Being America's Youth

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What it's like being a young person in America today.
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Goldeniangel
Goldeniangel
12,563 Followers

I'm telling you right now, probably more than 50% of the teenagers from 14-19 have already had their first taste of alcohol. In fact, I'm willing to bet that more than 50% of them have been drunk. Every year around prom my high school would put out a wrecked car as testament as to what happens to those who drink and drive... I always wondered if there would be less prom night drunken accidents if students were allowed to have drinks in a controlled environment. I mean, what if they'd been drinking since they were 14, 15 or 16 like most of Europe? We already know that they have less drunken accidents, that can't be because they're THAT much better drivers than Americans after a few drinks.

Here's a thought, what if teenagers could drink - and learned how to drink RESPONSIBLY from their elders - BEFORE they could drive.

But no, America treasures its youth... we coddle and protect them and in reality, keep them from knowing what reality is.

Reality is being able to handle drinking responsibly, reality is being able to hold down a job, reality is keeping track of your finances, reality is being responsible for your own well-being.

Too many of America's youth is growing up thinking that they can all become superstars, that money doesn't have to mean hard work, that their safe little bubble is the way it's always going to be. They have no idea the pitfalls that the real world will bring to them, because adults would rather keep them from the truth... "let them be children, they'll have to grow up soon enough."

God, if only I'd been able to grow up GRADUALLY instead of being thrust into it at college.

Sure, my parents made me get a job in high school (at the tender age of 16), and man did i hate them for it. Especially since I had no control over my bank account... sure I could get money out, but only at their say so. I had to have my mother's signature for EVERYTHING to do with my bank account. Other kids at school didn't have to have a job, they just got to do school and hang out with their friends... even my parents only insisted that I get a summer job.

However, I didn't learn how to use my money then. I didn't have to have a budget... I didn't have to pay for anything other than my own self-indulgences. Eventually they started making me pay for car insurance (which I did grudgingly), but it wasn't until I left for college that they really gave me any financial control. Then, suddenly, I not only had control over my bank account, but they gave me a credit card which was to be used for emergancies only... well, that only lasted as long as they were paying for it. When mom decided that I was using it too often and that I was going to have to start paying for it... silly me who'd never had a credit card before quickly realized that I could have the bill sent to my dorm room.

No more obnoxious parents looking over my shoulder!

See, us youth, we're smart but we're dumb. I'm now in credit card debt that I'm still trying to pay off from college, because once the balance on that card ran out, I got another one. Initially I just wanted to get some of the balance off of the first one so that I wasn't getting fees for going over the balance, but then of course I "really needed" to use one of the cards for something else, and so on and so forth. And because my parents had kept my credit so high, I was getting some pretty large available balances on my new cards... by the end of my first year of college I had 3 of them.

Man was I in trouble when I got home for summer vacation and the bills ended up having to go to my house instead of my dorm room.

But I honestly didn't know any better. You might be sitting there thinking "God, how dumb was this 'smart' kid"... but I'd never had any fiscal responsibility before. I'd never HAD to. My parents took care of all of it for me... If I could go back and do things differently, I would BEG them to let me have control over my bank account much earlier. Possibly as soon as I'd gotten my first job. Trust me, it doesn't take long for kids to figure out that if they take out all the money that they've put in right away, that it sucks (if you want them to save, get them a savings account that they can't touch, but let them have access to a checking!). And then once I'd gotten used to NOT spending all my money immediately, I'd hope that my parents would see that and then get me a credit card with a couple hundred dollars for the limit.

Not enough to get myself into REAL trouble, but definitely enough for me to FEEL like i've gotten myself into real trouble.

It's about teaching youth responsibility, about teaching youth to become ADULTS instead of just big children. My parents couldn't understand how I'd gotten into the straights I was in... I mean, here I was with this 3.65 GPA, Varsity Swimteam, Drama Club, member of the church Youth Group, Chamber Singers AND church choir, and as soon as I'm out of my first year of college I'm in debt. And by the end of my second year of college I had 5 cards and was in MORE debt. And they're sitting there yelling at me because they couldn't figure out where I went wrong, they asked "Didn't you watch us? Didn't you see how we handled money?"

Well I saw PART of it, but watching is never the same as actually learning for yourself.

Today's youth are coddled, sheltered, parents want them to be kids for as long as possible... and then suddenly we're thrown into environments where we're supposed to be adults. With no one having taught us the basics of growing up...

There's very little in between time anymore. It's, "prepare for college" instead of "prepare for life", but we're suddenly supposed to be adults when we graduate high school. We can't get our own bank account, can't vote, can't do anything for ourselves pretty much until we turn 18 - even our driving is now restricted - but we're suddenly expected to KNOW EVERYTHING.

Let me tell you right now, I'm almost 25, I work full time for a health insurance company, and I still have no idea how health insurance works. Why? Because all the adults in my life have always just assumed that I would suddenly know how it goes. I'm picking things up here and there from what I hear around the office, but I'm still not totally sure what a deductible is. My parents threw that word around about auto insurance too.

The first year I had to do my tax returns, they were shocked that I didn't know what I was doing and needed help. Um.... I'm sorry, they don't teach us these life skills in high school. They're too busy preparing us for the rest of our life with calculus and physics. Neither of which, by the way, I have EVER used.

Adults are so shocked to hear the stories coming out from college campuses about binge drinking, wild parties, orgies, riots over football games... but you know what? It's just much their fault as ours. College equates to freedom... suddenly there are older youth around us who are willing to buy the alcohol - because they know that the stuff isn't necessarily evil. And that an introduction to it probably began in high school anyway, and that the only way you're going to learn is to try it for yourself.

