What the hell do these parents think their job is?

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Well, I'm 28 and I DON'T see all teens as stuck-up brats. Here's why:

in the March following Hurricane Katrina, I was part of my college's mission group to go down and help clean up Biloxi, MS during spring break. There were about 15 of us, over half of whom were between the ages of 18 and 22. Yes, college students giving up their spring break to put up dry wall and pick up garbage.

More? OK.
There's Brandon Bray of Seattle who volunteers at a nursing home and his church every week: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/southeastkingcountynews/2004073931_segreatkids16s.html

Nation-wide teens are buckling down and doing their part during the recession, trying to help in any way they can: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tina-wells/frugal-teens-what-they-ca_b_117070.html

and the teens and tweens trying to make a real difference in the world: http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0327/p13s02-lifo.html

It's just too easy to bash Gen Y for being lazy, spoiled, vapid airheads. Yes, there are some teens who fit that profile but what does it say about YOUR generation that you're so quick to judge?

(The following is meant to be respectfully disagreeing in an NPR sort of way; this is NOT meant to be antagonistic although I do stand by what I say.)

1) You write that "the are hundreds of thousands of teens out there who are like [the brats on the show]". From whence you do you draw that number? Are you drawing from the world's population or only the U.S.'s? Either way, that seems terribly, and depressingly, high. So I'm genuinely curious as to the basis for this statement.

"The very existence of one is worth noticing and worth attending to--the existence of many even more so." The very existence of one WHAT? No, I'm genuinely confused. One brat? One good kid?

You also say "At no point in any episode, nor in any thread on this board, has anyone ever alleged that "ALL teens" are this way or that way." Technically you are correct in that the word "all" is never used. However, please review the inital post of this thread. Onepotato2 says, verbatim, "This generation of children is horrible. They do not know what work is. They contribute nothing but think they're all entitled to laze about and mouth off... and they think they're equals to breadwinners whose homes they live in, because their crappy attitudes have never been corrected. Well done Yuppie generation, you're children are worthless!" //// If onepotato makes no note of any exceptions, how else is his (her?) paragraph to be interpretted if not as completely inclusive?

2) "The existence of the bad and the desire to correct it by no means constitute a denial of the existence of the good. Likewise, the existence of the good by no means constitutes a denial of the existence of the bad nor of the gravity of the problem."

Certainly. I would agree. Hoewver, I do not see any acknowledgement of the "good teens" in onepotato2's original post; in fact, I would say that the original post does in fact constitute a denial of the existence of the good and I take strong exception to that. The basis for my saying so is this: Rather than writing "the behavior of this generation is horrible" he (she?) writes "the children [themselves] are horrible." And rather than "your children have behavior that will make them worthless" he writes "your children are worthless." Please, where is the acknowledgement of the good in onepotato2's post? Where is there anything but denial of the good? All I see is condemnation without even a suggestion on how to correct the bad.

3)Generalization can go both ways: recall "All generalizations are wrong."

Because all generalizations are wrong! No, I kid. Seriously, though, I agree with your statement and wonder why you felt it was necessary to include it since it seems so obvious. I'm also interested to learn which part of my previous post you felt was generalizing. I employed sarcasm, certainly, but I thought I had avoided generalizing.

as a 19 year old, i've grown up with SOOO many kids like this, but im glad i'm not. who cares about the generalizations?! if YOU know that you're part of this generation, and you're a good person, the who gives a crap what somebody on IMDB thinks?! besides, i dont think that anybody TRULY believes that ALL teenagers are like that...

besides, there ARE alot of out-of-control teens. i mean of the kids i graduated with, 5 of them walked across the graduation stage with their baby bellies poking through their gowns, one had scholarships like CRAZY to go to college..but at the end of our senior year, she made the decision to get high all the time and quit coming to school, never graduated, and is already in REHAB and almost went to JAIL, another is in this group program where shes working to get sober, one of my oldest friends has had sex with...everybody, never graduated, got involved with drugs and alcohol, and she's FINALLY turning her life around and going to college. i mean WE ARE ONLY 19 and everybody in my grade was in such a hurry to grow up and, boy, look what it got them. we're only 19 now, we ONLY graduated a year and a half ago...and people are already screwing up BIG time...they haven't even TRIED to or given the TIME or THOUGHT towards doing what they WANT to do, towards working for their dreams to come true. they'd rather screw everything up before they even get started!! it just doesn't make sense to me...people i've known since i was 9, and i NEVER imagined they'd be drug addicts/babies mamas in 10 years...

not that i look down on teen mothers, its just ridiculous WHICH girls got pregnant...the most ILL-EQUIPPED girls got pregnant. one who is STILL getting high and drunk and thinks its cute to post pictures of it on her myspace!?!? seriously...these girls have babies but NO regard for their well-being.

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