Youth Congress of Memphis

Welcome to the Youth Congress of Memphis homepage! We had great success with the web discussion leading up to the Gandhi Conference on Non-Violence. It is now time for us to continue gathering and empowering Memphis-area youth voices. We will continue to post questions for discussion on a weekly basis because community leaders do care and still need to hear what issues concern youth the most.

Currently, we are in the process of planning more events for youth to develop and display their leadership skills. We are excited to announce that we are recruiting new members for our Executive Committee. Please contact us if you are interested. So get involved, encourage your friends to participate and be a part of positive change in your community!

Your Opinion

11.10.06 12:10:08 PM

As I tried to follow up on answering these questions, I felt more open to talk and opinionated. I'm no longer disstressed by thinking about my issues and feel content with speaking out. I hope to mingle and interact with students from other schools and hear what they have to say. I want to feel like I could one day be a U.S. senate or something. Who knows, I could be the first lady president. I became aghasted at how some of the youth thinks, yet I was rather pleased. I want to be able to speak to anyone about issues in our society.

11.10.06 12:08:23 PM

Supportive conditions in school are usually teachers helping out with others subjects than what they teach. Other conditions are teachers making it possible to know students even if they have or have not taken the teacher. If the principals get to know the students, then thats is very supportive.

10.15.06 05:55:07 PM

I beleive that when children have unsuccessful or unhealthy relationships with their parents or guardians at home it causes the child to take the wrong approach with all relationships. If the child is surrounded with negativity at home, where he/she should be taught love and positivity, then that means that the child only knows about bad things. Therefore, the child will always visualize things as being negative instead of having positive views. Whenever a child feels negativity around them, that causes the child to feel a need to defend, even if there is no need at all. So the first approach would be to physically defend using violece. Especially if violence is used inside of the home. Also, when children and parents cannot communicate with each other, it causes them to have built up frustrations towards each other as well as innocent by-standers. It can cause them to retaliate at any time with even the smallest thing. Unsuccessful relationships can lead to stress mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. These patterns often continue until the child finds someone to break down the barriers of negativity and produce positive thoughts and etc.

10.14.06 02:23:26 AM

Answering these questions produced a good feeling. It was satisfying addressing some of the pressing topics of today. I expect the conference to be a good experience and a meeting completely worth-while. I noticed that some of the other posts were similar to mine, which provided for a sense of support, knowing that others had some of the same views as I did. Hopefully the Ghandi Conference on Nonviolence will enhance my knowledge and understanding of nonviolence and provide me with a multitude of other things to help me better myself, my community, and the world.

10.14.06 01:50:54 AM

Conditions in schools that allow students to thrive are a cooperative and supportive faculty and staff and a safe and friendly envioronment. With these factors students should feel a sense of acceptance and belonging.

Thankfully, violence is not a very common and present problem in my school. However, there are occasional outbreaks that occur. When these disruptions do take place, it is usually over a petty reason-one that could very easily be settled by a different mean. The violence usually occurs between students and is not very harmful to the rest of the school, including the faculty/ staff/ administrators, and the community.

Although it is very uncommon, additional violence sometimes occurs over conflicts between students and teachers, such as grades, rulings, and misunderstandings. Once again, these tensions can easily be illiminated with better effort, communication, and understanding.

10.12.06 08:53:44 PM

1. I have seen alot of relationship altercations. Most of the problems come from jealousy. Sometimes it is funny but most end up in fighting or even killing.

2. it is an equal situation. Both males and females get jealous at times. It is just worst on the behalf of females. It gets out of hand because they don't know how to keep their mouths closed.

3. Trust is a major problem because if u gain ones trust and you do something wrong the other will get upset.

4. Violence can be reduced by being faithful to your spouse.

10.12.06 11:04:23 AM

1. I felt comfortable answering the questions. I felt fine for most of the questions. The questions did make me think, and I'm glad. Some of the questions were hard to answer, but I did them anyways.

2. I'm wanting to hear and meet other teenagers who posted their opinions on the issues that we talked about online. I want to hear what the youth in our city feel about violence.

3. The other opinions posted by the youth helped me also. It helped me and my friend with issues in our lives. He was having issues at home, and I sent him a link to the website, and when he read some of the opinions, he emailed me back thanking me forwhat I had done. They also helped me with some of my issues.

4. I just want to hear what others have to say. It is important to talk about issues like this, and not keep it locked up inside you. You need to talk about it to someone, and this is a very good way to do this on this website. This website has helped me in so many ways, andI hope it helped others as well.

10.11.06 07:47:04 PM

ATTN. ALL YOUTH CONGRESS MEMBERS

A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED ON OCTOBER 1, 2006 IN THE
COMMERCIAL APPEAL, WRITTEN BY WILLIAM K. RICHARDSON.

