Posted on 07/16/2004 8:01:52 AM PDT by BigWaveBetty
Extra! Extra! The big news of the past decade in America has been largely overlooked, and you'll find it shocking. Young people have become aggressively normal.
Violence, drug use and teen sex have declined. Kids are becoming more conservative politically and socially. They want to get married and have large families. And, get this, they adore their parents.
The Mood of American Youth Survey found that more than 80 percent of teenagers report no family problems -- up from about 40 percent a quarter-century ago. In another poll, two-thirds of daughters said they would "give Mom an 'A.'
"In the history of polling, we've never seen tweens and teens get along with their parents this well," says William Strauss, referring to kids born since 1982. Strauss is author, with Neil Howe, of "Millenials Rising: The Next Great Generation."
In an article in the latest issue of City Journal, published by the Manhattan Institute, Kay S. Hymowitz writes:
"Wave away the smoke of the Jackson family circus, Paris Hilton and the antics of San Francisco, and you can see how Americans have been self-correcting from a decades-long experiment with 'alternative values.' Slowly, almost imperceptibly during the 1990s, the culture began a lumbering, Titanic turn away from the iceberg."
Adults are changing, but kids seem to have changed most -- and they may comprise the new "greatest generation," as Tom Brokaw called the World War II cohort. "What is emerging," writes Hymowitz, "is a vital, optimistic, family-centered, entrepreneurial, and, yes, morally thoughtful, citizenry."
That's trouble, I believe, for the Democratic party, at least in its current anchored-to-the-'60s version. It's possible that John Kerry will win in November because of the war in Iraq (though the smart money is on George Bush), but the long-term trend is clear. College freshmen who call themselves liberals outnumbered conservatives by about three to one in 1971; now the figures are roughly even. "Young voters are also more supportive of President Bush than the public at large," writes Hymowitz.
The changes in politics are rooted in changes in values. Last year, the rate of teen pregnancy dropped to a record low. Better birth control is not the sole explanation; the proportion of teens who had intercourse fell from 56 percent in 1991 to 46 percent in 2001.
Kids don't want casual sex; they want families. Harris Interactive reports that 91 percent plan to marry and, on average, they'd like three children.
Already, Generation X (born between 1965 and 1979) is more traditional than its parents. "The number of married-couple families, after declining in the '70s and '80s," writes Hymowitz, "rose 5.7 percent in the '90s." More brides are taking their husbands' names, and in 2000, the number of women in the workforce with infants dropped for the first time in decades. A study by Yankelovich found that 89 percent of Gen Xers think modern parents let kids get away with too much.
Twice as many Gen-X mothers as Baby Boomer mothers (born 1946-1964) spent more than 12 hours a day "attending to child-rearing and household responsibilities," according to a new survey by Reach Advisors, and roughly half of Gen-X fathers spent three to six hours daily on such tasks, another big increase.
Meanwhile, student marijuana use, which rose sharply in the 1990s, is on the decline, as is binge drinking. The juvenile murder rate fell 70 percent between 1993 and 2001; burglary is down 66 percent. Schools are safer, too.
What's going on here?
Hymowitz offers four explanations: 1) a "rewrite of the boomer years," with young people reacting critically to the world of sexual experimentation and family breakup and "earnestly knitting up their unraveled culture," 2) the trauma of 9/11, which has made kids more patriotic and turned them inward toward the comfort of family, 3) the information economy, which has given young people greater faith in their own chances to succeed, especially through self-reliance and entrepreneurship, and 4) immigration, which has produced what she calls a "fervent work ethic, which can raise the bar for slacker American kids, as any higher schooler with more than three Asian students in his algebra class can attest."
Whatever the reasons, the change in young people and their parents is very, very good news -- which is precisely why so much of the media is ignoring it.
Not sure if it's more do or don't rather than voicing the opinion, after all mom isn't going to announce to the kids she's off to the doctor's for an abortion (well let's hope anyway).
Telling your children what you expect of them no matter what else the world is doing is part of the success. My daughter knew when appropriate that there would be no abortions if she got pregnant. "I won't give you permission to kill my grandchild," were my exact words.
Those words are powerful and it puts the brakes on any idea that abortion is an option if they decide to experiment. Then it spreads to their friends.... I think it's also important to give kids an 'out', many times I told my daughter and son to use me as an excuse for any reason they thought their peer group might give them grief for being square. They seemed to be relieved they had a way to opt out of bad behavior. "My parents will kill me" works wonders. :-)
The Dems are rabidly FOR aborting their political base. This is happening while the "intelligentsia" spend all their time trying to control/criticize the "unenlightened" people.
I'm surrounded by college professors. They say the same thing, and it drives them nuts. :)
...there friends should read their friends....ooops
It's called the Roe Effect. And nobody, even Glassman, wants to acknowledge it.
Maybe in your neck of the woods, but remember that most of these people had MTV and tons of liberalism shoved down their throats. I do agree that we tend to be more conservative than our parents, but there is a ton of GenXers that bought the liberal brainwash.
I was born in 1983...and though I come from Bush country, I just do not see many young lefties like I should on a college campus. One of my friends is a thoughtful young woman who enjoys attacking feminists.
Gen X and Y is the most pro-life.
It should be noted that socially, they also support gay marriage more, however.
This really is some great news. I don't think though, that this is a partisan issue. Actually spending time raising your child seems to be an idea that's gaining ground on both sides of the political spectrum. The idea that both parents could work full days and then spend a just few hours with their kids - or maybe the weekends - is finally losing ground.
And that's great.
We're coming out of the only time I can think of in history that it was standard for children to not have an "anchor" in their early years. Someone who was there no matter what.
Even at points in history when mothers weren't willing/able to take care of their children, they were raised by a nanny, a tutor - a single individual who was there for a significant portion of their childhood. Now, you've got babysitters that may change periodically, teachers who change yearly, and parents who are only available a few hours a day. This leaves children with no one they can truly confide in - no one who actually *raised* them.
Basically I'm saying - it was a long time coming, and it's good to see it's finally here.
How many kids did previous generations want? If less than three....the Xer kids may overtake the boomer kids.
I am sending this off to a HS teacher who loves Reagan and says his generation (Gen-X) will turn America around.
i pray this is correct but down here in south georgia they are still very sexually immoral
What business does he run?
Amen bump.
I think the religious revival comes next, and not in the way that liberals might imagine.
Yes, and the tighter they grip (as they are programmed to do) the more star systems will slip through their fingers...
Where are we headed after the GenX-GenY folks? It seems to be a liberal book from the reviews.
Don't have hard evidence but I remember being fed the notion that 1 or at the very most 2 was the "right" thing to do for a couple of reasons. You might be too young to remember all the lies about population explosion, 'don't have too many kids because you'll exhaust the world's resources.' And since your real job is a career it's better to have just 1 or 2 so you can lavish them with the appropriate attention.
Golly, this kind of thinking is even more ridiculous looking when it's in print!
George W. Bush will be reelected by a margin of at least ten per cent
bump
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