Keeping up with today's youths

The editorial ``Generation NeXt,'' Dec. 2, need not have been so apologetic. My own research on young Americans - reading four newspapers daily (the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and The Christian Science Monitor), plus other publications - indicates to me that the Monitor is far ahead of other presses in publicizing positive activities and trends among young people.

It was in the Monitor where I first read of City Year, long before it became the well-known model of urban youth service. I found articles on conservation corps, challenging young people to become engaged in environmental issues.

Through articles in the Monitor, I watched the evolution of the youth service movement into AmeriCorps. The Monitor has informed me of positive programs for young people in education, internships, and apprenticeships, as well as hopeful programs for gang members, setting up small business projects and pitching in to clean up neighborhoods. Nancy Geyer Christopher, Washington

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