why is this generation of kids bad? (Amish, violent crime, high school)

[rory00]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Let's face it, Philly is really only rivaled by maybe DC and Detroit in terms of being run by complete morons.

Their 5% city wage tax fried their tax base and left them a dying urban core.

these types of schools exist everywhere to varying degrees. it's not just urban areas. it's not always about money either. there have been schools where tons of money was thrown at them and it improved nothing.

"morons" is the bullseye. if you have incompetent and amoral or immoral people, both children and adults, there will be more or less of this type of environment and situations occuring.

[censusdata]

In the USA violent crime rates today are the same as in 1972 and have decreased by 40% since 1992

[crisan]

Originally Posted by rory00

there are children who are naturally more moral, mature or wiser than some or many adults (older age).

I do agree only because kids from the same family can be the exact opposite from each other so nature does play a part in individual characteristics.

However, have you ever heard about the effects of birth order? This alone can make the eldest child the exact opposite from the baby in the family.

Also, it is possible to grow up around nothing but inappropriate adults and not realize it until you leave the darn place. I used to think that it was okay to just tell-it-like-it was but I have learned when to keep quiet and when to say something especially in a more tactful way. Otherwise, I wouldn't have the friends and connections I have now. So it is possible to overcome immaturity and foolishness through experience.

For example, littering is against the law yet it is everywhere on my street. Littering is against the law in Sweden and I rarely find trash on the street. Nobody will ever know that you littered so it is easy to get away with it. However, why doesn't it happen that often in Sweden? People can learn to be better.

[crisan]

Originally Posted by rory00

it's not always about money either. there have been schools where tons of money was thrown at them and it improved nothing.

This is also true when raising kids. You can't just throw them money or material things. A lot more effort needs to be put into raising a child.

I want to go back to a comment you made about permissiveness and total authoritarianism which I believe plays a major part. I often encounter two kinds of parents. One parent will not check homework because they don't want to intrude on the child's privacy. The other will demand that the child hand over their agenda so they could check for homework and sign.

When parents ask for my opinion on how to get more cooperation from their child, I tell them to be sincerely interested in what they are doing in school. There are more creative, respectful ways to monitor the child's progress. Nothing beats asking your child to solve problem using skills they should be learning at school. If they are having problems, nothing beats getting undivided attention from a parent.

[allenk893]

Originally Posted by rory00

Asian students describe violence at South Philadelphia High | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/10/2009 (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20091210_Asian_students_describe_violence_at_South _Philadelphia_High.html - broken link)

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i started this thread to address the mistaken idea that it's somehow this generation that is somehow magically a problem.

as you can see from the above example and what is bolded, it is very similar to what i witnessed in school. it's not just a matter of a certain generation, it's just that there are bad or degenerate people. these people who were supposed to be in positions of responsiblity were not responsible or mature. it doesn't surprise me in the least bit.

those kids that beat up the other kids? those staff that didn't care or maybe even enjoyed watching? heck, they were probably the same way when they were that age. AGE does not make one somehow evolved, mature or a better human being. it just means they are older, nothing more or less. my uncle told me how kids were running down the stairs in high school and this girl fell down the stairs and was knocked unconscious. the other kids just ignored it or just ran over or stepped over her and went about their business, some gave confused and disgusted looks and yelled that someone should move her out of thier way (since obviously her being unconscious at the foot of the stairs). no one cared one bit, had a conscience or got any help, not a one. this is what most people are really like and only maybe a few would care or have a sense of humanity. he's in his late forties, not quite this generation, eh? those 'kids' that did that are now adults with families. do they want to come forth and admit what *******s they truly are? or do they want to pretend that it's this generation of kids that are oh so bad.

who puts all those unnecessary sexual innuendos or sexual content into almost every film or some gratuitous violence or profanity in films? adults have done this. older people continually fool themselves into believing they are not perpetrators of what they accuse others of.

if prior generations want someone to blame, blame yourselves first because it is embarassing to play the innocent game. i know people who are of older generations that admit that people were just as degenerate, bad, or worse even in thier day. please don't pretend that prior generations had some type of monopoly on maturity or morality because it's just ridiculously ludicrous.

Well I am a child of this generation and I will tell you the number 1 reason why my generation is the worst and why our morals are going to hell in a handbasket. The Parents. They are the number 1 reason. No offense. This is not to adress every parent.

Not my parent's of course. My parent's did what they could and ino raised me right and raised me to have morals, goals, dreams, etc. Even if they did divorce when I was very young, I got all the principles instilled in me like I was suppose to. I know right from wrong and I have never had an inate desire to be a rebellious teenager (to dupe the sterotypes and bias).

Now, however I believe I am one of the FEW lucky ones that had parents that gave two licks about me. I've noticed a disturbing trend of parent's that have left the raising to their kid. Every single high school I have gone to has been different diminishing stories about absent fathers or mothers that go clubbing and parent's that let their kids drink and alot of other bad things. It's not fair to the child. They look at these things and think it's right. What happens is that they have in their mind that if their parent's don't care, they shouldn't either. And that's where all the casual pre-marital sex and party nights and clubbing happens so young with these kids. They begin to live their lives as an adult because they don't have a positive role model in their lives to act as one. Then because of this they develope casual attitudes toward sex and drugs and possibly turn into careless adults in later lives.

Now just today I learned that one of my friends is pregnant AGAIN. I'm not bad mouthing her and saying it's wrong. However she had gotten pregnant from unprotected sex last year as well. She decided to have an abortion for it. She is seven weeks now and I learned today she has gotten pregnant several different times throughout high school and had them all aborted. I don't know about you but that is scary to me. More than likely, she has an STD and does not even know it. The statistics are there. What's worse is that she is pretty. She doesn't look like someone who sleeps around. Nobody knows she does at least. She looks very nice and classy and all the guys are crazy about her. But she's ignorant. And it isn't her fault. Most likely, her parent's don't care what she does so she continues to be uneducated and have unprotected sex because no one is telling her it's wrong!!

