eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog

As mentioned in part 1 of this post, given the NIU tragedy, we're going to stray a bit from the bird theme... But please read on... This is for everyone out there, but especially teachers, coaches, mentors, clergy, parents, friends - anyone who commonly deals with adolescents and young adults... Keep in mind that this is just two cents from a ton of experience and more than a bit of formal education in this stuff...

The ACLU estimates that only 5% to 10% of people on death row "... have a serious mental illness." And, it's a pretty safe bet that many of the young people who go berserk share a similar level of sanity as those on death row. So what's gone wrong with so many young people?

• First, take a look at the "You're the most important person in the whole wide world" approach to child rearing. Somewhere starting in the late '40s, Dr. Spock wrote of a more compassionate form of raising children - a form of child rearing that focused on the child as an individual. In time, child psychologists started shouting even more loudly of the delicacy if the child psyche. (In many respects that philosophy continues to this day. In some areas, we fail to keep scores at child sports events, and everyone gets a trophy at sundown.) Unfortunately, many a young child with an artificially-bloated sense of self grows up to become a young adult with an artificially-bloated sense of self that does a lousy job of handling stuff like failure, rejection, and underachieving. Speaking as a tutor and teacher, I've seen hundreds of young adults pop off because algebra or calculus proved troubling. And these folks weren't just frustrated... They were genuinely angry at what they saw as an unfair (and useless) assault on their "most important" intellect.
• The second issue is that of the trend toward "Questioning all things respected" or "Embrace the concept of rebellion for rebellion's sake"... Doubt this is an issue, and it's obvious that you haven't walked through the food court in the mall lately. The language and the subject matter openly bandied by so many teens is simply shocking... Look folks, I gotta tell ya that I'm no prude, (understatement of all time). But there's a time, place, and particular audience for all things adult, and the sweep of the food court ain't it. Far too often, there is complete contempt on the part of young people in their willingness (even eagerness) to expose others (children and seniors especially) to traditionally adult, bawdy, private discussion. And the lack of respect for others certainly doesn't stop with just language.
• The last contributing factor involves the violence of today's vile multimedia. Not much to say here... Just watch the Sci Fi channel on a Saturday afternoon or evening... Just listen to rap... Just watch pro wrestling and ultimate fighting...The levels and quantities of gratuitous brutality young people are exposed to are simply off the scales.

And there you have it. Contemptuous anger expressed brutally. Obviously, the old demon of mental illness underscores much of youth violence just as it always has. But that demon has multiple modern Stygians of our own making.

Sad by the feeder,

CapeCodAlan

P.S. Next time let's see if we can't rummage through some of our better bird pics... But right now, let's just turn off the one-eyed brain bandit in the living room and perhaps send an email or two to appropriate corporate parties, or maybe even talk with the young people in our lives and find out what they're really thinking.