[DeltAlum]

It's pretty easy to put all parents in a line and paint them with the same brush -- but it's not that simple.

In the specific case of the Northbrook hazing incident, I'll bet that out of the 14 sets of parents involved, that some of them are pretty good parents, who are shocked at what happened and not doing their very best to pretend that their offspring are perfect.

Believe me, I've been there.

What probably happened there is that two or three people got out of control, and the rest just followed along. Riots happen that way.

Heading off in a different direction, now, regarding the input we receive from media in particular:

What is of some concern to me in my "advancing state of maturity," (OK, read that middle-age), is that many of the "gatekeepers" of what actually is covered by newspapers and broadcasters is decided by very young people. Most of the Assignment Desk people, even in fairly major markets are what we old folks call 20/20's. That is to say that they're 20 something years old, make $20 thousand a year and believe they know everything there is to know about everything.

Please don't misunderstand. They are bright people -- but they haven't been active in society long enough to have gained the experience they should have to make these decisions. But what, to me, should be considered one of the most important rungs on the news ladder is one of the lowest paid, and thus, becomes entry level.

I heard on NPR just this morning that some group (I really don't care who or how) did some kind of big survey/study on "when you become and adult." This had to do with when you were probably married, having a family and being forced to become financially independent -- in other words, be out on your own.

The answer surprized me. It was 26 years old.

IF that's true, why do we have "children" (is that what you are if you're not an adult?) making these kinds of decisions?