Peer Pressure

Montgomery County police Officer Darryl Marshall challenged a group of teenagers at Stanton Community Center in downtown Annapolis yesterday morning. "Describe yourself in one word," Marshall said. "Knowledgeable," one teen yelled out. "Determined," said another. About 50 young people and adults gathered for a "Tools 4 Success" workshop - a program sponsored by several Maryland organizations to help teach students how to increase their self-esteem and avoid peer pressure. The workshop focused on four topics: peer pressure, conflict and problem-solving, self-esteem and gangs.

As a mother of four, I agree with City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young and others that young people today are under tremendous stress in dealing with criticism, peer pressure, physical and emotional abuse and other forces of negativity ("Programs, not jail cells, for teenagers," Oct. 7). Instead of building more jails to put troubled youngsters into, someone should find a way to reach out and allow them to talk through their problems. I once thought like many people that these youth were up to no good.

As the scene opens, two girls are discussing their sneakers in front of lockers on the third floor at Francis M. Wood Senior High School. It seems the $95 pair owned by one girl is no longer chic."

Regarding Maryvale Preparatory School's mandatory alcohol education program ("At Maryvale Prep, alcohol education comes before prom," May 24), anything that can help make sure these seniors are safe now that they are almost in college is a good thing. College parties will present them with increased peer pressure and risky activities, but knowing what choices are the right choices is powerful knowledge for a teen. That could make the difference in putting them in a situation where they or a friend gets injured or in trouble.

Here comes Thomas Bellmon -- the pied piper -- walking down a noisy neighborhood street with a trail of kids following him, some giving hugs and others bantering small talk. As he passes houses, others race to him, rushing out of doors and grabbing lunches and towels for the day's activities.Mr. Bellmon -- a six-year county police officer -- tells them to watch their way across the street, leading them to the Roger Carter Neighborhood Center, where he'll spend the day with them as part of the police department's summer youth development program.

A TEEN COURT in Anne Arundel County to handle first-time misdemeanor offenses committed by teen-agers is worth instituting.Given the nationwide consensus that the current juvenile justice system is overburdened, a carefully planned experiment with this approach in the county's Eastern police district, which stretches from Pasadena to Annapolis, makes a great deal of sense.Leadership Anne Arundel, a group of civic-minded youngprofessionals and business leaders, has been the force behind this proposal.

Hey kids, let's put on a show!And let's not settle for some tried-and-true play -- let's write our own script and compose a score. Let's rig the lights and build the sets, then work the phones to drum up publicity.It will be a night at the opera -- staged by a troupe of fourth-graders.The youngsters are from southeastern Baltimore County's Colgate Elementary School, where more than 60 students -- with help from the renowned Metropolitan Opera -- created a work called "The Mix-Matched Friendship."

Amid the rolling hills of western Carroll County, an asphalt lane off Crouse Mill Road winds its way between cornfields to a tidy compound of buildings in beige and brown. They nurture a different kind of crop here at Bowling Brook Preparatory School, a privately run residential program for 161 juvenile offenders. The hoped-for harvest is rescued lives. Maryland, among other states, has long paid Bowling Brook to rehabilitate teenage boys who have committed assaults, armed robberies or other serious crimes.

Alan Rubinstein remembers his childhood growing pains well. So well, in fact, that for nine years now he has been helping youth of all ages get through theirs."

Several students milled around the lobby at Liberty High School on Tuesday, filling the air with after-school chatter.They paid little attention as junior John Johansen and sophomore Maria Eppig argued loudly about who would be driving home."

Merriweather Post Pavilion has two of the biggest shows of the week - Steely Dan and Death Cab for Cutie. Meanwhile, the Verizon Center in D.C. has Taylor Swift for two nights starting today. We will have reviews of both Swift and Steely Dan later this week. Elsewhere: the great Jonny Blaze will be at Peer Pressure, which deserves a congratulations for reaching it's tenth edition. Also: Boys Noize, James Nasty, Gilded Gilly, and Posh Cavern, and Save Your Soul at Lith Hall. On Tuesday , Steely Dan performs at Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Pkwy.