HE'S A TEACHER AT FRAYSER HIGH SCHOOL 10TH GRADE-ENGLISH

PLEASE CONTACT ME, SEAN DIXSON @ 901-734-0756 OR BY E-MAIL @
seanjohn_287@yahoo.com , seanjohn_287@hotmail.com , or sdixson@excite.com FOR AN EXCLUSIVE INSIGHT OF MEMPHIS
CITY SCHOOLS AND THE MAJOR PROBLEMS WE HAVE BECAUSE OF THEIR
LACK OF CONCERN AND LIMITATIONS ON CERTAIN ISSUES.

10.11.06 10:27:09 AM

1. Yes i have, basically jealousy caused the argument.

10.11.06 10:25:43 AM

1. I felt perfectly fine answering thses questions . It helped me realize alot of issues that i really by passed.

2. I am looking foward to all the other students speaking there mind about diffrent situations.

3. It made me feel good knowing that other students are feeling the same as me.

4. I hope to learn alot of things and i hope students learn from me as well

10.11.06 08:52:25 AM

1) I feel perfectly fine answering these questions

2) I hope to see a plan to help lower the viloence in the community.

3) It help me to understand others point of views on things going on in the community.

4) I would like for some type solution to all of the problems in the community

10.10.06 04:32:16 PM

1. Answering these questions made me feel important because I get to voice my opioion and I know at least a couple of people get to see how I feel. I know that my opioion matters or my help with getting the problem solved and that's important.
2. Looking for meeting new people that want to strenghten the community and may feel the same way about things like I do. I'm looking forward to seeing some possible future leaders of the world or America.
3. It made me want to tell my comments on the matter too. It opened me up to thinking about the situation in a different way or change my opioion.
4. More questions or other ways for us to communicate or discuss how we feel about different subjects.

10.10.06 03:36:20 PM

1) A supportive condition that allows all student to learn and grow is one where the teacher can teach without objections to authority. This enviornment has no fighting or unrelated-to-lesson disruptions and is acedemically stable
2) In my school Ive only seen physicall violence( fighting) but it is notorious for not being a good school. Even though the violence is between but two people it affects everyone negativly. Students because lessons are disrupted and students are in rowdy chatter that can only be stopped momentarly before it continues depending on the teacher. Teachers because the class is out of order and unless they are strict are have some respect from they class they cannot control. Staff because they have to deal with the mess the fighters left behind and sometimes are caught in the middle and it isnt pretty.Administrators because they have to send more students home adding to the already low attendence keeping it on the list.The community because the student will just go home and continue the violence the suspention not having any negative affect on them, just a free holiday, and this time the fight will be bigger and gangs will be involved mabye causing deaths and gang corrupt.
3) The things that cause these fight are ussually from arguments that go to far or someone having a bad day and someone else getting on their nerves it rarely starts at school or stops there for that matter.
4) I identified that parent should take the step to try to contact with their children ask how their day was or even say that they care sometimes and just to build a rapport with their children or teens rather

10.10.06 03:00:28 PM

1) Answering these questions made me think about situations that happen in the real world. They challenged me to put myself in the situation and explain how i would hadle it or make it better. Even thought i know one person cannot make a difference these quetions helped me feel that i could
2) Imj thinking to expect pople to talk about nonviolence, of course, and acctually ask us how we feel about it. Im thinking there are going to be some people there who have real concerns and they are going to get our opinions about how to deal with it and really take it into concideration.
3) Seeing the comments let me know that people out there really care about the things I do and also want to help. Seeing the questions im really anxios to see the people bahind the words to share opinions and even have some educations arguments where we both learn a little more
4) Im considered smart at my school but i know that there are poeple out there smarter than me and i really would like to get some cultral diffusion and here what other people will respond to the questions. Im sure there will be some people there that will test my intellegence and i cannot wait to experience the thrill.

10.10.06 12:24:50 AM

Personally, I have never experienced any sort of violence in a relationship. Nor have I ever seen any take place. However, I have heard of it. Thankfully, there doesn't seem to be very many abusive relationships in and around our community.

It does happen occasionally, though. Every now and then you will hear of a couple breaking up because one of them performed some sort of violence, either physical, mental, or both, to the other. Most of the time the quarrels are results of unnecessary actions or words that can easily be avoided. This leads to the topic of trust.

If couples or the people involved in the relationship take time to get to know each other, a number of problems could be limited or even illiminated. This would help create and develop trust, faith, etc, which are essential to a positive and successful relationship.

10.09.06 10:47:25 AM

1. Answering these questions made me feel like my opinion counts. It also made me realize that I need to give serious thoughts to issues in the society.

2. I hope some solultions in the Gandhi Conference will be presented to public officials and taken seriously. I hope the conference helps to make our schools safer.

3. It made me realize that we can truly learn from each other. Other students had great ideas that were different from mine. Some were even better than mine. It was interesting and fun to read.

4. I want some of the solutions and suggestions offered to be implemented in our school system to make it a safer and more efficient entity.

10.08.06 06:14:59 PM

When I answered these questions I felt good knowing that i had contributed to good cause. It feels good knowing that there are people who care about what students have to say.
I am expecting to hear how violence affects our society and community everyday and what we can do to reduce and eventually stop it.
I felt good reading other students' comments. It feels good knowing there are other students who want to stop violence.
I would like for people to take action and do things to help stop violence.

