Young People

[tightloop]

Just a few moments ago, while sitting here in the library waiting for my SO to find the books she wanted while I utilized the computer to browse the forum, I was witness to something that made me HOT...and while this isn't under the topic of Friday Flamer, it might as well be...

I saw a college student trying to take the headphones from one computer and put them on the one he was using...Now all computers here have their own headphones and are attached to the monitor with a tie wrap around the cord ( presumable so they cannot be removed). I asked him what he was doing and he told me he was going to swap the headphones with the monitor where he sat...I explained that they had secured them because they did not want people to do that....he said the ones at his monitor had hair on them and that the tie wraps were not to secure them but just to keep the cables together..

I first asked him not to do it...he continued. Asked him to see the librarian for assistance...he continued. Told him I used the library and would appreciate it if he did not tear up the equipment...he told me to mind my own business while he continued to fight with the tie wrap...When he took out his pocket knive to cut the tie wrap I told him not to do that or I would have to physically stop him...He asked me what that meant, and I told him I would gladly slap the crap out of him and take away his toy...

Preppie then got up and came over to my monitor and told me I had better not threaten a student again...told him that it was no threat and he could be witness to the actual happening if he kept on with what he was doing...As he was about to turn toward me with his pocket knife in his hand, I had already noticed that he might do that and put a table between us, another patron a middle aged man walked up and told us that he had witnessed all that had happened and that the young man should heed my words because not only would he help me if I needed it, but he was on his way to get security...

The kid left swearing at me all the way..

It just burns my britches that the youth of today have no respect for public property, have no ethics and no respect for their elders...

Am I just too crusty to venture out anymore or do others find this behavior unacceptable also?....

[davidball]

I spend my days teaching high school seniors in the subjects of US Government (you should see my treatment of the Second Amendment) and Economics. Your assessment of our youth is accurate . . . and the lack of respect for seemingly EVERYTHING is the least of our problems. As a group (and there are encouraging exceptions) our youth cannot read, think logically, understand cause and effect, and, they care about very little except for being comfortable for the next 5 minutes.

Our country is in deep do-do.

[ima45dv8]

Frankly I doubt this is new, at least in historical terms. It seems there has always been a disconnect between what young folks and more-seasoned veterans of life see as acceptable behavior. The issue of what is or isn't an appropriate display of respect for all things in life is greatly impacted by life's experiences. Being exposed to good parenting certainly speeds this understanding, but barring that, some of the young just haven't lived enough yet.

I wager that 25 years from now the little cherub will be venting to his friends about some young smart-ass's bad behavior, and how back in his day "we all knew better".

Edited to add that I am not implying TL behaved like that 25 years ago. More likely, it was me.

Edited October 28, 2005 by ima45dv8

[3quartertime]

I wager that 25 years from now the little cherub will be venting to his friends about some young smart-ass's bad behavior, and how back in his day "we all knew better".

Truer words have probably not been spoken.

[tightloop]

I am sure you are quite correct, but it boggles the mind to think that someone who is of legal age to VOTE, could still do such a dimwitted thing...No kidding, when I was 18, if someone with gray hair said something derogatory about something I was doing, I would have stopped immediately and gone elsewhere..

It was almost as though he wanted someone to say something to him and then just ignore them for saying it...I am not around young adults much and because of it, am not privy to their way of conducting themselves when they are around seniors out in public, but I can guarentee that if one of my kids had pulled a similar act, i would have encouraged the elder person to beat snot out of them and then it would have been my turn to do the same thing...No TIME OUTS in my generation....when you get the crap beaten out of you for doing something again and maybe again, finally you come to realize that the beatings are going to continue as long as you do that particular thing....finally you make a decision NOT to continue with that action...

People no longer say what they mean and mean what they say...it is all too mired in the fear to offend the obscure sensibilities of the idiot doing the stupid act...This preppie kid was too pretty to have ever been in a real fight and has obviously gotten away with bluffing his way to this point....might have been better for him in the long run to have happened on someone like me outside of a public building and lost a tooth or gotten a broken nose in the bargain than to just have some unknown graybeard threaten him with security...Most of my generation learned respect after mouthing off to someone older, stronger and with little or no patience for the foolishness of youth..

The longer I think about it, the more I wish I had just broken his nose and quickly and quietly left the building, but my SO was there with me and I could not...OH WELL, maybe next time...

[3quartertime]

No kidding, when I was 18, if someone with gray hair

Yea but that person could have been an actual veteran of like the Civil War. How could you talk back to someone like that???

[ima45dv8]

I am sure you are quite correct, but it boggles the mind to think that someone who is of legal age to VOTE, could still do such a dimwitted thing...No kidding, when I was 18, if someone with gray hair said something derogatory about something I was doing, I would have stopped immediately and gone elsewhere..

It was almost as though he wanted someone to say something to him and then just ignore them for saying it...I am not around young adults much and because of it, am not privy to their way of conducting themselves when they are around seniors out in public, but I can guarentee that if one of my kids had pulled a similar act, i would have encouraged the elder person to beat snot out of them and then it would have been my turn to do the same thing...No TIME OUTS in my generation....when you get the crap beaten out of you for doing something again and maybe again, finally you come to realize that the beatings are going to continue as long as you do that particular thing....finally you make a decision NOT to continue with that action...

