I've never had a problem with youth questioning authority, especially illegitimate authority that exists only for authority's sake (feel good crap like zero tolerance policies are a good start).
I realize they weren't exactly youth, but our Founding Fathers recognized the value in questioning, and rebelling against, the authority lorded over them.
“I’ve never had a problem with youth questioning authority”
A time and place for everything. Being a kid is not about total freedom. It’s gaining the wisdom of knowing when to question.
Constant, confrontational questioning would earn my kids a warm backside.
Exactly.
Questioning “authority” often marks the passage to adulthood.
True questining, that is.
The moment a person realizes that something may not be right and that “authority” might be wrong, incompetent or just malevolent, is the point where a person demonstrates independent thinking.
We often mark that as one of the hallmarks of a sentient being. So, in a way, the child becomes a true person and not a mimicing lifeform.
However, that’s not to be confused with the kind of “questioning” that’s promoted by MTV and the media. When somebody has to tell you that somethings wrong, and induce you to “question” things you haven’t thought out for yourself, it’s the mark of the unevolved mind.