Let's create positive place for our youth
The following is a Counterpoint:
By Pamela Smith
More discussion is now taking place among our officials, schools, churches and police/sheriff's departments on gang prevention. It has been said our kids need positive ways to spend their time, social and recreational opportunities, plus a feeling of acceptance and belonging. I have a suggestion on how we might begin to provide solutions to these needs.
Sell (for a profit) the BB&T building, just bought by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, and buy the long-abandoned Pomona Cotton Mill at the corner of Spring Garden and Merritt Drive. We could call it The SAVE (Students Against Violence Everywhere) Center.
It could be renovated to provide numerous activity areas. There could be batting cages, space for pitching softballs, soccer fields, basketball courts, perhaps a bowling alley, rooms for crafting, singing, dancing (even dance lessons).
Let local beginning bands perform; hold classes on etiquette and sex and drug education; help with homework and reading; offer storytelling, group discussions on topics the kids want, game rooms, contests, magicians -- the list goes on.
The age limit would be 10-17, one-time registration required, open Fridays and/or Saturdays 7-10 p.m. Provide only one entrance to check their center ID containing parental and medical information, and include a drug-sniffing dog and metal detector. Anyone caught with drugs or weapons would be turned over to the police and banned from the center. All other doors locked from the outside with alarms if opened from the inside.
There would be a need for uniformed and undercover officers. Parents, teachers, churches, PTSA, businesses, college students, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, etc., could volunteer to chaperone. Anyone caught smoking, cursing, bullying, being disrespectful or fighting would be expelled and his or her center ID confiscated. The ID could be earned back by providing community service for a length of time consistent with the violation.
Businesses, churches, neighborhood communities, the city and county could provide monies and supplies. A yearly $5 fee might be necessary. Drink and snack machines would be available with the profit going back to the center.
This would be a tremendous undertaking, but we have to start somewhere. We need to join together to save our kids. Remember, they are our future.
Let's make them proud of who and what they are and, they in turn will help the next generation.
The writer lives in Greensboro.
Comments (6)
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Is there a contaminated soil problem on this property? It's been on the market for years.
Posted on December 4, 2007 6:49 AM
"It has been said our kids need positive ways to spend their time, social and recreational opportunities, plus a feeling of acceptance and belonging."
A lot of thought went into that letter, but there is another way to think about our youngsters' trouble finding "positive ways to spend their time."
This problem for young people did not emerge until the second half of the 20th century --- coincidentally, about the time the U. S. and states began a campaign to pressue youngsters to stay in school longer and to restrict their ability to work --- via compulsory school attendance laws and restrictions on hours they could work.
Is there a connection between extending the seeming benevolent reach of government in the lives of young people and less than positive behavior on the part of teenagers?
There no history of teenage rebellion, etc. prior to 1950.
"Adolescence is a man-made problem. It is not a stage of nature." Peter Drucker
For more on the artificial environment we have created for teenagers, see my "Culture of Middle School and High Schools" for Ednews.org:
http://www.ednews.org/articles/77/1/The-Culture-of-Middle-Schools-and-High-Schools/Page1.html
Posted on December 4, 2007 7:34 AM
Good suggestion by the lte writer.
Tom, I think that is part of the issue. When you couple that with the E.R.A. move of the 70's, I think you get an even bigger impact.
When one parent stayed home and minded house while the other one worked, kids had much more supervision in their lives. Mom had more time to spend with the kids and to communicate with other kid's moms to make sure kids were where they are supposed to be.
I know that makes me sound sexist and old-fashioned but it made for a much better environment for the kids than they latch-keys we have running around nowadays.
Change is good and there are many positive aspects of women being regarded as capable, equal, etc. In my home, I'm more likely to do the dishes and clean while my wife is more likely to take out the trash. My wife enjoyed her career and we still have the friends she made through years of professional contacts.
However, when we had kids, we decided one of us was staying home, at least until junior started kindergarden. After that, someone would always be home when he got home from school. Since I made much more than she did, the choice was obvious. I wished that I could have been the one to stay home but it just wasn't practical.
We sacrifice our wants but neither of us have regretted it for one moment.
Posted on December 4, 2007 9:45 AM
Of course, the above is practically impossible if you have a single-parent family. Which is another big change since the 50's.
Posted on December 4, 2007 9:46 AM
I thought midnight basketball was the answer...
Posted on December 4, 2007 12:29 PM
Not a bad idea but be leery of the former Pomona Mill building. It's very old and has been abandoned for how many, 15 or more years?
It may have asbestos and would need extensive renovation, bascially a money pit.
It's been over a decade since Skippy & Earl have tried to reopen an old Woolworth store, perhaps they could be in charge of this project.
Posted on December 4, 2007 6:03 PM