Teens Buying the Wrong Message?
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* I was deeply distressed by the “Courting Teenagers at the Mall” (Oct. 27). My concern lies in the message sent to teens about places to spend their time. A shopping mall is exactly that, a place to purchase goods. Despite the entertainment and supposed kid-friendly environment, the shopping mall survives only with consumers willing to hand over their cash. So, the message to teens seems to be that they are welcome as long as they spend money.
As a community, we have let teenagers down by allowing corporations to erect shopping-entertainment megaplexes that function as de facto teen centers. The tragedy of the recent stabbing at the Block at Orange seems to be a direct result of lots of teens, poor social skills and unfocused energy. Teens are still children and need the guidance and supervision of adults. Instead of relinquishing control of teenagers to mall cops, we ought to lobby our communities to create better programming for teens. I would rather teens learn to build social skills rather than build credit card debt.
ROB WEISSKIRCH
Department of child and adolescent studies
Cal State Fullerton
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