6 Main Street
Dallas, Texas 765432
The Secretary
400 Maryland Avenue SW,
Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir:
- (NEWSER)- “A pretty jarring story out of Washington state, where an 11-year-old boy was last night arrested and faces an attempted murder charge following the police discovery of a handgun, more than 400 rounds of ammunition and several knives at a Vancouver, Wash., middle school”
- (NEWSER)- “Last week, three 16-year-old boys were arrested in the rape of 15-year-old Audrie Pott, who killed herself eight days after the attack. Now her parents are suing the boys who are said to have distributed a photo of the attack”
- (NEWSER)- “A California judge today found a 12-year-old boy guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of his father, who was a leader in the neo-Nazi movement. The boy, who isn’t being named due to his age, shot his father, 32-year-old Jeff Hall, in the head”
- (NEWSER)- “Two middle-school girls in Texas have been arrested after police say they created a Facebook page in a classmate’s name- and used it to fire off threats to other students. The girls, ages 12 and 13, face third-degree felony charges for online impersonation, NBC News reports”
- (NEWSER)- “A Detroit boy who murdered a woman when he was 12 has been sent to juvenile prison until he is 21 years old. Authorities will then decide if Demarco Harris should be released or serve a life sentence. Harris, now 13, shot and killed 24-year-old Trisha Babcock”
- (NEWSER)- “The Secret Service has found the mastermind behind the “Should Obama Be Killed?” Facebook poll- and it turns out to be a kid. After a chat with the young perp and the parents, the agency has decided not to press charges, a spokesman said”
I could go on and on, but such incidents and many other worse ones have become the order of the day in the modern day America. Juvenile delinquency is a reality we must face as a nation. Young girls and boys are committing shockingly serious crimes every day and everywhere. Failure to arrest this issue as early as possible going forward could be the beginning of us undoing all the gains we have achieved thus far.
The most common crimes committed by our young children include rape, shoplifting, underage drinking, robbery, assault from fighting, suicide, murder, drug abuse and many other forms of crime which were previously only expected to be committed by adults. Our country, like never before, requires very serious and effective measures to cope with these ever increasing crimes by our young teenagers.
But where did the rain start beating us? Where did we go wrong and found ourselves here in this quagmire? The answer to this awakening question according to me can be summed up into one word- negligence. Right from parental negligence all the way to the negligence of policy makers in our systems of government. It is because of such negligence that many other things have gone wrong in the history mankind.
Unfortunately, our nation is on the verge of total destruction and doom. In fact, our own children are now turning against their parents, siblings, friends and classmates. But all is not lost just yet. That is why I decided to write to you and make my small contribution to saving the future of our beloved nation. My proposal to you, Sir, is that a policy be put in place in your department which ensures that as they grow, our young boys and girls can contain their emotions and live harmoniously amongst themselves. They must be taught how to appreciate their diversity in a peaceful way.
The point is, a time has come when it is absolutely necessary to introduce Social and Emotional Education in our schools. Majority of these incidents are taking place, not because these juveniles are hard core criminals, but because we have let them grow without the crucial skill of handling their feelings and emotions. Our children grow like trees and we preoccupy ourselves with nurturing their life careers while ignoring the most crucial part of their development; their social skills. So they handle their frustrations and anger the best way they know how. Research has it that the main reason why most young people commit crime is because they hopelessly believe that they will die young anyway, which is, to say the least, a fallacy. This is a sad situation since these children are ending up being convicted for our own crime of omission.
Of course it is common knowledge that apart from teaching the content of the syllabus, teachers have a moral duty of giving the students direction as far as their social and emotional growth is concerned. However, considering the burden they already have of covering the syllabus properly, most of the teachers find themselves literally lacking any time to talk to these young ones. By introducing social and emotional teaching formally in the syllabus, we will all be saving a whole generation and, by extension, our nation’s future.
In the same spirit of ridding our nation of this menace that is juvenile delinquency, it should be noted that making the youth happy has been found to significantly deter them from committing crime. Therefore, while coming up with the syllabus for social and emotional teaching, the current curriculum should be revised to offload students of strenuous content and ensure that they learn happily.
Thank you, Sir, for finding time to read all this. My hope is that one day, I will see positive changes as a result of this letter.
Sincerely,
Joe Smith
Concerned Citizen
