Tay Slaying Leaves Troubling Questions : Parents, Teachers, Counselors Must Help Teens Grapple With Moral, Ethical Issues

The initial shock over the brutal murder of Stuart A. Tay, 17, a promising senior at Santa Ana’s Foothill High School, is beginning to ebb. But deeply troubling questions remain.

Difficult as they may be to dwell upon, they provide an opportunity for parents, teachers and counselors to help teen-agers grapple with important ethical and moral issues. While the circumstances surrounding Tay’s murder obviously were extreme, they represent a stark lesson in the tough choices many young people may face.

There should be serious discussions, for example, of what young persons might do if they suddenly became involved in happenings out of their control. It is hard for many to believe, after all, that all five of the Sunny Hills High School students who police say were involved in the murder of Tay--apparently after a plot to steal computer parts went awry--were aware of what was about to happen that night.

In the abstract, it may be easy for teen-agers to say they would stand up for what’s right in a similar situation. But without strong values as a compass, youngsters may be especially susceptible to a pack mentality. Once it takes over, it may be impossible to stop. While murder may be beyond most young people’s imaginations, it’s not so unlikely they might be asked to take drugs or a drink, or drive while intoxicated, or steal computer information. Would they-- could they--refuse?

What is frightening about the Tay murder is that most of the young suspects had everything to lose. Their parents were well-to-do. They did well in school and were planning to attend college. They were involved in extracurricular activities.

But something was obviously amiss. One of the suspects was quoted as saying that now he might not be able to get a job. “My life is messed up,” he said. Yes, an arrest for murder won’t look good on his resume. But the time to think about that was well before trouble began. Youngsters also need to foster a sense of ethics that goes deeper than a calculation of lost career opportunities.

It may be useful for young people to consider not what makes Tay and his killers different from others of their age but what makes them similar. They may share aspirations and ambitions. They may feel, in the sense of indestructibility of youth, that everything can be fixed or rationalized.

Now is the time to help them understand the true lessons of Tay’s murder--that there are terrible, irreversible consequences to some actions. And that there is a difference between right and wrong.