Evening star., 1953-10-28
Juvenile Delinquency

Juvenile delinquency-nice words for
an evil that needn't be.
I suppose was what folks now
would call a juvenile delinquent. Not
that was ever hauled in by minion
of the law, mind you, but that was
just luck. But as 1 look back, know
now that our gang wasn't pad
just bored. No one bothered to give
us the breaks we craved as outlets for
the tremendous mental and physical
vitality of youth. Most of us wanted so
desperately to build, to create, to
achieve recognition. 1t isn't the stupid
boy who causes trouble, but the high
spirited-the ambitious.
An old man with a deep knowledge
of what makes boys tick took me under
his wing and began teaching me the
art of making jewelry. I learned to
transform a lump of dull metal into
something beautiful and precious. For
this 1 received $13 per week for three
hours after school each day and eight
on Saturday
If we could go back to the appren-
ticeship methods of years ago, I firmly
believe we would eliminate much of our
teen-age trouble and youngsters would
learn to work with their hands and
minds. Research labs dental labs -.
carpenters bricklayers auto
mechanics go. hundred Skills are in
and about the city. They would, I'm
sure, be willing to start apprentice
ships for, say, half or two thirds the
minimum wage scale now in effect. At
371a to so cents per hour, boy could
in one year easily earn $1,000 for him
self and be we'll on the way to trade.
=. This just after school, on Saturdays
and during vacations.
don't, by any means, mean the
sweatshop apprenticeship, but the type
that will help the creative teen-ager
learn a trade and earn extra money.
All sorts of minimum wage, hour
and other laws have made it impossible
for an employer to hire apprentices.
Yet the employer could use the labor
and the teen-ager could use the money.
Martin Buxbaum.
Why is it that one never hears of
juvenile delinquency in the country?
The writer lived in the Nations two
largest cities until the age of eleven.
long enough to feel the rough hand of
the budding gangs of toughs of those
cities. Then he moved to the farming
areas of the Southwest. There he
learned that every child Of farm
family has his assigned share in the
work of the farm. The little ones mix
their work with play, for you cannot
keep a child from playing, and grad
ually their tasks are enlarged until at
maturity work considerably over
balances play. Thus their surplus ener-
gies are consumed and they learn the,
facts of life at the same time. If they
indulge in pranks or jokes, as all youth
must, it does not take the form of van
dalism or larceny, because they have
learned the value of property by the
sweat of their brow.
What has the city to offer its youth
in comparison? Nothing but idleness.
Too many city parents won't even
bother to discipline their children men
tally or physically. During the school
year they pass every buck to the school
system. In the summer. those who can
afford it pass it to camps of one kind
or another. Those who cannot afford
it let them drift. All of that idle
energy is bound to find an outlet for
good or i'll. Those parents with some
sense of responsibility try to direct that
energy into channels of beneficial in
f1uence But it's against rushing cur
rent of temptations and obstacles.
It is dangerous to put off youths
discipline until habits of idleness have
been formed. Discipline must then take
the form of breaking the spirit of the
culprits, proceeding that can be justi-
fed only because it is the lesser of two
evils. All men may be born equal but
they are not born civilized. They are
animals like all other youth upon the
earth. They are civilized by slow and
gradual process until they conform in
all respects to the habits and conduct
we elders call civilization. If the pro-
gram is delayed or interrupted and
they are suddenly presented with the
facts of life they feel that they have
been deceived or cheated and they
rebel They find it difficult to believe
that life is not one grand sweet song
and that one must earn ones liveli-
hood by the sweat of his brow, for
they have not been prepared for it.
Until the cities find system grad
ually to discipline their youth as does
the farms, juvenile delinquency will be
their perennia1 nrOblenn Observer,