Opinion Archives | Page 72 of 84

Promoting Developmental Supports: A Nation at Risk

For all of us who work in youth development, it’s good to keep our eyes on the ball. The ball is providing...

Why Merge? For Security and Clout

Although big corporate mergers grab national headlines – like the recent $41 billion marriage of Cingular with AT&T Wireless – the union...

Youth. Development. Work.

Sometimes, I’m just slow. I carried around the results of two work force surveys in my head for weeks before I realized...

Weight is the Least of It

When it comes to youth wellness, we’ve been having the wrong conversation. In a culture increasingly plagued by obesity, we’ve been obsessed...

The Ugly Euginics of ‘Teen Pregnancy Prevention’

Gary Yates, president of The California Wellness Foundation, recently mischaracterized teen pregnancy, invoked destructive stereotypes that brand poorer mothers’ babies as “social...

Why So Silent About the War?

American youth development programs, like the American people, are all over the place when it comes to helping young people learn and...

Youth Reseach Debate

Response to Youth Research: Duh! By Mark Redmond The woman who heads our education center here at Spectrum Youth and Family Services...

Don’t Deify Graduation Rates

The buzz about improving the high school graduation rate is becoming a roar. Governors’ children’s cabinets are picking this as the leading...

Help a Kid, Make a Buck

For years, social scientists of many stripes have tried to make the case for investing in the healthy development of our nation’s...

Whatever Sells

The bigoted vendetta waged by America’s news media and institutions against youth has entered an even uglier phase: outright fabrication. Endless “teen...

Can Youth Development Programs Contribute to Academic Success?

A hot topic in the world of after-school and youth development programs is their role in promoting young people’s academic success. Often...

Not Sick Enough

The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently announced some positive news at its first National Children’s Mental Health...

Policy and Practice: Will The Gap Ever Close?

Youth workers’ lack of knowledge about and engagement in public policy issues has been noted time and time again at professional gatherings...

Who Are the Immigrants

“In time, the experience of the children of immigrants became the experience of all American children, who now were the representatives of...

On a Path Toward Thriving

As caring adults in the lives of youth, many of us are privileged to witness young people discover an aspect of themselves...

Race, Class, Culture And Perceived Entitlements

Bear with me. I’m trying to make sense of a series of writings spread before me that speak to how race, class...

The Quality Conundrum

Conventional wisdom says the quality of youth work programs rests in no small measure on the quality of the program staff. But...

The New Isolationists?

I have heard it all too often in youth program circles: “The United States should focus on the challenges right here between...

Drive-By Journalism

To grasp the appalling meanness of the American Automobile Association’s latest media attack on teenagers, consider the tragedy of Travis Bosse. He...