A Gang Member's Final Bad Choice: A Reflection - Essay Example

A Gang Member's Final Bad Choice: A Reflection The stage of development during which youngsters experience diverse changes is during adolescence where rapid physical, mental, emotional, and psychological transformations are experienced. According to Reader's Digest, studies show that teenagers with low self-esteen have parents who are indifferent to either the successes or failures (or both) of the children. Lacking clear directions and goals, such children find it difficult to develop initiative.

When this happens, children tend to form a negative self-image and give up trying anything new or challenging, including making new friends or focusing on a future endeavor. In Shaw’s article entitled “A Gang Member's Final Bad Choice” published in the Long Beach Press Telegram in 2009, the tragedy that befell Travion Richard, 17 years old, a resident of Long Beach who was shot to death by two Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies. Travion’s experiences exemplify diverse problems that emerged from negative peer group relationships.

Foretold from the view point of the author, who was a mentor or professor of Travion in 2006, from a juvenile court school, the story revealed details that initially characterized the victim and tried to evaluate the details that led to the tragic event. As illustrated by Shaw, Travion was depicted as: quick to respond to humor (“he would cover his mouth with one hand to keep a lid on the laughter that threatened to burst forth in full gale” (Shaw 1); adheres to gang code; inattentive and full of play; appreciative of mentor’s counsel; apologized respectfully and promised to do better; manifests reflective behavior in contrast to exhibiting self-directed negative behavior (Shaw 1).

Despite these positive traits, Shaw likewise indicated that Travion has tendencies for becoming “verbally disruptive, engaging in name-calling, dramatizing righteous indignation, and needing more counseling” (Shaw 2). The shift in behavior for manifesting positive traits is quickly transformed to negative expressions normal in that stage of development. The rationale could be traced to the need to conform to the actions of the group or the peer where he belongs. The author then delved into a discussion of how different members of the community reacted to the tragedy that led to Travion’s death.

Community residents have expressed initially disgust on the law enforcement deputies who, allegedly were trained, to wound and not to fatally shoot an aggressor. There were comments directed to clergies who were deemed responsible for the moral and spiritual development of the children. Some emphasized the need to include subjects or courses in the school’s curriculum to include “Law in the Classroom” together with the rest of the general subjects (Shaw 2). And finally, the root cause for the dilemma was pinpointed to “the all-but-total failure of parents, schools, churches and community leaders to train our children in the right and proper and lawful paths they must pursue, and to vigorously inspect and correct their personal and social behavior at all times, in all places” (Shaw 3).

I personally agree on Shaw’s contention that at this stage of development, youngsters need most the direct supervision and governance of people who are directly instrumental in shaping and honing their growth. If these youngsters seek refuge and social interaction from peer groups that manifest and exhibit negative behavior, in all possibilities, they would assimilate the behavior expected to be adhered by the group’s members (out of fun, camaraderie, peer pressure, or just to satisfy the need to belong and be accepted as part of the group).

As children enter adolescence, they feel social pressures beginning to war with the priority of learning (Reader's Digest 288). Teenagers want to be treated as individuals, yet they fear dong things that may set them apart from their peers. Being with one’s peer groups protects teenagers from feeling isolated or inadequate. The role of parent and teachers at this point of personal development and growth, apart from lending holistic support, is to be vigilant and be able to determine any deviant behavior that youngsters exhibit.

According to Gilbert Highet, a teacher who wrote a book entitled The Art of Teaching, he emphasized the need to apply the appropriate interventions with skill and affirmation: “Many youngsters also resent the domination of one mind. They reject suggestions just in order to assert their own independence, as a horse will jerk its head when it is ridden on a tight rein. It is one of the aims of teaching to provoke their resistance, and then to direct it into the right channels” (Reader's Digest 289).

The action of Travion to flash a gun at the deputies’ direction was unacceptable and irresponsible. For whatever reason he did that, the point that the author relayed was that he learned the hard way and paid the price for misbehavior. He should have already learned from the juvenile court school to act according to good moral conduct and adhered to conformity to social responsibility. At the age of 17, he should have developed the right frame of mind and learned from his past that negative peer behavior brings trouble and unfavorable repercussions.

Apparently, there is something lacking (family support, parental guidance, teachers’ interventions) in terms of reinforcing these values on Travion’s mind and the slip in his behavior due to peer pressures paved the way for his early demise. Works Cited Reader's Digest. ABC's of the Human Mind. New York: Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1990. Print. Shaw, James E. "A Gang Member's Final Bad Choice." Long Beach Press Telegram 2009. Print.