by Lori Pedersen

Created on: May 24, 2008

Our Next Generation Better or Worse? Children feel it is their right to walk away from adults while they are speaking to them; they feel it is their right to call adulsts names and yell obscenities at you; they feel it is their right to receive all they want without having to work for it; and last but not least, they do not feel as if they must be accountable for their own actions it is always someone else's fault. Please don't get me wrong, there are nice, polite, respectful children in the next generation, they are just very few and far between. As an example, a class of children in our school has 180 children in it and maybe 50 of them fall into the latter category. We parents feel as if our right to discipline (not abuse) our very own children as been stripped away from us, and now we face a generation of juvenile delinquents who care about nobody but themselves; as if the world revolves around them.

When we baby boomers were children we wouldn't have dreamed of walking away from an adult when we were being chastised for something. We would have been pulled up short by the nape of the neck. Yet, this new generation thinks nothing of it. If they don't like what is being said to them, they walk away and totally ignore your directions to return to the conversation.

In my young years, it was unfathomable to yell and scream at an adult. We would have had a quick and harsh slap to the face that would shut us up immediately and make us think twice before doing it again. Our children now see nothing wrong with yelling obscenities at an adult or calling them names. They feel it is their right to do.

As a young person, I was required to work for anything beyond my basic needs. So, as a young teenager I found myself seeking part-time employment. The right of entitlement that our children walk around with today is astounding. Work ethic hah I don't think they have one. The children in school expect to get passing grades just because they show up for school. God forbid, they might have to work for a good grade, or work for the iPod they want so badly.

Our parents raised us to be responsible for our own actions, whether they be good or bad. If we brought bad grades home, it was nobody's fault but our own. "Accountability" is not in the vocabulary of this young generation. The children now will tell you that it is the teacher's fault, or a friend's fault, or a parent's fault, or the book's fault, or just plain "I don't know why I have a bad grade."

We adults need to start

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