Their classmates take note, and sometimes copy the new attitudes. Ideas seeping south Other ideas and influences from north of the border are seeping into the Mexican psyche. Arms experts say guns smuggled in from the United States are easily purchased on the black market. The guns are tucked away at home despite Mexico's strict licensing laws. Jose Miguel Leal, who is in charge of arms registry at the Tijuana military base, estimates that as many as 80 percent of residents have guns.
Drug abuse is also a growing problem among the young.
As drug cartels started paying their carriers in drugs, more adolescents began using drugs and committing crimes to pay for their habits, youth experts say. Despite these growing problems, the contrast between youth attitudes in U.S. and Mexican school is notable. The United States' strong emphasis on individual rights is reflected in schools where young people express themselves with daring clothes and elaborate hairstyles. In most Mexican public schools, students wear uniforms and boys are told to keep their hair short. At Aranda's school, for example, caps aren't allowed.