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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 1994)
EDITORIAL Young offenders need old-fashioned cures The Tiingit tribe in Alaska seems to have the prob lem of juvenile violence in hand — they've packed two young offenders off to cold, uninhabited islands where they can spend the year in solitude, reflecting on their misdeeds. When two adolescent tribe members brutally beat and robbed a Seattle pizza delivery man. the tribe told the juvenile justice system, in effect, that the status quo method of reforming young offenders doesn't work — and the justice system agreed, turning the youths over to tribal leadership for punishment. I ho Tlingit leadership's action struck a responsive chord with the American people, who from coast to const, are calling for a firmer hand to curb youth vio lence. Unfortunately, there aren't enough cold, remote islands to rehabilitate even Eugene's juvenile delin quents. Nationwide, the crime rate hasn't increased signifi cantly in the past 30 years. But crimes are becoming increasingly violent — and criminals are increasingly younger, often no older than 12 or 13. “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” "an ounce of pre vention is worth more than a pound of cure" and other of the no-nonsense aphorisms touted by grandparents are on the comeback. Many of the same educators who, in the late 1960s and 1970s. promoted softer, less coer cive "child-centered” education are now calling for the disciplinarian techniques that they demonized just a few years ago. Grandma and grandpa would be proud of the school dress codes, municipal curfews, boot-camp style deten tion centers and court-ordered paddlings —- and oven tho Tlingits' temporary exile — that have resulted from this strict mood. Without a doubt, as Don Hishoff wrote in The Ht'xistt'r Gtionl, the "permissiveness ’ in dealing with young miscreants has lead to tho impermissible situa tion' that spawns gun-toting. 15 year-old gang rapists. If setting hard-and-fast boundaries and meting out slum punishments improves the quality of young lives, then ail the better. But caution is in order, lest the baby go out with the bath water I he past three decades have seen drastic changes in the way America raises its youth. The recent concern over teen-aged violence, however, should not overshad ow the great strides this culture has made toward toler am (> and diversity since the middle of the century. What grandma perceived as morally upstanding in her day now is recognized to be. in some instances, biased, exclusive and destructive to the creativity and plurality that make American society so vibrant. Americans stand at a crossroads. It's time to sift through the various social experiments that took root in the 1960s, carrying forward the successes and weeding out the failures. While sparing the rod may indeed spoil the child, its indiscriminant application will stifle imagination and fan the flames of social iniquity. So educators and law makers should apply some of that old-fashioned disci pline, but in so doing, shouldn't overlook the many suc cesses of progressive education. Oregon Daily Emerald (>0 B0« Its* EuCIht 0«fC.Ch .•«;) INt Oeport CWy l me-act •• published dtsty Monday through f -day Ou>-vj p» »[tv,> joai .1 Hi Tuesday a-vl Thursday during the summer by the Oregon Da ly Emerald PubUshaiQ Co Int.yn* University ot Oregon. 1 ugemi Or ago the ( 1>|»« operates X3«p«r*w.!>t o) lb* U- w*vt, »i>- o)*«n at State 300 of tea (ft; Wot anal Uncjn and is a member ol dm Avu»..t I’wi tb« f ««« 4 prmate property the unlawful removal or uU ol proer* 4 pr;jtec.itat-« Ing I Editorial Editor Graphic* Editor F reeiance E dllor In Depth Editor Editor-In-Chief n ary Soto Da«1 Thorn Joe Harwood Jed Pasiay Aavne Boom E d Mopten&ior'i Maw* Editor Sport* Editor Photo Editor Supplement* Editor Night Editor litCati.4 Mrwf tt Chna Metj Mtehael Sh«v*er Trufa Noel Kn» ttenry Associate Editor* I nadench von Carp. Student Gsr^trnmitn Adnuttf. Martteme Edwards Cbmmursfy, Tiffany Smith, Hgner fducahorvAdrrunrstratsyt New* Staff: lor; fletvness . W>i*on Chan Amy Colombo. Tasha Fichenseher, Abe l stunarta Pivno Fontana Gay* I orman, Chrtstopruy l 0«. Man Garten, Gary Gras*. Sarah nervier son Kr,s nervy Irevor Kearney. Adam Kxteher. Mars Me Tyre, Ben Moebus Anne M;>*er Kornlrwj. Sherry FUney Ftobtse Beeves, i,a Satewna. F*isui Van Sokm Km Wen* (>an« West Brian Womack General Manager: Judy H.ed Advertising Director: Mars Wa«ei Production Manager IWchete Roe* Advertising: M.ico Chmg. Tony Fo», tnn Her she- 'r tot Mertmars Jeramy Mason Mcfvaal Mwnfle, Sarah Mucha*. Tom Mttetstaedt. Kelsey W<we« Classified Becky Merchant Manager Sim T re Teck Distribution John long. F erenc Ftakocn. iteguia Zsupn* Business. Katey Carbone. Supervisor Judy ConnoSy Production Dehha McCobb. Production Coordinator Shawns Abate. Greg Desmond. Tara GeuRney. Brad