College is rebellion, against all the rules and laws set down until we became adults.

Today's youth looks at the things that they're not allowed to do until they're "grown up" - have sex, drink, etc. and then we binge. And why? Because we're given all our access all at once, without any training. Just like with a credit card.

Um.... hello???? Does anyone remember training wheels for bikes? Why don't we get those for life????

There's a deep anger in today's youth... we WANT to be grown up and have it held back by well-meaning parents and government. We don't want to be thrown into the pond, and yet are given no choice. We are told we are irresponsible, that we can't handle certain things yet, that it'll have to wait until we're mature.

And maturity comes when?

I know some thirty year olds that I don't necessarily think should be drinking.

Society happened to today's youth. I hear us called spoiled and self-centered, immature and irresponsible... we're supposed to know how to be any different? Society spoils us, people are more worried about how kids are "feeling" instead of parenting or teaching them any responsibility. God forbid the kid feel bad about himself if he fail a class. God forbid the kid be denied some fashionable label accessory that will let her be part of the in-crowd...

All these things might hurt our poor self-esteem.

Why are today's youth angry? Because more and more we realize that no one has prepared us for the real world where no one will give a shit about our feelings, where dreams don't always come true, and where we might need our money for something more important than a Coach purse. And we grow up to realize the the world we were promised doesn't exist... and that we have absolutely no say in its making.

By the time we hit high school, half of us are still children and the other half are realizing how fucked up everything is. More and more of us see the world we're going to inheirit, with its poverty and pollution, we know the kids in school who don't have health insurance and NEED it. Our arts get taken away, our gym gets taken away, we're tested and tested and tested and know that we know nothing but what's on the test and WE FUCKING KNOW THAT THOSE TESTS ARE NOT GOING TO GIVE US WHAT WE NEED TO ACTUALLY LIVE!

And we have no say in it. Not till we're 18.

God... imagine if children were ACTUALLY trained to become adults, instead of being considered completely children until we're 18... 21. Imagine if we had a SAY in where this country is going, because we're the ones who are going to be alive in 50 years, not the politician who's 75 years old. Imagine if our schools were allowed to actually teach us, instead of having to drop any program which may nurture creativity and using tests that students are prepared for instead of preparing for life.

We are your children.

We are your future.

Look at the newspapers with their stories, with the teenagers dying every year of alcohol related incidents, of the druggies, the 14 year old smokers, the 13 year old pregnancies, the violence and gangs. On the streets where it's not just 12 year olds wearing belly shirts and tube tops, no, 6 year olds are dressed like little sluts now too. Mimicking adults without knowing what they're copying. We know nothing more than to mimick because we don't know how to do for ourselves. The anger you feel just walking through a high school. The desperation and frustration on college campuses... the riots after a football game, the frats and sororities on suspension, the students who every year are failing or dropping out.

We are your children.

We are your future.

We are lost.

And we are what you made us.

Goldeniangel
Goldeniangel
12,563 Followers
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bottovarnisbottovarnisover 1 year ago

excellent observations! I have thought for a long time (and I've been around a long time) that the entire educational system that parents experience and their children experience is designed to re-enforce and prolong the status quo and to hide the nature of "real life" from the young. Why? Because it's messed up and complex.

Basic economics should be taught beginning in middle school, Alcohol should be gradually introduced with appropriate precautions and education etc. The whole culture needs to wake up or the status quo will remain.

AnonymousAnonymousover 2 years ago

Yo same

dclovedcloveover 4 years ago
truth

yes today teens are out of control only as parents we do not teach them the right to act we give them every thing but one thing true GUIDANCE give all the toys to keep them out of our way

AnonymousAnonymousover 8 years ago
THINGS ARE PRETTY MUCH SAME EVERYWHERE...

Well, I am not an American, but an Indian. And in 2015, urban India pretty much resembles America today, and the countryside resembles America…in 1930. I did well in high school( I mean in tests) and got admission in a good college in the city. Coming from the countryside( where nobody gives a fuck about plastic money and online shopping) to the city (where if you use cash to buy a gadget the shopkeeper almost thinks you are not ready to use it) was a bigger change than you think it is. Thankfully, my parents did not give me a credit card, they gave me a debit card…and I have managed to finish it’s balance in the first 15 days of the month and had to loan money from my roommate just to buy a decent meal ( though I did not run into a real debt, a silver lining). My parents thought drinking is a social taboo; and my classmates think if you don’t drink, you are not cool enough to hang out with. So, after all those all-night-long parties and cool debates and drama meets, I am so underprepared for my semester exam that I don’t think I will be able to pass even if I read 24 hours a day. So, here I am, surfing porn sites 14 days before my semester exam and come across your essay and learn that my problems are not exclusive, actually they are universal and people can deal with them. I can’t really say how much that means to me.

P.S- I still don’t know anything about tax return and insurance (cause my parents still do those things for me) but after reading this I will make sure I know everything about those before I graduate…I really don’t wanna screw up that bad.

cittrancittranalmost 11 years ago
I'm rather shocked...

Not at the content. That I completely agree with.

No, I'm kinda shocked that, of all places, I found something this...insightful...on Literotica.

Seriously, what the hell is the world coming to when PORN SITES are more educational than our schools are?

Oh wait, that's right -- it's coming to crash down around the current generation.

Mine.

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