THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994 TAG: 9406100188
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940612 LENGTH: Medium
This is how they see their future: A huge majority are going on to college, they plan to make more bucks than their parents - but many won't be doing it around here.
{REST} That's the mixed news in a survey conducted by The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star of more than 550 graduating high school seniors.
Dozens of Portsmouth students were polled, and their responses closely mirrored the feelings of their peers throughout the area. But there was one big difference, and it involved what teens did - or didn't do - on Sundays.
Most students - 55 percent - across Hampton Roads said they attend church or worship regularly. But in Portsmouth, 61 percent said they didn't go to church.
``A lot of students work late Saturday night or they work on Sunday, and they're too lazy to go,'' said Felicia Green, a 17-year-old Norcom High School student, who acknowledged that she rarely attends church either. ``And some people just don't want to go to church, period.''
Kelly Cross, a 17-year-old Churchland student who does go to church, said: ``It starts at home. I went to Christian school until sixth grade, and that really stuck with me. A lot of kids don't get that at home.''
Sixty-one percent of the Portsmouth students also said they thought the use of alcohol and drugs had risen since they got to high school - although few admitted to using them.
``People my age have problems at home and think drugs are a way out,'' Green said. ``And some of them don't have anything better to do.''
Cross said: ``A lot of people do it just to be popular. People want to be in the in crowd.''
Another disturbing trend: Most Portsmouth students say racial relations aren't improving. Thirty-seven percent said they had gotten worse, and 47 percent said they stayed the same.
``There's still a lot of prejudice around our age,'' said Green, who is black. ``It seems that one race sticks among themselves. They don't integrate, and if they do, they're joked about and teased until they break up.''
But here's the good news: Though half of the Portsmouth students said they knew of someone who had a gun in school or at a social event, 79 percent said they feel safe all the time or most of the time.
Even better is that, despite all the concern about the plight of public schools and declining test scores, most students think they're getting a good education. Sixty-one percent rated it as outstanding or good.
Two-thirds say they're headed to a four-year college. ``A lot of people think they won't get a good job if they don't go to college,'' Green said.
Many Portsmouth seniors are optimistic about how they're going to pay for it. Eighteen percent said they'd rely on grants or their parents' help; only 13 percent thought they'd depend on loans.
Green is counting on her parents: ``It's hard to get scholarships or pay back loans.''
Portsmouth grads also have big plans after college: Sixty-eight percent expect to have a higher standard of living than their parents; only 8 percent thought it would drop. And 71 percent plan to continue volunteering or to start volunteer work.
``It's very important; if you don't stay involved in your community, you won't know what's going on,'' said Cross, a member of the Police Explorers club.
But many won't be doing their volunteer work or earning their big bucks in Portsmouth. Half said they plan to leave the area. For Cross, the decision is tied to her career choice: ``I want to be a cop, and I don't want to be one around here.''
Handling troublemakers she might have known in high school would just be too uncomfortable, she said.
{KEYWORDS} SURVEY CLASS OF 1994 GRADUATION
by CNB