Working with "at risk" Urban Youth in schools I am constantly struck by the amount of strength they display in a world that so often (and so deeply) abandons them. For one thing love and compassion are not easy to hold on to, particularly in difficult times, yet I have seen so many youth who have been pushed so far yet retain dignity and care as core values. As Giroux, Joe, Shirley and many others note this is not the story of teens we see in the press. In the media they seem to exist as only victims or victimizers or recipients of someones saving. These two links (one from this weeks NYT ) speak of so much more, of quiet bodily harm and quiet strength. This is the last sentence of the second link (written by a teen) So next time an adult asks, what's wrong with America's teens ask them, "What's wrong with America's adults?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/us/26runaway.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

http://www.freechild.org/Firestarter/contents/FS1001.htm