In public discussion of today's youth problems, balance and context has vanished. As a result, youth policy and programming are increasingly divorced from research findings, historical lessons and common sense. Many of us in Extension youth development education have simply repeated the popular myths circulating in the media about "at-risk" youth without questioning their basis or using research to help us more accurately discern the situation of today's youth. It's time to change from a deficit focus on liabilities to concentrate on building strengths in youth programs. We need to concentrate our efforts away from just "fixing" problem kids and toward efforts for creating positive opportunities to develop youth potential.
Kirk A. Astroth (Fri,) studied this question.