Are we, adults, failing our youth?

Recently we have had a rash of teenage youth violence in the Puget Sound area. Shootings, knifings, vandalism and arson have filled our newspaper's front pages.

In Seattle a group of adults stormed a public meeting where the Mayor was discussing viaduct options to demand that the "city" address gang violence.

Perhaps some of the same group marched to the Seattle School District to protest the expulsion of a basketball player from Garfield high school.

I cannot seem to find any report of a group of Garfield's students or parents protesting the abysmal achievement scores of the minorities attending Garfield. Over 50 percent of the blacks attending Garfield score in the lowest category on the Math WASL.

"Gladiator Training" seems to be far more important!

I believe that the root of this problem isn't the kids, it is the adults!

Adults seem to be looking for "someone" to solve the problem, while not looking at themselves. How often have we, adults, seen unacceptable behavior by youth and not taken this behavior up with the youth?

We all seem to believe that this is someone else's problem.

Parents now seem to be reluctant to even set standards for behavior of their own children, and would take great exception to other adults "correcting" their children's behavior.

As a result of this kids learn rather quickly that there are no consequences for their behavior.

Adults are just plain afraid to "impose" any standard of behavior upon their own, or others', children.

What happens when you do a garden this way? The weeds take over. Good soil, plenty of water, etc will produce an exceptional crop of weeds if they are not tamed.

Sumner witnessed a mass destruction of one of its historical cemeteries. Evidently kids, who have been a now convicted of this, found "pleasure" in demolishing gravestones.

I would guess that this was not their first attempt to destroy something. Our court system was "lenient" on them and demanded "community service" and restitution for this late at night rampage.

One can ask, "Where were the parents?" or "Why aren't the parents being held responsible for the conduct of their children?" Is there no one responsible for the behavior of children? It doesn't seem so.

Parents of many of the misbehaving kids will assure anyone that they are "incapable" of such behavior! It is always "somebody else."

After these kids were sentenced for the desecration of the Sumner cemetery, they failed to either provide restitution or do community service, and continued to roam the streets at all times of the night according to the news reports.

Evidently the consequences of their behavior were not severe enough to make them reconsider their lifestyle.

I lived in New York City in the late 60's when it was thought to be in major decline.

Crime was rampant in all aspects of the city. Derelict cars everywhere, graffiti on all surfaces, and newspapers were full of crime reports.

About four years ago I was back in New York City and was astounded by the positive changes. I have to suggest that it was Mayor Giuliani's approach to behavior and crime.

Rudy Giuliani was a prosecutor in New York City prior to being elected Mayor. His approach was to make minor crimes "important" in the hopes that correcting the perpetrators of minor crimes behavior would lead to a reduction in all crime rates. This turned out to be true.

Why isn't this the case with youth of Washington not only with respect to crime but also with respect to education? Would not harsher punishment for minor violations lead to the altering of the behavior, in a positive manner, the lives of our youth?

KIPP schools, perhaps the best example of successfully boosting the achievement levels of minority students, operates on a "zero tolerance" basis for behavior and achievement and has outstanding results. Are we missing something here in our society?

I think so! Could it be that we are too relaxed in our approach to raising children? Is it that we believe that children "will see the logic" of doing the right thing when they see all kinds of bad behavior being tolerated?

One only has to look to some of the behavior in our schools for examples of this "relaxation."

I come back to the question. "Where are the adults?"