several hundred thousand drop out of school; six thousand kill
themselves; fifty thousand are admitted to private psychiatric hospitals;
over a million have drinking problems; four million smoke marijuana;
and of the thirteen million girls in total, more than one million become
pregnant each year (400,000 have abortions and 500,000 give birth).
(The total number from which James B. Austin and John Reeves drew
these statistics was twenty-five million.)

What surprised me, however, was that the authors could only list a few
alternative educational programs to help troubled youth who were poor.
They did not mention even one developing peer group program for at-risk
youth. The only alternative program described in detail, which was
outside an urban environment, was Outward Bound. This was considered
somewhat successful, although the rough wilderness trips and strict
regime have been very controlling and sometimes more dangerous than
the "mean streets."

Recently, I was reading a small diary that our daughter had made for
me in school at age thirteen. I realized that the images of troubled
adolescents were very real for her and for others who themselves had low
self-esteem in school. The low self-esteem caused them to act out and
rebel, not to be dominated or subdued. They became high-risk youth
shortly before or after eighth grade. We now know that this could just as
easily happen in third or fourth grade.

Our daughter related well to her preadolescent peers who had
difficulties because of their dysfunctional family situations and peer
group pressures. Eventually, these problems caused anxiety for us; and it
took much patience, good counseling, and a caring group of teachers in a
small private school near our neighborhood to solve them. Most families
of at-risk youth cannot afford such key social and educational assistance.
Most youth in the last decade have not been rehabilitated. Their self-
esteem has remained very low and their at-risk behavior, which leads to
severe antisocial outcomes, continues to occur. Thus, society has felt the
destructive manifestations of their actions.

Since 1976, I have been observing and working with at-risk youth of all
ethnic and racial backgrounds who are experiencing behavioral problems
caused by social and emotional difficulties. In the late 1980s and early
1990s, some of these children have been rehabilitated through successful
peer group programs, counseling, and teaching in alternative educational
settings. However, most of these adolescent youth have not been
rehabilitated at all.

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