Interesting post on guns, youth culture, etc.

This was taken from another forum. It was written by a Canadian college prof. He is generally liberal but always very even handed. Some very good points here.

...What did happen in society to bring in guns and knives? I wish I knew. It certainly didn't happen overnight. At least part of it I suspect was an outgrowth of the increasing economic disparity on this continent. People who have too much get greedy about hanging onto it, and people who have much less and believe they are entitled to more tend to get aggressive about acquiring more. Pair that up with increased access to the weapons themselves, and the perceived legitimacy inculcated by media images, and I suppose there you have it, although that's obviously too simplistic.

One argument that can be advanced is that gun/knife/gang culture is an outgrowth of the increasing abandonment of children and youth for economic reasons, and the voluntary separation of youth from the adult world because it is supported by the culture and their income. More and more youth spend less and less time in the company of adults, and less time wanting to find reasons to fit in. In some instances it is because the youth are working virtually full time in tandem with school attendance, and have money for illegal activities. In other instances it is a result of both parents having to work to meet family costs (or consumer wnats in some instances). In still other instances, it is a result of single-parent homes and the absence of anyone else to monitor the child/youth. Low monitoring is generally associated with poorer developmental outcomes.

I had the honour of inviting the mother of my city's only drive-by shooter to my adolescent development class about 7 years ago. She had adopted him and his sister from a middle class Brazilian orphanage when they were 8 and 10, respectively. Though a bright educated woman with a decent job, great attitude about parenting,and dedication to the task, she found within a few years of adopting this sibling pair that they were simply too much for single parent, and indeed maybe 3 or 4 parents. As she noted to my class, the orphanage had been a decent place as far as care goes, but the constant turnover of staff meant that these kids had grown up in the company of peers and had acquired no vested interest in the priorities of adults. By age 12, the son would leave school at 3:15, on a night when he had a hockey practice, not show up for practice, and not come home until the middle of the night. You obviously can't follow your kid 24/7 ewven if you *don't* have a fulltime job so she sat helpless hoping it would blow over. She sought help from child welfare people but they only made matters worse by sticking the kids into a group home where there were fewer rules than at home and the kids could come and go as they pleased (this was a case where the usual scenario - i.e., anything has to be better than the home the kid is yanked from - didn't apply). She said that it eventually got to the point where the only time she saw her son was when she was notified of his court appearances. The kid ended up moving around a lot, getting into trouble, getting kicked out of "boot camp", and sharing a place (crashing is more like it) with a couple other late teens on welfare on their own, and the bunch headed out one night to steal some stuff, including a .22 and a car. They went for a joyride downtown, taking pot shots at lights, and egging each other on. For a lark the kid tried to shoot a pedestrian in the ass. None of them had drivers licenses or training in either driving or firearms, and between that and the potholes in the street, a shot in the ass turned into a shot through the heart, and a bright young engineer was dead.

Having kids believe in their heart of hearts that civility and all the things that adults find important ARE important is a cornerstone of a decent culture. The moment they get cut off from adulthood and develop their own separate culture, game pretty much over. I'm gonna be an old fart and suggest that as the youth economy took hold in north america in the mid-70's, the perceived legitmacy of adult life simply vanished. Education lost its meaning. Manners lost their meaning. Long-term investment in communities lost its meaning. My generation was tickled pink that we could make so much money from our children with clothing, music, MTV, makeup, cellphones, internet, fries, etc. We got rich while our kids were distracted by "amusements" We sold them baggy pants with designer labels forgetting that the baggy clothes of rap music were evolved from loose-fitting prison clothing worn by incarcerated black youth who had nothing they could market when they finsihed doing their time except turn their machismo into a commodity. We legitimized criminality in our children while we counted the money we made from them. As Neil Postman put it, we amused ourselves to death.

I am going to copy this for my Wed. discussion group.
Much to think about.