THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603080289
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Random Rambles
SOURCE: Tony Stein
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
It used to be that when you thought of 4-H, you thought of plows, cows and cornfield kids. No more. As Virginia has citified and sophisticated, so has 4-H.
That's why the National 4-H Council is a prime mover in a workshop called America's Youth in Crisis. It will be held Friday at the Ramada Plaza Resort in Virginia Beach. The idea is to have a day of give-and-take between professionals and just plain folks. The goal is finding ways to guide a generation of youngsters safely through the '90s world of sex, drugs, violence and families under stress.
Herbert W. Pettway, an extension agent at the Chesapeake office of the Virginia Cooperative Extension, is chair of the workshop. The main speakers will be Dr. Richard M. Lerner and Jim Barthel. Lerner is director of the Institute for Children, Youth and Families at Michigan State University. Barthel is an associate professor of youth development with the University of Wisconsin Extension.
Lerner's book, ``America's Youth in Crisis,'' sets the theme for the workshop. It's a grim theme summarized in these scary sentences: ``It is not just some youth that are at risk, or just some communities that face the problem of losing much of their next generation. It is all of America's children, all our children, that are at risk.''
Lerner's basic notion is a sort of modernization of the old African saying: ``It takes a whole village to raise a child.'' Putting it simply, Lerner is saying there has been a tremendous amount of research done and there are a host of community agencies in place. Let's pool the knowledge, he says. Let's get the agencies and the entire community to plan together and find practical solutions effective in the real world.
Pettway, who works with 4-H youth in Chesapeake, calls that real world a very tough one for kids. And trouble doesn't always land on someone else's doorstep.
``It doesn't have to be a child in a low-income community that grows up to be the next criminal,'' he says. ``People tell themselves, `This can't happen to my child,' but it can.''
Kids today are more vulnerable than ever, Pettway says. Ask him what he thinks prime causes are and he starts with a lack of respect for teachers and respect for authority in general. He's a lot younger than I am but we both remember classrooms where sassing the teacher was an educational felony.
It's been brewing, I think, since the Vietnam War. We discovered that our elected leaders were not above lying to us. Mistrust filtered down from the top. Mix that mistrust with the emphasis on individual rights in today's society, throw in a batch of extremists on left and right, and you've got a very stormy sea to weather.
Peer pressure is another trap for kids, Pettway says. In fact, Lerner's own son calls it one of the biggest traps. In a foreword to his father's book, 14-year-old Justin Lerner says being accepted by your peers is one of the most important things in life. So kids have decisions to make, like ``Do I smoke because the popular kids smoke, or do I not smoke because it will hurt me in the long run?'' It can be a very tough choice.
Even in two-parent homes, kids can be set adrift when both parents have to work. Pettway isn't doing any Pollyanna routine, but he says there are ways to get kids involved in after-school programs. Involvement in wholesome activities is critical, he says, and if parents can't be there, they can at least encourage the involvement.
When Lerner talks about the role of schools, he doesn't mean an 8-to-3 classroom drill. He talks about ``full-service'' schools that are neighborhood centers for the full range of social programs a community offers. Kids at risk, kids under stress, don't learn, he believes, and kids who can't learn have a one-way ticket to trouble.
Lerner will be the main speaker at the Friday workshop, and Barthel will lead a discussion on ways to use workshop ideas at home. Pettway, at 547-6444, is the contact for registration, which costs $30. But that includes lunch and a copy of Lerner's book, so it's a pretty good deal.
I'll tell you this: Lerner paints a worrisome picture. For example: ``Unless dramatic and innovative action is taken soon, millions of our nation's children and adolescents. . . will fall into an abyss of crime and violence, drug and alcohol use and abuse, unsafe sex, school failure, lack of job preparedness and feelings of despair and hopelessness.''
He's not offering up any simple slogans or solutions from the make-believe era of Ozzie and Harriet. He's saying that we've got the agencies and the information we need. What we've got to do now is weave our community resources together in a concerted effort. At stake, he says, are the lives of our kids. by CNB