Kids need positive role models who reject violence

Pittsburgh school board member Kevin Carter is correct in his letter “Violence at Schools Can’t Be Solved With More Guns” (April 6). In the short term, considering the fights that we read about and see on the news, guns might seem to be a logical next step, but getting to the root causes of the violence is what’s necessary. Kids are not born angry and hostile; it is learned behavior.

Consistent with this, I found the April 2 article about hip-hop very disheartening (“Breaking Through: Pittsburgh Hip-Hop — Waiting to Pop”). If this “artist’s” stuff is rejected by clubs because of his violent themes, why doesn’t this tell him something? Endorsing violence in the name of “entertainment” is so wrong! What does it teach our kids?

A child is by nature very impressionable. He learns to speak and act by imitation. If his influences include cruelty, disrespect for women and other authority figures, a careless attitude toward guns, and engagement in unlawful activities, he learns to have no respect or consideration for himself and others and his prospects for the future are dim. If he is given love and support from home and a sense of the importance of school, he stands a good chance of making something of himself.

All youngsters need positive role models who a) steer them away from drugs and violent behavior, b) demonstrate positive treatment of women (think of the misogyny so prevalent in a lot of rap) and c) promote the appreciation of education. People they observe and emulate, parents and others, need to set good examples. C. HUBER

Swissvale