the original spelling and grammar:
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Our school is always vandalized all the time. Something should be done. They should have hidden cameras or security guards. Some people see who did the graffiti but there scared to say something because they think the people will come back to get them for telling on them.
LELAND BLANKENSHIP
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