Parents start worrying about the power of peer pressure the moment their child angrily demands the same treat another child has. From then on, we never stop wondering who is calling the shots in our children's lives. The child? Or the group? But we console ourselves — a little, anyway — if we are able to arrange for a peer group we approve of. I paid my reluctant musician of a son $5 to play in the middle-school orchestra because I felt comfortable with the kids sitting at the music stands next to him — and with the parents driving to rehearsal.

Reading the editorial, "Vote for history" (Feb. 16) made me wonder. Do our legislators vote with their brains or their hearts? Personally, I have a great deal of love and understanding for those who choose alternative lifestyles. I also have a great deal of love and understanding for drug addicts, unwed mothers, the criminally insane, etc. I would hope that our legislators who may share in my personal "feelings" would use their intelligence in casting their votes now and in the future.

Montgomery County police Officer Darryl Marshall challenged a group of teenagers at Stanton Community Center in downtown Annapolis yesterday morning. "Describe yourself in one word," Marshall said. "Knowledgeable," one teen yelled out. "Determined," said another. About 50 young people and adults gathered for a "Tools 4 Success" workshop - a program sponsored by several Maryland organizations to help teach students how to increase their self-esteem and avoid peer pressure. The workshop focused on four topics: peer pressure, conflict and problem-solving, self-esteem and gangs.

20th Century Fox / $29.99 Adrienne Shelly's Waitress will probably be ignored come Oscar time -- it lacks big names, and its delights may not be obvious enough for widespread recognition. That's an absolute shame. BRATZ Lionsgate / $28.98 Logan Browning, Janel Parrish, Nathalia Ramos and Skyler Shaye are Best Friends Forever (BFFs, in current teen-speak) in this PG-rated film about a group of teenage girls sticking together through thick and thin (not to mention peer pressure) in the course of their freshman year of high school.

You know that hail of junk e-mails you get, promising to clean up your credit, restore your hearing or give you a little more respect around the neighborhood? Well, Linn Goldberg, who heads the Division of Health Promotion and Sports Medicine at the Oregon Health & Science University, got one of those entreaties. "At the university, they throw a lot of my good stuff away and you don't know if it's junk or not. So I have to go through my junk mail every day," Goldberg said. Good thing he did, or he and the Portland-based school would have missed out on a $1 million grant from Sports Illustrated to fund programs that give high school athletes other options than alcohol, drugs, steroids and sports supplements.

When Baltimore public schools open Wednesday, a teen hot line run by students and guidance counselors will resume operation.Student volunteers trained in counseling will provide advice about peer pressure, relationships, loneliness, grades, health and homework.Beginning Sept. 1, Students Helping Students can be reached at 410-396-8659, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays.Pub Date: 8/28/97

Deal set for opening programs at AACC to students from HCC School officials are scheduled to sign agreements Tuesday that would make several Anne Arundel Community College degree programs available to students attending Howard Community College. The arrangement will open Anne Arundel programs in radiologic technology and hotel/restaurant management to Howard students. The agreements detail requirements that HCC students are to meet, and how the colleges will coordinate courses, transfer and admission procedures.

Amid the rolling hills of western Carroll County, an asphalt lane off Crouse Mill Road winds its way between cornfields to a tidy compound of buildings in beige and brown. They nurture a different kind of crop here at Bowling Brook Preparatory School, a privately run residential program for 161 juvenile offenders. The hoped-for harvest is rescued lives. Maryland, among other states, has long paid Bowling Brook to rehabilitate teenage boys who have committed assaults, armed robberies or other serious crimes.

FORT HOOD, Texas - Pfc. Lynndie R. England, the young Army reservist whose grinning, thumbs-up image came to symbolize the worst of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, told a military judge yesterday that she knew the detainee abuses were wrong but went along because of peer pressure. Offering the most ordinary explanation of a scandal that ignited international outrage, England said she posed in some of the widely circulated photographs showing humiliating abuses of Iraqi detainees to placate her then-boyfriend and others from her Maryland-based unit.