I was not sure whether I would write this article or not. Perhaps I felt like we do not really need to hear about how our kids are out of control or over-stimulated or just plain old fashioned spoiled rotten.

Perhaps I thought talking about social ills should be left to other, more senior reporters, but hey, this happened at an entertainment oriented event that I attended for the purposes of reviewing, and I teach during the day, so why can't I rant and rave for a bit about the decidedly destructive direction that I see our kids taking these days? The event in question was the very positive CADA Youth Summit on Saturday April 21, and, for the most part, the event itself went off without a hitch.

It was the after party that went seriously sour.

Let us start from the beginning shall we? The evening started at around 8 p.m.

with Mr. Rick Richardson trying to gain control of the eight hundred strong crowd, and doing so only after Free was brought out to say "Hi'' and wave to the legions of 11 to 17-year-olds.

These kids were outrageous. I mean, I've really never seen a Bermudian audience gush over one individual so much! It was like the Pope was in the house, or maybe Michael Jackson when he was making folks faint all over the globe.

Free didn't have anyone faint on her, but one girl couldn't stop herself from running up and hugging the apparently extremely popular BET Video Jockey.

Then she went back into her little room at the back of the gym and the kiddies settled down to listen and think about the issues that they ostensibly came to discuss.

Soon Jah Simmons was jumping and dancing and joking his way into the crowds favour. Another very impressive hosting performance for this master showman.

The moderator was introduced soon after, and Zion got the discussion flowing with an Amharic greeting that caused quite a stir for various reasons that we'll avoid for now.

The format was presented as a forum for schools to present their original position papers on issues that varied from sex (Cedarbridge Academy) to drug abusing parents (Bermuda Institute) to race (Bermuda College) to family communication (Berkeley Institute).

The papers were presented quite well overall, with Cedarbridge, Bermuda College and Berkeley adding a bit of creativity by opting to put skits together. Michael Fields represented Bermuda Institute with confidence and a strong opinion about the ills of parental negligence and/or bad example setting.

Teen Summit showed promise despite behaviour The most contentious issues that arose from these discussions revolved around education and communication between parents and their children.

One student pointed to the lack of cultural education in schools as a reason why Bermudians tended to cling on to foreign cultures and repudiate their own, or even deny that we have one.

Another issue concerning education was the ridiculous situation that develops our kids to high school graduate age without raising their standard of education to that of an individual who can qualify for Bermuda College; this issue was raised in a skit by students already at the College.

At the end of the day, the discussion period was productive because it raised many urgent concerns that we as a people must address very soon. It was good to see that the youth are at least aware enough to recognise that these issues exist and must be addressed.

The problems occurred when folks turned to solutions and inadvertently brought confusion to the party. There was a point when Zion appeared to become flustered about a race issue, but only because the crowd was completely missing her point, and it was an adult who missed it the most (imagine that!).

Good points, good discussion and good awareness made this part of the evening run as smoothly as any such forum can really -- and then the talent hit the stage! But first, the Bermuda under 17 National Soccer Squad was presented with a plaque by the esteemed Minister of Youth, Sport and Recreation, Mr. Dennis Lister.

The plaque was in appreciation for the excellent job the young men did in representing the island during the Youth World Cup Qualifiers two months ago.

The squad was received with much adulation by their peers.

Fabulous opened the entertainment set with a scorching display of modern Hip-Hop style dancing that was applauded loudly and wildly! Next up was Black, who recently raised the roof off the City Hall Theatre just to be snubbed by the judges at the Jakoma Talent Show.

She performed "Do You Have What It Takes To Raise A Child?'' again, and won the crowd over with an extremely cool, polished performance. This kid is definitely one to watch for the future people! Then there was Septimus, who delivered the smash hit "War Against The Devil'' to a crowd of youths who even surprised me when they danced in the aisles and sung along word for word! I guess local talent is going to enjoy the kind of support it has deserved for quite a while from these future consumers. It's about time! The man on a mission from God was closely followed by the Sista Steppas, who put the stomp in the show with a very nice step show. The kids liked that too.

3J took the stage next, and displayed a new level of showmanship that was obviously the result of their emphatic victory at the aforementioned J2K Talent Show.

These three Warwick Academy students waded through technical difficulties to deliver an unspectacular but competent rendition of the song they took the crown with, the blazing "Creepin' On The Mic''.

Francine Rollins rounded out the local talent portion of the programme with a stirring performance of the CeCe Winans standard "It Wasn't Easy'', and the kids lost focus a bit, but offered their thanks with moderate applause.

Her performance, however, was far better than the resulting applause suggested (there we go with the rudeness again).

When Free came out the crowd went woolly! Literally! It was pandemonium for a minute. Then she took a seat on stage and Zion asked her a few questions about herself.

She answered coolly and gained control over the very noisy crowd by simply requesting quiet (I wish that worked me!), after she had appeared a bit overwhelmed on her way to the stage.

Free spoke of youth empowerment, taking responsibility for your own actions and the importance of knowing the difference between real life and entertainment.

She told us about her path to fame and revealed that she will have an album coming out soon; she was just cool, and the crowd loved her for it.

Free just absorbed all the love and proceeded to do what she does best -- present the top ten countdown and hold the crowd in the palm of her hand.

I spoke to the Queen of 106 & Park for a brief moment after she first came out and received the outrageous ovation that I spoke of above, and she expressed her approval of the event with words like "wonderful'' and "beautiful''.

Err, speaking of which, TV doesn't do this girl justice, people trust me. I wanted to speak with her after the show was done, but she snuck out the back with her security crew because there was trouble brewing out front, and there was nothing cool about that! There was a fight. All the kids were bustling around in the parking lot trying to get a piece of the action.

I passed about six police vehicles going west on my way back to Town, and all the good stuff that had just occurred all but fell to pieces in the Bermuda College eastern parking lot. It was a real live crying shame.

On another positive note, Southpaw came out again. He got up on stage to do a `thirty second' spot (a spot in which a member of the audience has thirty seconds to show their stuff on the mic), and blew the house down! Free asked whether she could put him in her suitcase, cuz she was sweatin' from the heat in his voice! This is another kid who we need to watch and push and support, because he is mega-talented.

So the Youth Summit was a success to varying degrees. The kids know what the problems are, but they have no real incentive to solve them. We have told them that they can do and act and say and destroy whatever they want to with impunity.

Moreover, they will not only go unpunished, but they will actually be rewarded, because we all need to see famous people sometimes don't we? Don't get me wrong, I think the Summit was an excellent idea, and the guest was obviously a very big draw, but we are doing something wrong, and we need to get a handle on this situation before our kids start to emulate the more devastating things they see on television.

We need to develop our own national identity now! So that when this generation is in power, they can offer their children more than just a remote control.

Let's get this thing on the right track people. Our future depends upon it now more than ever.