kengr

Oh, another thought springing off my previous reply.

"Kid culture" (there are actually *several*, for different age ranges) is essentially tribal.

a thought I've had is that we should try not merely molding the tribal customs, but trying to set up multiple "tribes" in each age range so that more kids will have a group they fit into.

Add some customs for resolving inter-tribal differences (preferably non-violently, but with at least *controlled* violence if necessary) such as games, sports, or other challenges and you might get something a lot better than we have now.

Since gangs are essentially tribes as well, we could do a lot worse than designing ones that can interact more acceptably but keep the things that make folks *want* to join them.

I've sensed story potential here, but not sure I could write it without help from some sociology and anthropology types.