THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994 TAG: 9406110068
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940612 LENGTH: Medium
That news comes from The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star's annual survey of Hampton Roads seniors. In April, selected students distributed questionnaires to 558 of the 10,249 graduating seniors in public and private schools in Western Tidewater, South Hampton Roads and Northeastern North Carolina.
{REST} In Virginia Beach, 162 seniors responded to questions on a variety of topics, including their plans, school safety, drug and alcohol use, teen sex and racial relations.
Survey results in Virginia Beach weighed toward the feminine perspective, with 60 percent of the participants females and 40 percent males.
Sixty-five percent of the Virginia Beach participants were white, 15 percent were African-Americans, 10 percent were Asian-Americans and 6 percent were Native Americans and Latinos.
Most - 78 percent - said they planned to go directly to a two- or four-year college after graduating from high school. But Beach respondents were split on how they were going to pay for higher education. Only 31 percent said their parents were footing the bill. Sixty-one percent were not sure they'd be willing to take a low-paying public service job, such as the ones President Bill Clinton is offering in exchange for college money.
Thirty-nine percent of the respondents said they were 18 and were not registered to vote.
Still, Beach seniors are not totally without social consciences. Three-quarters of the survey participants said they either do volunteer work now or plan to.
Forty-four percent of Beach respondents said they plan to stay in Hampton Roads for the long-term.
Here's how survey participants feel about the society they'll inherit when they graduate:
Drugs and Alcohol
Nearly three-quarters of Beach seniors said they believed drug and alcohol use had increased among teenagers since they entered high school. That impression came even though nearly half said they didn't drink at all, and only 18 percent admitted to having used marijuana.
Rodney L. Jordan, 18, a Kempsville High senior who plans to attend college, is one of the non-drinkers who believes usage has increased among his peers.
``A lot of other people can't stand the peer pressure,'' he said. ``So if you're not a strong person that has a lot of self-esteem, then the influence is going to grow on you and grow on you until you give in and use drugs.''
Teen Sexuality
Beach schools have been criticized for not offering enough AIDS education. But 57 percent of survey participants said they thought they'd received enough AIDS education to protect them from the deadly disease. That compares to 41 percent who said their AIDS education was inadequate.
Still, only a few (9 percent) said the disease had persuaded them to abstain from having sex altogether. Fifty percent said it had persuaded them to be more careful - using protection, becoming monogamous or reducing the number of their sexual experiences.
Racial relations
Survey participants were upbeat about relations between the races. Nearly 72 percent said racial relations had improved or remained about the same since they started high school. Three-quarters of respondents said they had a close friend of a different race, and about the same number said they had either dated outside their race or would consider it.
Tito L. Fulmer, 17, a senior at First Colonial, said he has definitely noticed a difference.
``People at school, they don't stick around with one race,'' he said. ``They're, like, trying to get out and be friendly to other people.''
School safety
The overwhelming majority (91 percent) of Beach seniors surveyed felt safe all or most of the time at school. But nearly half knew of a student who had carried a gun to school or school activities.
Frank A. Martini, 17, a senior at Bayside High, said a feeling of fear was pervasive.
``You didn't know what was going to happen,'' he said. ``Like, I can recall back earlier this year, there was a gang fight with guns and knives. And you never know when they're going to snatch you and cut you or shoot you with the gun.''
But Martini said he thinks the situation is improving.
``I think now the school is finally realizing what's going on,'' he said. ``And metal detectors are being used more often. The school's starting to get safer. They're nailing the people who had the guns, knives. I think in a couple years the school will have it down pat, and it might eliminate the violence.''
{KEYWORDS} SURVEY CLASS OF 1994 GRADUATION
by CNB