Headlines - The Youth's Decline

[Morgaine Hetfield]

GreenWood University Newspaper
16th April 2006

The yout's decline

an article by Morgaine Hetfield

When I and my friends start talking about the future the sentence hear the most is: “When I’m 18 I can do whatever I want and can leave home, finally!”. There are vague suggestions about studying and working, but detailed projects on how to enjoy the newly gained liberty. Does this mean that today’s youth has a disrespect for rules and is uncaring of everything, experiencing a so-called moral decline?
It is difficult to establish youth is really loosing its moral values, only looking at the picture as a whole we can possibly judge.
Older people classify this us as the descendants of the generation x, we are those with no culture, no ethics and no goals. We are those with no interests and nothing to do other than creating problems to people surrounding us. But we also are those affected by the prejudice of the previous generation, those who have to be perfect as school and in life, we are those put under pressure by demanding parents and those who have to face the fast modern times, trying to sort our lives between a dozen of daily issues. We are accused of having many defects and furthermore of being hooligans. These definitions may be exaggerated but they in part show the truth.
Each year more than 2000 adolescents are arrested for homicide and, only in the United States, the cost of underage criminality nearly reaches 200 bio. $. Also many crimes such as rape, robbery, burglary, assault, car theft and arson are common. A total of 800.000 acts of violence were registered in 2005, 700.000 more than 20 years ago. This all seems to speak against us, indicting us of loss of scruples and ethics and our generation seems to be far worse than those coming before us.
But we are not as bad as the news with their reports of youth criminality portray us, we are not the first nor the last who commit errors and act foolishly. I remember older students telling me of an act of vandalism that happened more than ten years ago at this school. A teacher had given out very bad test results refusing to rewrite it uncaring of the low average. A group of students, which remain anonymous, shortly after burned down the teachers car by throwing lit paper through the car window. So it’s not like law braking and disrespect of rules have only appeared in unison with our generation. Crime is omnipresent in society and young people are part of this society. Acting against the law is often a sign of rebellion and of the wish to be free from restrictions, or simply the prove that adolescents are in a period of evolution and still have to learn from their mistakes. The errors of a few of us can’t be simply used as a press brand for an entire generation, we can’t simply be accused of crimes we haven’t committed and rules we didn’t break.
An other thing ‘older people’ criticize about us is our disrespectful way of acting and our uncaring behaviour. Children insult their parents and curse a lot, they write on desks and listen to music during lesson and all ‘older ones’ can do is blame us for that and melancholically remember the good old times when kids used to take example from their parents and didn’t come home late. Just as if no one remembered the 60’s where drug abuse was far more preoccupying than today and skipping school was habit. The ‘young generation’ has always been criticized controversial, liberal behaviour. Today as during the 20’s, 60’s, 80’s or any other point in time it has always been the same. The new generation was the bad one, but once the young grew old they to started to criticizing who followed them. It is the simple evolution of society and culture and if we’ve come this far then we can only blame who showed us the way.
Actually no one tries to see the good side of us, being it bad news to rise the audience. They talk abut the so-called ‘baby gangs’ making streets unsafe and how young teens drink to much and go out partying till late, but forget to mention the way in which youth improved. As society develops, the information we have to memorize increases, so school becomes tougher and, nevertheless, adolescents cope with this constantly growing difficulties. Also the situation teens have to face are more complex and problematic than they used to be. The sensitization towards things such as human and animal rights, peace, justice or pollution, shown by the many campaigns and demonstrations against war, slaver or product testing on animal and their killing for fur and the worry over climatic changes has to be taken into account, those things are a great progress when compared to how people used to ignore such things out of commodity.
Su just because we are not perfect you can’t see us as genetically bad, it’s not like we’re not trying. Life has simply become much more complicated than it used to be and we are supposed to perfectly deal with it, that’s impossible. To fail and commit errors lies in the growing process of all of us and if parents can’t accept this, well, then it’s their perception and problem.

16th April 2006

For any comments feel free to contact Morgaine Hetfield on the article comments thread, thanks