After reading this report, I had to think long and hard before writing a response. I'm glad you mentioned it on the Philly Confidential blog, and I think a much, much, much broader conversation needs to be stirred up with all the social aspects of this mammoth problem.

Certainly, the jobless need jobs; that joblessness situation fuels crime. None of these are new concepts to me. We all know manufacturing and low-skilled jobs are far and few between now. Everything is outsourced, and most jobs are low paying service based jobs that are taken by immigrants. So why the giant disconnect?

When I lived in Southwest Germantown, and other areas of the city(Castor Gardens, Downtown, and S. philly), I got to see how different people lived their lives. I got to see how the kids were raised, and I got to see everyone's attitude on work.

1. Many of the kids in germantown didn't want to work hard unless they got paid a ridiculous amount of money. And, even if you offered them 10 dollars to snow shovel 10 steps and a tiny walk, they wanted 10 dollars a piece for 15 minutes of real work.

2. Many parents did all the house work themselves, or no house work. I never saw any kids doing any cleaning. Never. I never seen them clean their stoop, the sidewalk, the lot next to them. Nothing. I helped a church group clean up our neighborhood dump-lot. The neighbors sat outside and watched them do it.

3. The parents would come home, sit on their stoop and talk to their friends on their cell phones about how crappy their job was. I was witness to this because I walked my dog up and down several blocks during dinner time.

Now, what does this all mean? I don't know. But, I managed to gleen one thing from this: Employment is only related to a legit check. Work for many of Philly's kids, is not about ethic, or doing something you like. It's about doing something that is completely alien and pointless.

Much of this, I blame on the parents. The parents never learned what work is all about. They never learned that working creates real pride, character, and ethic. The parents need to instill work in the daily lives of their kids. They need to show their kids how to wash dishes, sweep up, paint the house, fix their side walks, doing homework every night, and take pride in their block. Now I know this is not localized the lower income families of just Philadelphia, but tougher parents would benefit these kids the most. Our kids need to understand that the city's wealthy grown-ups will hire people with initiative, and discipline. You don't need Ipods, rims, or a bangin' system learn these things. You just need parents that won't buy you the newest gadget to "be your best friend." These kids desperately need parents who are not afraid to expose their kids to hard physical labor. Who say "you're not going to bed or getting your meal before you clean up." Christ, I had to wash dishes for 9 months to get my first Nintendo.

When parents make you work all the time, then it becomes second nature to do these things. Work isn't so alien, and strange. School won't be so hard, you'll find out what you're good at, and your job won't be so pointless.

After reading this report, I had to think long and hard before writing a response. I'm glad you mentioned it on the Philly Confidential blog, and I think a much, much, much broader conversation needs to be stirred up with all the social aspects of this mammoth problem.

Certainly, the jobless need jobs; that joblessness situation fuels crime. None of these are new concepts to me. We all know manufacturing and low-skilled jobs are far and few between now. Everything is outsourced, and most jobs are low paying service based jobs that are taken by immigrants. So why the giant disconnect?

When I lived in Southwest Germantown, and other areas of the city(Castor Gardens, Downtown, and S. philly), I got to see how different people lived their lives. I got to see how the kids were raised, and I got to see everyone's attitude on work.

1. Many of the kids in germantown didn't want to work hard unless they got paid a ridiculous amount of money. And, even if you offered them 10 dollars to snow shovel 10 steps and a tiny walk, they wanted 10 dollars a piece for 15 minutes of real work.

2. Many parents did all the house work themselves, or no house work. I never saw any kids doing any cleaning. Never. I never seen them clean their stoop, the sidewalk, the lot next to them. Nothing. I helped a church group clean up our neighborhood dump-lot. The neighbors sat outside and watched them do it.

3. The parents would come home, sit on their stoop and talk to their friends on their cell phones about how crappy their job was. I was witness to this because I walked my dog up and down several blocks during dinner time.

Now, what does this all mean? I don't know. But, I managed to gleen one thing from this: Employment is only related to a legit check. Work for many of Philly's kids, is not about ethic, or doing something you like. It's about doing something that is completely alien and pointless.

Much of this, I blame on the parents. The parents never learned what work is all about. They never learned that working creates real pride, character, and ethic. The parents need to instill work in the daily lives of their kids. They need to show their kids how to wash dishes, sweep up, paint the house, fix their side walks, doing homework every night, and take pride in their block. Now I know this is not localized the lower income families of just Philadelphia, but tougher parents would benefit these kids the most. Our kids need to understand that the city's wealthy grown-ups will hire people with initiative, and discipline. You don't need Ipods, rims, or a bangin' system learn these things. You just need parents that won't buy you the newest gadget to "be your best friend." These kids desperately need parents who are not afraid to expose their kids to hard physical labor. Who say "you're not going to bed or getting your meal before you clean up." Christ, I had to wash dishes for 9 months to get my first Nintendo.

When parents make you work all the time, then it becomes second nature to do these things. Work isn't so alien, and strange. School won't be so hard, you'll find out what you're good at, and your job won't be so pointless.

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