Joss Jennifer FTofand. Natl Thangvyt. Clayton Yea Newsroom... MB-M11 Dtaptay Advertising..MUTti Buslnes* Ofttce--MB-BS11 Cle»«m»d Advertising_m 4343 THE PUBLIC, is SO AT CLlNTOKl PCR MOTGIVIMG the middle class a tax ci/r that THEV’RE go/mg to VOTE l/j SACK «V SO WE CAM PASS tax cur J ton WE RICH. y Th*. Plan IT'S CRA2V £AsJOt/0>H IT JUST n\k»wt WOftfc' it-'*’ 1 rut rue Pl-<kN? PUBLIC /TV ^ ■ OPINION Survey questions taint study Pa11 VanSickik A survey on sox in America has just boon published It took, all of seven yours, and it would sooin our peri.options of our own sexuality have much to loam from reality I know , we can blame the media, saying they have (yet again) warped our perceptions and we shouldn't believe any thing we see or read in any form of media Life is just not as clear cut as that. Neither is this sex report. The big hype is that Ameri cans are not as sexual as we all though' w'e were. Based on what I have read, we shouldn't take the findings for granted People have always been hesitant to talk aliout sex to our culture We hide behind our little cur tains of purity, deny feelings we might have, flow with the cur rent of conformity and/or shy awav from things controversial Whether those feelings affix t the responses of those taking research for surveys is still in debate, hut what's known is results derived from such sur veys may not be as conclusive as reported What particularly bothers me is the study's figures concerning homosexuals They claim there are far few er homosexuals in this country than the to percent previously found by the landmark Kinsey study of the 1940s. The new sur vey found that the number of homosexuals in America is somewhere around 2.8 percent of men and 1.7 percent of women. Isn’t it hard to believe that there nre night percent fewer homosexuals in this country now compared with the much more conservative Ht40s? The categories in which homosexuals am placed accord ing to the survey are part of the problem. "Same Gender Sex Since Age 1H" shows only five percent and four pen ent for men and women, respectively Homosex uals I have spoken to seem to convey the idea that many gay people do not realize they were gay until after, or somewhat lat er than, age 1H This means they might have been having hetero sexual sex, and therefore would not have met the survey’s requirements. However, another category, "Same Gender Desire. Attrac tion. Appeal" rates very high at H percent for both men and women This number is very similar to Kinsey's findings, and appears to be more of a measure of sex ual orientation. It wouldn't be necessarily whether one had sox w ith someone of the same gen der, but more that they were simply attracted to them. For example, I would consider myself heterosexual even if I had never hud sex with a woman, because 1 would still fie attracted to them. Conversely, tin* category "Homosexual/Bisexual Identity" figures quite low at three per cent for men anil one pen»nt for women. This figure stands very much in question in my mind. The overwhelming tide of dis criminatory feelings currently circulating against homosexuals would be scary, and might influ ence survey subjects' responses. The problem one might have with assigning oneself with one group or another is difficult, especially if one is not absolute ly sure. Also, definitions of these groups are not altogether definitive. Is being gay only call ing oneself gay? Or is it having People shouldn't he lumped into groups according to their sexu al activity, especially if it would affect their access to services. sex with the same gender' A previous report was criti cized lor asking too mm h sen sitive information about the homosexual subje< ts. They asked "Have you had sex exclu sively with one gender7 What is your name and address?" This kind of information scared a lot of gay people from answering truthfully, and slant ed the results severely, finding that an extremely low number of homosexuals live in this coun try. This survey supplied a lot of weaponry to gay opposition groups, just as it was expected to do. Overall, 1 find it disconcerting that this kind of information is going to be used to allocate resources lor public services and to decide soc ial policy. People shouldn't let lumped into groups iii cording to their sexual activi ty. especially if it would affect their acc ess to services. This is scary as w ell, particularly if the facts aren't entirely conclusive. As with all surveys of this kind, caution is necessary because social programs' resources get allocated based on these figures Sexuality is espe cially touchy in this area, because activity varies widely among individuals. People identify differently depending on that activity. It is for these reasons that surveys on sex are difficult to take literally, because of the myriad of lifestyles, orientations, and behaviors. Paul Van Sickle is a columnist for the Emerald.
