What Has America Done to it's Children?

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   ahorsebackposted 9 years ago

   THE OLD ;
   
   
   AND THE NEW ;
   
   
   LOST AND FOUND !    Two children found abandoned on the street the other day , do you recognize them and which would  you claim  as your own .  Doesn't  it seem to bother anyone , everyone that our children are becoming something far different that ever  imagined  before ?     
   
   I believe I can see where our youth are becoming  culturally  dis-connected from the rest of  us !

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      Credence2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      You are showing me in the above images a period  reflecting a time long gone.
      
      Youth has always asserted itself as different, with the cultural changes coming with the advent of the auto, targeted marketing, mass communications that led to the creation of "teen ager". This a 20th century phenomenon, so now that the milk is out of the carton, how do you return it?
      
      I was a product of the counter culture, our parents were telling us all the world was going to hell in a hand basket, These same flower children are now are the CEO's and members the very 'establishment' they once criticized. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..... So, what else is new?

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      PrettyPantherposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Actually, I believe the problem lies with your perception, not with the children of today.  A certain segment of every generation fears the changes coming with the new generation.  They bemoan "kids today" and predict the downfall of society as they know it.  Of course,  we continue on.  The world doesn't come to an end because the new generation has a few different values from the older generation.  Stop being afraid of change.  Talk to kids today and you might find you like them.  And I mean talk, not lecture.

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         ahorsebackposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         The obvious changes in human , youth culture , young adults are not as pretty a picture as  you promote .   The cyber world has stolen most of the human experience of basic  quality of living  for children .  MORE THAN THAT , it has reduced the  maturity , social , mental , emotional , of them as well .   Perhaps you've noticed ,     They don't actually know anything !

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            Credence2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

            It is true though, things have changed. I did not have a 'google' to check to help me with grammar or to solve algebra word problems long ago. The tragedy is that in our world of instant answers and immediate gratification, the skill or learning that has once occurred as part of the process of finding the answer rather than having it given to you is important.
            
            To many of us become intellectually lazy and fair game to those without scruples to take advantage because critical thinking skills have been lost, or traded in in exchange for ease and convienience.  The internet and the computer are the greatest inventions since the printing press but on the dark side, it has induced atrophy in key processing areas of the brain. That is the danger...

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            PrettyPantherposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            No, actually, I've noticed they are just as bright as any generation before them, and certainly brighter than those who would lump them all together under one extremely narrow-minded and crankily judgmental umbrella.  Maybe you need to clean your glasses and dust out some cobwebs.

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               ahorsebackposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               What you have noticed as , "brighter than the generation before them" ,is  more indoctrinated than the one before them !   Keep it up and eventually you will wonder why they are  so..............Mao like .  You will see them march like lines of  North Korean's soon enough. ...........woops they already are .

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                  PrettyPantherposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Oh, the drama.  First, I did not say brighter than the generation before; I said "just as bright."  Please show me this marching like North Korea.  I've never seen it.  Would love to see a video.

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                     ahorsebackposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     I remember the sounds of the playgrounds pleasantly , the noise , the release from the structured classroom,  the anarchy of  juvenile behavior ,  the squeals and the laughs, the adolescent  gender games ,   the behavior of bullies at the monkey bars  ............Last time I visited a school  , all of this behavior had transferred to the classrooms . Except now they have  I-pads and cell phones  to teach them ,  Ya ,.........great .
                     
                     I have no doubt  that the potential is there for easier access to learning , Better is another story ,  The problem though is that  they now know everything they did at twelve  years old  at a much older age !

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                        PrettyPantherposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        You said:  "You will see them march like lines of  North Korean's soon enough. ...........woops they already are"
                        
                        What are you talking about?  Where did you see this marching?  Do you have a video (I asked this already and it was ignored).
                        
                        I'm just trying to figure out where this fear you are expressing is coming from.  Your head?  Or, do you have actual reality-based evidence of such a thing?

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         gmwilliamsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you Pretty Panther.  Technology has made our children smarter.  Our children are savvy in ways of technology and other areas that we aren't.  Each generation has it good and bad.  Overall, this generation of American children aren't worse off than previous generations.  Each generation evolve and grow.   What is said about the current youth has been said about youth since the beginning of time.  Youth represents newness and many older people are threatened by newness.  The latter prefer things to remain as IS although that philosophy is an illogical premise in addition to being so utterly futile.   Change IS going to come whether we are ready for it or not!

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            wildernessposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Smarter?  I doubt it.  Not even more knowledgeable.  How many kids today can milk a cow?  Kill and clean the meat for a family?  Care for a garden?  Make soap or sew a new set of clothes?
            
