It’s tough when parents don’t agree about their child’s future. For example, Which gang is right for a four-year-old son? In Commerce City, Colorado, 19-year-old Joseph Manzanares was arrested for threatening to kill his girlfriend and knocking over displays at the video rental store where she works.
His girlfriend told police that they had been arguing about the upbringing of their son and which gang he should belong to. The teen mother, who is black, told authorities she is a member of the Crips, police said. Manzanares is Hispanic and belongs to the Westside Ballers gang, the woman told police.
Satire? Sadly, no.
Both parents were 15 when their little gangsta was born. Gosh, isn’t it nice to see a young father who’s so involved in raising his son?
A superintendent once told me that parents sometimes requested that their kindergartener not be seated next to a kindergartener who “claimed” a rival gang.
This sounds like child abuse to me. The kid should be taken away, and the “parents” sterilized to reduce their opportunities to mess up any more kids’ lives.
Now we know what would have happened if Tony and Maria from West Side Story had lived and had children…
Our schools aren’t failing because teachers aren’t qualified. Our schools are failing because too many parents are not guiding, ingraining and emphasizing in their child’s life to make good choices. By the time a child begins school, the sense of good and bad, right and wrong is based by the family values they learn. Parents arguing “which gang is right for their son†have pretty much determined their son won’t have a very promising future academically or personally.