Last Sunday, The Vicksburg Post featured three young people — Elizabeth Benson, Grace Claire Cordes and Kiefer Slaton — who were judged the best of the best musical arts students in Mississippi. In turn, the high school students praised the quality of instruction in private lessons available in Vicksburg and in the public schools here as key components in their accomplishments.

As it happens, the week before the story about the musicians we reported the arrest of four of their contemporaries, each of whom grew up in the same town, went to the same schools and now face multiple charges of committing violent armed robberies in which beatings were gratuitously inflicted on several victims.

It’s a general, generational lament that, as a group, “young people” are worse and worse. Usually “schools” are given a share of the blame.

But thinking past such sweeping statements reveals a different picture. This page would not hold all the names, much less the photos, of exceptionally talented young people The Vicksburg Post has featured during the academic year about to end.

While it’s our job to write about those who decide to be criminals, too, let’s not lose sight of the fact that again this year many young people will finish their high school years with achievements for which they and their parents can be sincerely proud. Literally millions of dollars in scholarships will be awarded. Hundreds of young people now have solid foundations for their adult lives.

We congratulate all the teachers and parents and especially the graduates who worked to make their own futures better. We don’t know why some teens act against their own self-interest or why people generalize. We do know bad choices by some should never overshadow good choices by others.