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
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■ 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.