Evening star., 1953-10-05
Todoy's VondoIism-VlII
By Howard Whitmon

! JuQSe III OIlO VI OuI large ClIlCS
said to me, when I get off the
bench I'm going to write book
And I'm going to call it, I Hate
Parents. He had become that
disgusted with the way parents
/ have reneged on one of their
primary duties: The training of
their children for responsible
citizenship.
He wasn't the only one. In
every city I covered, the harried
authorities who are charged with
keeping some Semblance of law
and order were fed-up, too.
with the amount of vandalism
that goes on in this town you'd
think the kids didn't have any
parents" a probation officer said.
It isn't only that some parents
renege on their own job.
It's that they expect the COM
munity to raise their children
for them.
At the Youth Study Center in
Philadelphia. a modernistic juve-
nile detention facility opened in
May, 1852, hardly a day goes by
but what some parent calls up
and says, II can't do anything
with my Johnny, I want you to
take him."
That's how it is" remarked
Norbury S. Teter, assistant di-
rector of the center. Parents
bring children into the world and
then step aside and expect the
community to raise them"
Asked to Spank Boy.
One mother even brought her
15-year-old son in and asked Mr..
Teter to spank him for her!
Touring Philadelphia by night
with Chief Policewoman Norma
B. Carson, I saw for myself what
Mr.. Teter meant by parents
stepping aside" Here was a
16-year-old girl whose parents,
when telephoned at 2 o'clock in
the morning, didn't even know
she was out. Here were a brother
and sister, 10 and IL, hanging
around the penny arcades near
Broad and Market. No one was
home at their house. Their par
ents had gone off for the week
end.
There's a difference between
training children to be indie
pendent-and just abandoning
them" Chief Carson said.
In San Francisco, a 12-year-
old boy was picked up late at
night at Portola drive and Wood
side avenue. The police thought
his mother would be worried sick
about him, that she'd be relieved
and overjoyed to know that he
was safe and sound. So they
telephoned her from the station
house.
"TOO Tired to Get Him."
She answered the phone un-
concernedly.
"Oh, take him to the juvenile
home. I'm too tired to come
and get him now" she said.
A San Francisco father was
called in after his son had bat
tered down a refreShment booth
in one of the parks. AS the au-
thorities sought to talk over the
incident he turned on them de-
family.
Look here" he said, IT pay
for | the boys clothes. I feed
him. I give him an allowance.
What else do you want me to
do?"
Raise him-perhaps?
Parental attitudes have dis
couraged many a city Official
and angered some.
Mr.. Teter, in Philadelphia,
shook his head at the swelling
tide of youth miSbehavior (juve-
nile arrests up 1874 per cent last
year). He said, "We tackled
this problem years ago, but I'm
afraid we tackled it at the wrong
end. We should have gone after
the parents"
Parents Held at Fault.
Capt. William Hartung of Bal
timore'S police juvenile division
pointed to the rise in Juvenile
Court valdalism cases from lot
in 1851 to 146 in 1852. Parents
are responsible for 80 per cent
of the trouble" he said. I'm
not a man committed to violence,
but believe me, I've seen some
parents who-Well, I'd just like
to stretch their neckS"
They call Capt. Hartung's divi-
sion the bureau of aid and pre-
vention, but how-he wonders
is he going to aid or prevent any,
thing if the parents won't CO.
operate? He has actually had to
lock up youngsters for the sole
reason that parents wouldn't
guarantee to get them to court
for a hearing the next morning.
One father begged off helpless
ly, "If 1 can't even tell where my
kid is going to be in five minutes,
how can tell where he'll be to-
morrow morning?"
I thought perhaps the juvenile
authorities were overstating it