"Gang Leader for a Day" Essay & New Family Activity

Now, with the midterm exam behind us, it is time to move on. As I noted yesterday, we are going to take a break from the text and read and discuss "Gang Leader for a Day." Try to read through Chapter 1 for Thursday 10/22, and just continue reading over roughly the next week and a half until you finish it. You'll find it a much more enjoyable and interesting read than the text. Below are descriptions of two things we are going to do with this book. First, is a description of our second out-of-class essay and second, is a family activity in connection with this book. PLEASE READ THESE OVER CAREFULLY AND KEEP THEM IN MIND AS YOU READ THE BOOK.

ESSAY II

In a review of an old criminology text published in the 1950s, Prof. E.A. Ahrens outlines a broader understanding of crime which he contends is rooted in a disordered world and not in any particular biological, psychological, or sociological variables which the theories in our text are based on. In this regard, I believe Prof. Ahrens has some valuable insight to offer in terms of understanding crime in the spirit of what the author of our text refers to as "Integrative Theories of Crime." (p. 98)

For this next out-of-class essay, I want you to address broadly how aspects of "Gang Leader for a Day" relate to the following passage from Prof. Ahrens' review. More specifically, I want you to make THREE such connections between the book and the passage below. Those connections can be fairly broad or more specific, but in either case it would be helpful if you can either quote a relevant passage from "Gang Leader" or at least indicate the chapter from which you are drawing these points. In this context, BE SURE TO CITE PAGE NUMBERS FROM WHICH THE QUOTES OR OTHER REFERENCES COME. Your essay should be roughly 3 pages, and it is due on THURSDAY, NOV. 5TH.

AHRENS' PASSAGE: "Actions do not take place in a vacuum, but in a world of ordered objects. A familiar fact in life is to find ourselves in situations in which no intelligent act is possible. At such times we are at the mercy of those situations. We are not responsible for what happens then. This does not mean that no such thing as responsibility exists. It is not some absolute in the individual possessed at all time and under all conditions. Rather, it is a question of our world and our relation to it. In a rightly ordered world, to whose objects we have access, we gain the capacity for intelligent action. Responsibility itself is a condition achieved through a right ordering of our world. Conversely, it is lost with its disorganization. An individual will plan to avoid situations in which he cannot live and act. But the power in this direction on the part of individuals is limited. Each exists within a societal frame which he cannot modify. This frame may be such that at some point in it some individuals can't even exist, let alone act intelligently. This means that responsibility is not merely individual, as the common view has it, but corporate as well. These disordered areas of our life in which human life inevitably suffers, grows peverse, degenerates are the creations of a society lacking intelligence and possessing wrong aims in life. And, we suggest, that it is our corporate life and its failure,...where the explanation (of crime) lies."

As you reflect on this passage, do not worry about comprehending every sentence necessarily. Think of the broader point he is making, which I believe you'll see has relevance to "Gang Leader for a Day." One specific point of vocabulary that you should find helpful is Ahrens' use of the term "corporate." He is using this term in its original Latin meaning, which is "to embody." So "corporate life" is an embodied life, in which we have access to the objects necessary to our survival and cultural development as human beings. He is NOT using corporate as a synonym for business.
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FAMILY ACTIVITY ON "GANG LEADER FOR A DAY":

As we work our way through "Gang Leader for a Day," I want each of the families to address the questions listed below. I will give you some class time for you to confer with your family members and come up with your responses to each of those questions. At the conclusion of our discussion of the book, I will call on each of the families to present their findings to the class, in which you should state your answer to each question along with a brief defense in NO MORE THAN A LONG PARAGRAPH. We will try to collectively decide what the best answers are. I will, then, post these "best answers" on the blog and this will constitute the material from which I may make up questions for the final exam on this book. All participants will earn 6 activity points for this exercise, and for each answer selected to represent the best of the class that family will earn a bonus point, so it is possible to earn up to 3 bonus points for this exercise.

You will need to get on this soon. Hopefully, by next week you will be well along in your reading of "Gang Leader for a Day," and I will give you time on both Tues. 10/27 & Thurs. 10/29 to confer. I'd like to wrap this up on TUESDAY, NOV. 3RD, WHICH WILL BE THE DATE I WILL EXPECT EACH FAMILY TO HAVE FORMULATED YOUR RESPONSES AND BE PREPARED TO PRESENT THEM IN CLASS.

HERE ARE THE QUESTIONS:
(1) What did you find was the MOST SURPRISNG FACT OR OBSERVATION?

(2) What do you believe is the MOST INSIGHTFUL PASSAGE IN THE BOOK (no more than a paragraph)?

(3) What do you believe is the MOST IMPORTANT LESSON to be drawn from the book in terms of understanding and dealing with gangs?
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