Opinion Archives | Page 71 of 84

Youth Development and the Creative Life

Beauty is the only thing that can save the world. – Fyodor Dostoyevsky Many policymakers seem to think that all good things...

The New Black-on-Black Racism

When it comes to slurring young African-Americans as promiscuous, violent, and stupid, influential African-American leaders and commentators make radio clown Don Imus...

Not Déjà Vu All Over Again

A smart person once observed that opportunity resides at the intersection of need and capacity. I thought of this adage recently as...

Ready = Ready = Ready

The month of May produced yet another study showing that the skills young people need to be ready for life beyond high...

Anatomy of a Win for Foster Kids

The first time I set foot in my present place of employment – Spectrum Youth and Family Services in Burlington, Vt. –...

Sharing Global Lessons In Youth Work

Here at Brandeis University, I teach a graduate course on national and international youth policies. My students range from youth workers at...

The Youth “Mental Health Crisis” Hoax

In the United States, “action” consists not of taking constructive measures to fix a troubling social problem, but designating a powerless scapegoat...

Help Your Youth Workers Succeed

What do your youth workers need to succeed? Search Institute and the National Collaboration for Youth recently surveyed more than 1,000 youth...

The Ugly Reality of Restraints

As a one-time youth worker who worked with youth in an adjudicated residential setting in southern Michigan, I am dismayed by the...

The Child Welfare/Juvenile Justice Link

Your article in the April issue, “A Swift Kick in the Pants,” described chronic sexual molestation of boys in a Texas juvenile...

Youth Behave Well; Now What?

I was very pleased to see John Kelly’s “Youth Crime Mystery” article in the March issue. We see too few critical and...

Make Sure Children’s Cabinets Matter

All of a sudden, it seems, time is on everyone’s mind. In New York state, for example, the governor is challenging schools...

Time to Consider

In late March, the Rhode Island Foster Parents Association staged call-ins to the legislature to oppose budget cuts for youth services in...

Real Life About Youth — on TV?

The MTV network – which relentlessly runs stories about Britney Spear’s meltdown and shaved head – may surprise you with its reality...

Goodbye, “The O.C.”

Yes, it was two-thirds yuppie soap, but Fox television’s “The O.C.” illustrated a slice of teenage life with an irony that’s refreshing...

How We’ve Let TV Hurt Girls

Fifteen years ago, I became director of an 18-acre residential treatment center in Westchester County, N.Y. The place was in lousy condition...

The Foster Care-Industrial Complex Makes Its Move

Every ideology has its blind spots. For conservatives, it tends to be polluters, oil companies and the military-industrial complex. For my fellow...

Letters to the Editor for April 2007

How Mentoring Got Diluted The December/January article, “The Study that Ignited (or Diluted) Mentoring,” is very important and factual, especially as described...