People no longer say what they mean and mean what they say...it is all too mired in the fear to offend the obscure sensibilities of the idiot doing the stupid act...This preppie kid was too pretty to have ever been in a real fight and has obviously gotten away with bluffing his way to this point....might have been better for him in the long run to have happened on someone like me outside of a public building and lost a tooth or gotten a broken nose in the bargain than to just have some unknown graybeard threaten him with security...Most of my generation learned respect after mouthing off to someone older, stronger and with little or no patience for the foolishness of youth..

The longer I think about it, the more I wish I had just broken his nose and quickly and quietly left the building, but my SO was there with me and I could not...OH WELL, maybe next time...

Very well said. The indiscretions of youth haven't changed so much in the last 30 years as has society's reaction to it, or lack thereof.

I'm glad you exercized restraint, though. The days when you would have gotten a pat on the back for spanking his ass have been replaced with bail bondsmen and civil court actions.

[John Dunn]

My dad broke up some neighborhood altercation when I was a kid and spanked 2 or 3 kids who were involved after they mouthed off to him for interfering. To my knowledge he didn't know any of the kids or their parents. Maybe Hillary is right, it does take a village.

Course, if I looked crosseyed at some kid and hurt their feelers I'd lose my license and get sued when I got out of the pokey. That's progress. Good job TL.

[Matt Cheely]

I'm glad you exercized restraint, though. The days when you would have gotten a pat on the back for spanking his ass have been replaced with bail bondsmen and civil court actions.

+1

It's too bad that if you had smacked him (and after reading your post, I would have liked to see), he would've gone cryin' to his momma, and then they'd take away your civil liberites... But I digress.

[diehli]

In the school district that my mom works in they've undertaken this program: http://www.safeandcivilschools.com/

I know I was a pain in the ass as a child and I know I constantly pushed the line, but when did it become okay for children to intimidate people, particularly people trying to help them to be better? Why the hell didn't their parents do something about it from the outset? Finally, why are schools blamed for the failure of parents and made to implement programs that attempt to reclaim the mess that parents have created? All this "for the children" bullshit needs to begin with accountability at the parental level.

[raz-0]

I think every generation wonders what is wrong with those coming after them. A large part of it is the simple fact that although age doesn't necessarily make you wise, it gives you lots of opportunities to live and learn that you just don't get when you are younger. Pretty much every person has done things that they would not repeat if they knew then what they know now.

But the age old cycle is also subject to inflation. Even if 20% of the kids are mature upstanding people, 60% are your average annoying teenagers, and 20% are real problems, there are more real problems than we have seen in a long while simply becasue the population is generally increasing. The ratio may also be skewing because the same ones that act like spoiled five year olds at 15 still do it at 50 and are likely going to continue such until they are 80 these days. Kids learn a lot of their bad behavior form those who raise them. On top of it, the good ones have more of the bad ones around them than ever before, and much like other resonable people avoid them. So you are less likely to see them.

Be a good person, be polite, but don't accomodate them any more than absolutely necesary, even if the juvenile idiot is older than you.

[AikiDale]

"Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, disrespect for older people. Children nowadays are tyrants. They no longer rise when their elders enter the room, they contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers. "

No, not a quote from Tightloop. Plato puts these words from Socrates in The Republic.

Guess we haven't learned much in the last 2,400 years....

[ima45dv8]

"Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, disrespect for older people. Children nowadays are tyrants. They no longer rise when their elders enter the room, they contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers. "

No, not a quote from Tightloop. Plato puts these words from Socrates in The Republic.

Guess we haven't learned much in the last 2,400 years....

Uh-huh. And I bet 25 years earlier folks felt the same way about Socrates!

I guess a good challenge would be to find a concensus among any generation that the following generation met their expectations at the ripe ol' age of 23. Not likely....

[Kingman]

Well the day has come when I have begun to become the old wise person at the ripe old age of 27. I am on my path to becoming a teacher(1 semester away of grad school), and have realized something. Most kids today have never learned respect from their parents.

Things I use everyday such as yes sir, no sir, ma'am etc are not in the vocabulary of the fifth graders I work with. Behavior starts with respect. If they don't respect anything, then there is no reason to behave.

Just a thought.

[Beethoven]

Yea I have noticed this as well. I am only 16 but I have learned respect form my parents. If an elder would have told me to stop what i was doing there would be no second thought in my mind and i would stop in my tracks. I would probally not have done what that kid was doing in the first place anyway.

Most people ,that are my age, that I know have very little or no respect for their elsders either...I guess people now just dont pass that down to their offspring. It is accually really sad.

I don't use "yes sir" and "no sir" as often as I should but reading this will probally change that. I don't like the reputaion my generation has with the older generations.

[p99shooter]

I met my wife at an animal shelter yesterday to complete the adoption paperwork for a dog. While I was letting my 5 year old son out of the car, a young couple pulled into a parking spot on the side of the car my son was getting out of. The driver, say in his lower to mid 20s, could not be bothered waiting the 5 seconds it would have taken for my son to get out, and instead opens his door, and practically pushes my son out of the way so he can close his door.

