What Has Happened to Our Young Folk?

They have been called the “lost generation,” the “dispossessed generation,” the “possessive generation,” the “postponing generation” and the “dead-end kids.” Who are they? Today’s teenagers. What are they doing to deserve such names, and why?

IT IS not unusual for young folk to act in a way that their elders do not understand. Down through history that has often been so. But today’s youth seem different from the youth of the past. Adults complain that idealism, high principles, optimism and hope​—qualities usually associated with young people—​have died in many of the teenagers. They seem to have lost faith in the future.

Yet is this surprising? How many adults have faith in the future? Who could be confident, in view of the uncertainties caused by inflation, the nuclear arms race, the corrosive spread of pollution, the increasing visibility of fanaticism in world politics and the explosive growth of world hunger, crime and general amorality? Perhaps trust in this system of things has died in most of us, so can we blame the young folk?

Sir Mark Oliphant, a nuclear physicist, observed: “The young are not fools. They sense the evil in the air even though they do not understand it. They resent their uncertain economic future and the problems which the present generation is bequeathing them. They feel that their education is not related to their needs, for it guarantees them nothing, neither a job nor a satisfying culture.” Then, betraying his own lack of faith in the future, he warned: “It is becoming clear that unless human values replace those of the market place, civilisation, as we know it, could collapse under the weight of the very knowledge which has created it.”

Yes, if today’s teenagers have to live with the future that adults are creating for them, they are not in an enviable situation. How are they reacting?

Young People React

Some react in extreme ways, dropping out of the system. They get involved in eccentric religious sects, or become hippies. Or they retreat into drug abuse and alcoholism. Recent destructive riots by youths in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and England gave further evidence of their dissatisfaction. Most tragic are those who commit suicide to escape the pressures of the present or the uncertainty of the future. In the United States some reports make suicide the second most widespread cause of death among teenagers.

Others develop a “get it now” philosophy. “Youths in our school,” said a 15-year-old in Australia, “can’t see the system going more than another 10 years . . . Whatever you want to do in life, you’d better do quickly.” This leads some to postpone commitments, refuse to have children or even to get married and thus avoid being “trapped” economically and “losing their freedom.” They demand time for ‘personal growth,’ more leisure, and shun any life-style that would involve setting long-term goals and achieving them.

Then there is the approach of the students who were interviewed at Oxford University in England. They confessed to having no strong idealism. They see corruption in all systems​—capitalist, Communist and socialist. Having no alternative, they cynically decide to make the most of the system in which they live. ‘Since you can’t change the world, you might as well use it,’ is their attitude.

“In 1950,” says columnist Graham Turner, “when I went up to Oxford, there was plenty of Belief . . . now . . . Oxford is a graveyard of shattered dreams and fallen gods. Where, only five years ago, anything seemed possible, now even the optimists anticipate decline.”

Can Anything Be Done?

Can you understand why so many young folk are acting like a “lost generation”? If you are a parent with teenage children, do you know how to help them in these difficult times? Perhaps you are a teenager yourself. If so, have you found a way to live in a crumbling system of things without giving way to cynicism and disillusionment? Is there any place left for idealism and hope? The next article may help you to answer these questions.

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Common Attitudes and Values Today

Columnist William Shannon wrote about the attitudes and values that the world encourages young people to hold, and the consequences:

“The New Sophistication involved introducing children at ever younger ages to marijuana, hard drugs, alcohol and sexual experience. . . . Girls of 13 and 14 who refuse to engage in sexual intercourse are accused of being ‘frigid.’ Boys of the same age who refuse to try marijuana or alcohol are ridiculed as cowards. . . .

“Its evil effects can be seen today in the grim statistics on suicide, now the second leading cause of death among persons aged 13 to 24 and occurring at a rate twice what it was a decade ago. It can be seen, too, in the skyrocketing rates of venereal disease, drug addiction, and alcoholism among the young.”​—The Detroit Free Press.