TO THE EDITOR:

    Recently, I have been hearing a lot about the high school shooting tragedies of the last few years. People have been asking what's wrong with our schools. Rather than look at the schools, I think we should look first at what the adults and role models for these students are doing wrong. Very few role models of today believe in the ways that we would like our children to behave. Our children are getting mixed messages from prominent people in America.
    Rev. Jim Baker, Rev. Jimmy Swagart and Rev. Jesse Jackson are great leaders in the television missionary and great politicians. Hundreds and thousands of people follow them and support them, because of the passion of their leadership. However, these men should not be role models for our children. Do we want our children to think it's okay to have sexual affairs, father children out of wedlock and be duplicitous about their actions?
    Mike Tyson, former heavy weight boxing champion; Marion Barry, former mayor of Washington DC; and Bobby Knight, Texas Tech basketball coach, are not ordinary people. They are visible leaders in this country. Unfortunately, their behavior is more tragic than that of any of the young people who have been involved in school shootings.
    How much respect and self-control can we expect from children?
    Anyone who has money or power gets away with behavior that is not acceptable. What kind of role models are these people for their children? Because we don't demonstrate respect and self-control as a society, we request too much respect and discipline from our children. They learn from us. We must demonstrate the kind of behavior we want our children to exhibit. We cannot let money and power be reasons for accepting this behavior from athletes and public officials. Money is not necessary. We need to teach morality first.
    Recently, the US Marine Corp decided to require martial arts training for its soldiers. Why did they do it? Personally, I believe that they did this because the martial arts teach discipline, respect, cooperation, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, indomitable spirit and outstanding citizenship. Martial arts doesn't teach how to make money. Martial arts teaches moral lessons about participating in society.
    Where is America's morality going? For the recent shootings, someone will have to pay the price. But I'm still asking whether that young boy is still personally responsible. Every day, thousands of children are watching television. What are they learning from the media? Sex, violence, drugs and alcohol are prevalent in the media -- even in the news. We should not wonder why these things happen but we should take steps to make sure that they do not happen again. Teaching children about self-discipline by practicing it ourselves and expecting it from prominent people is the first step.

Yong Chin Pak, Instructor
Department of Health and Human Performance
Iowa State University
214-A Beyer Hall
Ames, Iowa
U.S.A.