When I let him know I wasn't please with his behavior, I got a shrug and a "my bad." Is that supposed to be an apology?

[Chuck D]

My working in a Public Safety Department at a Community College has taught me two things....

1st...98% of the "kids" you see every day are basically decent people. Yes, they have rude tendencies BUT you can reason with them and teach them a thing or two using the correct approach.

2nd... The remaining 2% care only about themselves, their dope, their booze, or their weapons. The ONLY time you have their FULL attention is when you take one or more of these "items" away from them or when you force them to discover they are not as important, powerful or "bad assed" as they thought they were. For those that STILL don't "get the message"...there's always the PR-24 Baton, O.C. Spray, Handcuffs and my ABSOLUTE favorite...their personalized Miranda warning.

Edited October 30, 2005 by Chuck D

[Putty]

A friend of mine is a teacher at a highschool was riding his bike home (which he keeps in his office at school) and took a drink out of his water bottle.....filled with urine from two punks. The school essentially told him to get over it. Nothing like enabling sociopaths.

[carinab]

In the school district that my mom works in they've undertaken this program: http://www.safeandcivilschools.com/

[sarcasm mode]

Maybe his school should sign up for this program. After all, Belief #4 Student misbehavior represents a teaching opportunity.

[/sarcasm mode]

Edited October 30, 2005 by carinab

[Jeeper]

I met my wife at an animal shelter yesterday to complete the adoption paperwork for a dog. While I was letting my 5 year old son out of the car, a young couple pulled into a parking spot on the side of the car my son was getting out of. The driver, say in his lower to mid 20s, could not be bothered waiting the 5 seconds it would have taken for my son to get out, and instead opens his door, and practically pushes my son out of the way so he can close his door.

When I let him know I wasn't please with his behavior, I got a shrug and a "my bad." Is that supposed to be an apology?

Almost the same thing happened to me yesterday. I had just pulled into a space and this idiot teen pulled into the next space only leaving me like a foot between us. I looked at him and looked at the closeness and he just shrugged, kind of laughing. I did get him back though. His girl also had to get out on that side. I opened my door so that she could not open hers without denting his car. I then proceeded to leave my door open while I got stuff out of the back, put the kid in the stroller and such. He was out standing looking at me since he was in such a hurry. It was hilarious. As I finally closed the door I told him that if he learned how to park then he wouldnt have to wait so long. He started to get pissed and then I took a picture of his license plate with my phone and said "In case something accidentaly happens to my car". He was so pissed. I am about twice his size so I really wasnt worried about him attacking me. I almost fell over laughing since the situation was so funny.

[Steve Moneypenny]

I consider myself lucky having grown up with parents and grandparents who were respectful to each other. I treat everyone with respect until they deserve to be treated otherwise.

TL, you did a good thing, i can't say that i would have been nice enough to put a table between us. and when he approached with his knife removed it from his posession claiming a fear imminent harm to my person.

[Ron Ankeny]

I know folks have been complaining about youth since Biblical times, but things are indeed sliding downhill. In the schools of today, we tolerate more, expect less, and do not hold students as accountable as we did 20 years ago. A simple review of student handbooks, discipline policies, etc. will bear that out. The bigest difference in behavior between today and then is language.

[ima45dv8]

One of the most dangerous things taught to today's youth is the current state of our legal system.

My grandmother (~85 years old at the time) upon meeting my first wife for the first time remarked, "Them's a fine set of breedin' hips you got, Gal".

My wife was hurt because she interpreted it as "You're a fat ass!". Many young people today would think that cruel or unkind. It was meant as neither. She was just making a comment on something that in her day was deemed a point of concern and consideration.

Faced with such a commentary today, a good many kids would file a defamation suit with the closest ambulance-chaser available* because that's what they've been taught by modern society.

Assuming a well-seasoned jury, the defense would prevail by simply submitting photographic evidence of how the plantiff appeared in public with 8" of gut showing beneath their midriff and over their belt.

Along with good sense, where has good taste gone?

*Not meant to malign decent attorneys who know a hummer when they see one.

[Precision40]

In defense of the few good kids out there. I RO'd a match this weekend when a particular squad of shooters came though our stage, I'd say 5-6 out of the 10 were just (For the lack of a better word) a bunch of cry-babies to no frikkin end.

The only person in that squad that came over to me and shook my hand afterwards and told me thanks was a 15 year old kid. The rest of them walked away bitching about the stage.

[Chills1994]

This current trend is affecting things for the worse at my alma mater:

The United States Air Force Academy.

As a graduate of such an institution, I should feel pride when I tell people where I went to school. However, I am sheepish about bringing it up. For one, I don't like to brag. For another, I am embarassed by the various scandals that have erupted there.

Here again, the legal system has crept its way into the administration of the Honor Code. But it is more than that. It is the current crop of youth from which the admissions department gets to chose from.

Oh, I could just rant.....

Check out

www.edodo.org/rumormill

www.usafatody.org

www.aog.org

for more information. Or try the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph website.

Chills

Good grades and athletic ability does not excellent character make!