New York City public schools have started summer vacation, and already parents are worried about their children. At 1 a.m. on June 28, the first weekend of vacation, on Northern Boulevard in Flushing, the streets of Koreatown were full of young Korean students with faces flushed from drinking alcohol.

Male and female alike in groups sat in the streets smoking, drinking and shouting loudly.

Other groups of young students were excitedly discussing where they should go during vacation. These students, also inebriated, occupied the sidewalks pushing aside pedestrians.

Cars full of students, drove by on Northern Boulevard, honking their horns. One Korean man, who emerged from a bar on Northern Boulevard, said, with a worried expression, “I’m so surprised by this scene, so many young people wandering the streets at this hour. But we can’t just blame these kids.” With a worried and somewhat sad nod, he said, “we have to ask ourselves what our generation is doing to provide healthy, cultural entertainment for the young. How many adults provide good examples for their children?”

The situation is the same in Manhattan’s Koreatown, around 32nd St. Every weekend large numbers of foreign students gather at night and intoxicated Korean students are hard to miss. Young people continue to arrive after midnight. This scene lasts until about 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. in the morning.

One businessman on 32nd St. said, “Weekends it’s so crowded with students here! Kids come from as far away as Boston! I’m very worried that these young generations will follow the entertainment styles of their parents.”

Eu-gin Chung, New York Korean Youth Center counselor, said, “Young people on vacation seem to be leaving their houses secretly, to meet their friends, while their parents are asleep. Parents must be more careful concerning their children. The children might start out drinking and smoking, but they often easily fall into drug use. Many parents realize too late that their children have fallen in with the wrong crowd . Parents should protect their children from future unhappiness, by protecting them now from dangerous influences, and by instilling in them the ability to control themselves, and reject harmful influences.”