about elephants in Africa. The villages were having serious problems with adolescent male elephants trampling homes in the villages. There had been an effort to reduce the elephant population by killing adult males so the "teen" elephants formed a group that was rampaging through the villages.
A wise person realized the boys needed guidance so they introduced adult males to their group. The teens stopped destroying the villages immediately.
People are no different, adult guidance is needed - especially at the adolescent age.

elephants are much smarter than this gene pool. I'm sure at some time in their lives their parents told them it's not polite to beat up a little kid and his dad while out and about with your chums and while I agree that children at this age need parental guidance, I don't assume they haven't received it. They all may have received the best parenting in the world. Parents can't and shouldn't have to escort their almost adult children every where and these kids were old enough to know better even with crappy parenting.

group dynamics can certainly weaken ethics. The need to fit in and follow the leader is strong at that age. The adult does not need to be on the scene all the time but the work of instilling morality and ethics starts at the beginning with a child. The knowledge that there is a parent or other strong figure, can cause kids to think twice about what they are doing. Of course this is not a guarantee, but it is how we preserve social order - as do the elephants.