What an intellectual response that sought out approval from fellow man....jj. Actually it was well written. You certainly addressed some societal problems.
Life is not allways as simple as we make it out to be. Some of us grew up in homes like "Leave it to Beaver" in the 50's where everything and everyone is well defined in an environment that is easy to hold accountable to the Bible, some of us grew up in households like "Different Strokes" - different and somewhat accountable to the bible and some of us grew up in households like the movie "Boyz in The Hood" or "Kids"
you'll see where I am going with this.
If you have courage Hikeage, rent the movie "Boyz in The Hood" and make sure no one under 17 is around when you watch it. The movie is violent at times, but shows a part of American society that needs help.
Let's assume that our new character "Jon" grows up middle class in a Metropolitan City. He goes to a public school and attends church on a regular basis. His first school starts off as a nice elementary school with children of middle class families like his own.
By the time he gets into high school, his school has redrawn district lines criss-crossed and tangled itself through so many neighborhoods to maximize tax revenues from some neighborhoods and increase tax write offs from others, his classmates will likely be Colombian, Indian, Pakistani, Vietnamese, and Black. Are they all middle class? Some, but the majority aren't. So he enters a school with 3,000 students - all of different socioeconomic status and of different race (kind of a microcosm of the real world, no?)
Enter a highschool that is
very multi-racial with youngsters that have hormones from Hades and some from very broken homes. Sure most kids are there to finish their education and move on, but others don't have such high hopes. If just 10% of the school population comes from broken homes, that's ~ 300 kids with potential problems. These kids know who each other.
Kids who just happen to come from families where the dad has severly abused them or there is no dad, tend to develop emotional problems. Alot of these problem kids find other problem kids that can relate to them, they relate, break bread and voala you have your gang. Add to this the art of rap music which allthough harsh sounding, relates to these kids. We'd all like to believe that every household is wholesom, but some households are less than wholesom.
Troubled kids from certain ethnicities form their own gangs, or sometimes form mixed gangs. Some of the gangs aren't even troubled kids, just bored guys from well to do families who have nothing better to do but get obsessed with 'street' culture. I would wager that the 10% of these troubled kids probably cause 90% of the schools misdemeanors, assaults or murder.
Meanwhile, back to Jon. Jon is trying to mind his own business - going to class, do well in school and sports and still goes to church. Unfortunately as you get to class you pass through hallways and coves where some of the gangs are hanging out, scowering - with the dreary institutional paint jobs of the school walls and bland design, its allmost like you're in a state penitentary...lol! Making eye contact the wrong way with the wrong people can get Jon into alot of trouble...Jon would get beat down pretty quick if he were intolerant of different kinds of people. If he was racist? Don't ask...
These gangs aren't like Eddie Hascal and his two pals. Some gangs probably have a few members that have aggravated assault charges or murder on their hands. They have access to some powerful firearms and use them not only for intimidation purposes... I know it sounds unreal from someone not in the trenches, but I can tell you it is
very real. Please refer to a recent news article in the city of Houston about 4 - 18 year olds charged with murder and what they did. Keep in mind, these are highschool kids and likely attended a publich school.
Some gangs are a bunch of physical bullies and into intimidaiton, some are low key guys who buy/sell drugs and rarely get into scuffles, yet others gangs are mean, violent people.
In order to survive, Jon can either hide, harden up or be in denial. If he chooses to make friends and try to enjoy some of his public highschool experience, he will need to be tolerant. Kids who are intolerant of others and in denial end up like the Columbine kids. Kids who learn tolerance (note: tolerance is not a religion, rather a personality trait) are comfortable with any race and have better insight and don't come across as fake or insencere when dealing with people of different color.
If Jon stayed in the path of a protected school system that maintained Christian beliefs, tolerant or intolerant wouldn't matter. There are some fine Christian schools out there that have raised great kids and set great standards.
If Jon goes to the public schools of today in a large Metropolitan city, he needs to be tolerant to survive. I know this sounds strange, but if you need proof take tours of public high schools in various middle and lower middle class areas to see for yourself.
I hope that might have straightened out any misconceptions you might have had. Its true that schools teach tolerance these days, but without this tolerance these public schools would be powder kegs waiting to explode. True that it is difficult to keep public schools Christian, but there are good Christian schools too.
The real beauty is to see someone come out of this kind of environment and make a strong connection with the bible and voluntarily chose to accept God into their life on their own free will.
Forced Christianity sometimes has the by product of the Jen's you were writing about.