Television, magazines, and talk radio have increased their sensational coverage of youth crime. The stories reported suggest that our nation is in the grip of a teenage crime wave of unprecedented proportions. That young people in America are anti-social, lazy, irresponsible and dangerous. As a result of this negative media hype, adult reactions to adolescents are often negative. Even the adults who care about young people sometimes don't understand them.
Some adults believe that adolescent problems are caused by adolescents themselves.
Most adults do not recognize that there are much larger factors at work. Just as it is wrong to assume that adolescents themselves are the problem, it's wrong to think that the solution is to punish, restrict or refuse to support youth. We are constantly searching for the mythical silver bullet that will wipe away our problems in one clean sweep. However, despite America's love for instant solutions, we will not find them by silencing and locking away our young people. There are clear alternatives to engage youth to become full participants in a civil society and at that same time help adults view youth as an asset, and not a liability.