            They may know different things, but that doesn't equate with knowing more or being smarter.

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               colorfuloneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               American history has been rewritten to the point that our young people don't know and understand important parts of their heritage.  Its a topic that historians like to expound on.

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                  Credence2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                  Yes, and it start with Texas. You ought to see the way they are rewritting history textbooks. Reminds me of Mr. Peabody and Sherman.

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                     colorfuloneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                     As far back as I have studied the rewriting of American history started after the Civil War.  It was the ones who lost the war that wrote that history.   I'm sure it could have been and was even sooner then that. 
                     
                     Added: there were many noble historical facts left out about Black History.  We read a lot about Whites, when Blacks were the ones who were heroes (edited) at times.  Sad but true. 
                     
                     Added: even artists were paid to depict a different story so that blacks were not given due credit.

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                        GA Andersonposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        What the hell??????????
                        
                        GA

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                           colorfuloneposted 9 years agoin reply to this

                           Was there ever an African American who served as Speaker Of The House. 
                           Everyone would answer, NO! 
                           
                           Joseph Rainey has been left out of history text books. 
                           I think he deserves to be rewritten back into history books. 
                           Just my opinion.

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                        Credence2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

                        Yep, that is about right, it wasn't late 1960's with the counter culture in overdrive, that we begin to visit revisionist viewpoints from the stereotypical perspectives that were taken as gospel, before.
                        
                        I just love the sixties!!
                        
                        "Little Big Man" with Dustin Hoffman 1969, made us all think differently about 'cowboys and indian" stories.
                        
                        Thanks for noting these points...

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               Quilligrapherposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Hi, Wilderness. Facts indicate kids today are smarter and more knowledgeable! Global testing indicates IQ scores are rising three points every decade. {1}
               
               The average American in school today is acquiring more knowledge than every previous generation!  Kids not only know more than earlier generations, but they are learning much of their knowledge at a younger age than their predecessors.
               
               In the area of vocabulary alone, there have been huge gains since 1950. Vocabulary subtests from IQ testing show scores have risen 17 points in the last fifty years. In terms of social realities, this means the average American today has a vocabulary that was only found among the cultural elite of 1900.
               
               Today’s kids not only have greater knowledge, but they are more intelligent as well. They are able to deal with a broader range of conceptual problems than previous generations. The average person can do creative work today that was quite uncommon in 1900.  Furthermore, kids today have mentally adapted to a far more complicated world. {2}
               
               Most of us have difficulty visualizing society as it existed before we were born. We  may not realize that 25 percent of the population in the United States in 1900 had less than four years of education. By 1950, one to four years of high school was typical. However, since 1950, the rate of Americans that were exposed to college grew from 12 percent to 52 percent.
               
               Sorry, Wilderness. Unless you have data to the contrary, the facts seem to support Grace’s conclusions.
               
               {1} http://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/03/smarter.aspx
               {2} Ibid. See Alexander Luria research 1930s.

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         Aime Fposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Yes.  So much this!
         
         All I can say is I hope my daughter manages to stay far away from people who assume she's dumb because of the year she was born in.  How incredibly unfair and inaccurate to say that an entire generation doesn't actually "know anything."  I think that my daughter has the advantage of growing up in a society that is a lot more tolerant, accepting, open, and understanding than it was even a couple of decades ago.  As someone who is smashing away at their keyboard insulting youth, I'm not sure you're one to be preaching about maturity or social skills.

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      GA Andersonposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Damn right! And it all started with that Presley guy shaking his legs on national TV! Within weeks our kids were so glued to their transistor radios... completely disconnected from the culture of their parents!
      
      On the other hand... when you see several "kids," (or young adults), in the same room "talking" with each other - via text message...
      
      GA

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         PrettyPantherposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Similar to how we are talking to each other on an online forum on the internet?
         
         Personally, I've never seen two people in the same room texting instead of talking, except in a situation where talking would be frowned upon, such as an education lecture.  Oh, and a funeral, but it wasn't teenagers, it was two grown women.

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            GA Andersonposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            Unfortunately, I have seen this. I have also seen a foursome playing cards with at least two of the four watching youtube or snapchat in between turns..
            
            Yes, I am an old fogey that definitely sees a disconnection.
            
            GA

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               PrettyPantherposted 9 years agoin reply to this

               Eh, it's not age, it's outlook.  Embrace the new, talk to young people as equals.  Regarding electronic distractions, I agree they can be shiny objects that draw people's attention from the task at hand, and that can be very bad.  However, only certain people let it distract them to a neurotic level.  Those people, born in a previous era, would have undoubtedly found a way to remain disengaged, smartphone or not.

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