Blaming Parents

Ellen Goodman, in “Visiting the Child’s Sins on the Father” (Commentary, May 16), makes some very valid points. However there is one important point she fails to address. It is the “therapeutic” age we live in that has given us the idea that everyone but the perpetrator is to blame for societal ills.

Since both good parents and bad parents are capable of producing bad children, how can we rationalize the punishment of parents? Individuals must be held accountable for their offenses regardless of their personal upbringing.

Until we recognize that bad values and poor choices are re- sponsible for our culture’s disarray, we will continue to have this kind of nonsensical “culprit searching.”

EUGENE AGUIRRE

West Covina