She advises that the schools with which she is familiar are like human warehouses, punitive reformatories; and these are supposedly some of the better suburban schools that have the higher SAT scores and the intelligent students. One of the top scholastic schools in the San Fernando Valley, Taft High School (California), is also one of the most dangerous. In 1994 a student at one Valley high school carried a loaded handgun to school. In between classes when the hallways were packed with students, he accidentally dropped his gun. It fired and killed one student. The school then installed metal detectors. "Gangs" and "crews" are a big problem in high schools. "Gangs" tend to carry and use guns; "crews" commit vandalism and have frequent fist fights. School violence is a problem for everyone involved with a school -- teachers, school staff, parents, and students. The violence is not caused only by kids of certain races or from dysfunctional families. Most students believe they have to be tough to survive or gain status. This mindset usually means that conflicts between students lead to some type of violence. The author describes a number of incidents of violence about which she has personal knowledge; and she advises that if the violence continues, it is not just her generation's future that will be undermined but their kids' futures as well.