10.08.06 03:09:45 PM

Reading comments from other youths in Memphis made me believe that there is still some hope for the future. Their interesting perspectives and insightful details helped me formulate some of my thoughts. I was especially excited to read comments of peers who were so strong-minded. These people have such strong beliefs in what is morally correct that I feel I am not the only person who is conscious of morals. Though we do not always follow what is we say or believe, I have concluded that knowing what is right is the first step to changing our past mistakes. The first step to the program seems to be successful; I just hope that will these great ideas and hard work we can make an impact on our city- even it impacts one peer or thousands of peers. It makes me sad to know that I cannot attend the conference because the SAT test is scheduled for that day, but I did expect a lot out of the conference. I actually wanted to conduct a school wide survey to aid the program, but I guess that someone else can conduct it at their school to benefit our peers in Memphis.

10.07.06 11:52:50 PM

It made me feel as if my opinion was seriosly valued and commened!
I'm looking for teens to turn from all this violence and say there's a better way to handle this situation!
It made me feel and realize that we (teenagers) actually care about real world events as well as local events.
A better communication between our youth in these upcoming years.

10.07.06 09:22:04 PM

1. No, I have not. I don't think I would know much about this topic if I've never witnessed one.

2. I think both start the fighting in the relationship. It [the fighting] could start from jealousy, anger, annoyance, bad habits, and etc. I can't be one sided on this ... even if the statistics say differently.

3. It could be. When a relationship is made, it requires devotion, trust, and loyalty.

4. The couple could first establish where they stand in the relationship before even starting it [the relationship]. Also, people should be informed of possible violence in relationships, that might get them to think twice before blindly accepting a "dating" status.

10.07.06 09:12:13 PM

1. These questions helped me open my mind to the world around us. I have often been self centered; however, these questions reminded me that there's still life outside the box.

2. I'm looking for a way to help stop violence, even if I stop one ... that's one less person hurt for the day. Also, I wish to learn more about what's going on around me, because like I said before, I'm often self-centered.

3. I had different thoughts. For one, some of the comments were irrelevant to the topic. However, I agreed to most of the comments ... the others ... well, I had small sidenotes and oppositions.

4. I want us all to realize that we can't all live in our small boxes forever. We have to stand up and give a hand. I want new perspectives opened and more considerations made.

10.07.06 02:08:58 PM

1. I have never experienced violence within dating relationship, but with some of the people that I talked to one on one, they admitted that they had had boyfriends who threatened to hurt them if they didn't sleep with them. Sex seems to spark most conflicts between couples today, because there is so much pressure to fit in with the rest of the couples.

2. In most cases the women seem to start the fighting, but not intentionally. Most girls said that their boyfriends want to pick a fight with them when they ask them an uncomfotable question, but the girls don't mean to start a fight.

3. Yes, abusive relationships are sometimes sparked because there isn't any trust between two people. If trust is established in a relationship than the chance of the couple becoming abusive will lessen, however it will not disappear. Just because a couple has trust doesn't mean that the relationship isn't abusive.

4. 1.) Communication and trust play very important roles in a relationship, some students at Lausanne seemed to think that talking and trust would help reduce that chance of an abusive relationship.
2.) Abusive relationships have to be stopped and one way is to break up with the partner and cut off all contact with him/her. It is also important that the person in the abusive relationship talks to someone that they trust about their partner and his/her actions.

10.07.06 12:39:06 PM

1. The questions at first were a little bit awkard for me, because I had to put down my own opinion and that of the freshman class at Lausanne, but the more time passed, the more I got used to the questions, and the more I started liking them. They are not questions with right or wrong answers, they are questions that make the sudents really think about the true meaning of violence that the different forms of violence.

2. I'm expecting to learn more about violence and how to stop it in a true non-violence manner. I am also interested to participate in the workshops.

3. It made me feel good, to know that other students realize the danger of violence, and how real it is.

4. I hope that after people read the discussions they start to think about how to stop/reduce the violence in their community, and how to make it a better and safer place for today's youth.

10.06.06 10:35:26 PM

1. I would describe them as caring parents who are really concerned about their children's lives.

2. To fostor a positive realtionship, parents and their children can learn to talk to each other about their day or whatever they are concerned with like problems.

3. This lack affects youth by making them think that they have no one to fall back on and they start looking for other resources that usually invloves trouble making. It affects parents because they dont know about their children so it is no way for them to help. It affects the community because the adults are seperated from the youth.

4. The most important factor that cause lack of positive/helpful/supportive relationships between parents/ guardians and their children is the lack of communication.

10.06.06 09:05:01 PM

1.)I consider educational school activites,and praises for the students who are doing good in their academics.
2.)I see gang violence and personal violence ,these type of violence makes the students frightened and more aware of their surrounding,it makes the faculty and staff scared and very cautious,it affects the community in very much the same way.
3.)Anger and lack of self- confidence,seem to be the most important factors.
4.)More parents who actually take time to talk to and spend time with their children,and make them feel like they are worth caring for.

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