And sadly that is the situation of most teenagers today. It really is. Somehow, someway, teenage drama always begins at the home. It's up to you parent's what you instill in them and what you teach them to go on and become someone of positivity in the world.

[The Dissenter]

Originally Posted by allenk893

Well I am a child of this generation and I will tell you the number 1 reason why my generation is the worst and why our morals are going to hell in a handbasket. The Parents. They are the number 1 reason. No offense. This is not to adress every parent.

Not my parent's of course. My parent's did what they could and ino raised me right and raised me to have morals, goals, dreams, etc. Even if they did divorce when I was very young, I got all the principles instilled in me like I was suppose to. I know right from wrong and I have never had an inate desire to be a rebellious teenager (to dupe the sterotypes and bias).

Now, however I believe I am one of the FEW lucky ones that had parents that gave two licks about me. I've noticed a disturbing trend of parent's that have left the raising to their kid. Every single high school I have gone to has been different diminishing stories about absent fathers or mothers that go clubbing and parent's that let their kids drink and alot of other bad things. It's not fair to the child. They look at these things and think it's right. What happens is that they have in their mind that if their parent's don't care, they shouldn't either. And that's where all the casual pre-marital sex and party nights and clubbing happens so young with these kids. They begin to live their lives as an adult because they don't have a positive role model in their lives to act as one. Then because of this they develope casual attitudes toward sex and drugs and possibly turn into careless adults in later lives.

Now just today I learned that one of my friends is pregnant AGAIN. I'm not bad mouthing her and saying it's wrong. However she had gotten pregnant from unprotected sex last year as well. She decided to have an abortion for it. She is seven weeks now and I learned today she has gotten pregnant several different times throughout high school and had them all aborted. I don't know about you but that is scary to me. More than likely, she has an STD and does not even know it. The statistics are there. What's worse is that she is pretty. She doesn't look like someone who sleeps around. Nobody knows she does at least. She looks very nice and classy and all the guys are crazy about her. But she's ignorant. And it isn't her fault. Most likely, her parent's don't care what she does so she continues to be uneducated and have unprotected sex because no one is telling her it's wrong!!

And sadly that is the situation of most teenagers today. It really is. Somehow, someway, teenage drama always begins at the home. It's up to you parent's what you instill in them and what you teach them to go on and become someone of positivity in the world.

As a 21 year old from this generation, I fully agree. I have a fellow 21 year old who is about to give birth to her THIRD child. I have many of my HS class who already have one or more kids married and unmarried. I already have friends who have been in and out of prison, one for murder. I see that these parents are too busy either trying to buy that Escalade and other material things or just simply keeping food on the table to tell their child the business about choices they make in life. Thankfully, I have a mom who scared the out of me and kept me on the right road.

[jbub22]

I do NOT have statistics to support my agreement but I totally disagree. I was born in the 70's and graduated high school in the 80's.

The information age changed everything. Now, bullying and other school crimes are front line news. I feel back in the day the mentality was "boys were being boys." I know, I got away with alot. No doubt, I would have been expelled in the today's environment.

But, I will acknowledge some of the trouble has transferred to the Internet and cellphones. Bullying is no longer just physical. Now, we can add harrassment via computers and telephones. Honestly, I do see my kids getting stressed on stupid e-mails and/or posts which we talk out. But, in my school environment, I vividly remember thinking who's getting beat up today, because our bully was terror. Which is worse?

With that said, I feel teachers are better educated to notice problems and respond appropriately...even though the news has managed to highlight situations or cases where they let us down. Today, some schools have cameras and actual security guards. Maybe my memory fades me, but I do not remember cameras and security implementations until the late 80's??? Not sure? And I went to a bad school which I know today has both security elements

[peptea]

yes, and children back then were even better. they made fun of any and all minorities (blacks, japanese-americans, native americans, etc) and it was a-ok because the political climate at the time allowed it.

[RememberMee]

who puts all those unnecessary sexual innuendos or sexual content into almost every film or some gratuitous violence or profanity in films? adults have done this. older people continually fool themselves into believing they are not perpetrators of what they accuse others of.

Here lies the problem - kids raised by TV and films (and video games). It doesn't really matter what TV or films. Even if they are the best of the best and the most sex free, kids will be little bit "damaged".

What is "natural" way of raising human kid? Tribe, village, extended family, a kid is exposed to all generations, from youngest to oldest, lots of play with other kids of all ages (not computer), natural world, meaningful & important for survival jobs to do.

Nuclear family (parents + children) is a product of industrialization - peasant communities were destroyed and parents were forced to sell their arses on labor market, leaving kids in the slums until they are tall enough to labor at a factory themselves. Then "progressive" era, kids were age segregated and locked up in schools to make trainable, compliant and docile industrial work force. Then era of TV further robbing kids of direct interaction with people and world around them. Finally, era of PC, video games and gadgets which virtually annihilated natural play time while enabling a few "professionals" in education, mass culture, marketing to "program" millions. Did you notice that kids no longer spontaneously play on streets, in woods and parks? They got to be bussed to play organized games.

The way "industrial" and "post industrial" kids are raised is highly unnatural, industrial kid raising is relatively new phenomenon in human history (400 years max in some developed countries), sooner or later it will affect human kind in major ways. I think PC era was the last nail in the coffin of "old humanity". New age and breed is coming. Whether it's "damaged" or not I don't know, but it's deprived, that's for sure.

[Boompa]

There was ethnic violence in the Philadelphia Public Schools in the 1950s, todays kids are no different than any other time. Perhaps we need to look at those charged with their supervision