Posted on 09/06/2006 5:29:26 PM PDT by Rawlings
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.
many of the liberal boomers are in for a shock. as they did with their parents, their children will find their own way - usually following a distinctively different path, in this case - turning conservative.
You know, I don't think younger people are all that different. I'm thinking it's society that has changed so much. There literally is nothing to rebel against except morality.
Good for you. My oldest son is off to college next year and he and his cohorts are very well informed, patriotic and pro-American. I hope and pray that he will stay the course through college!
Never forget what it was like to fight the liberals. Tell your kids about it, since the day is coming when the fight is done. Lord willing, they won't have this infestation of collectivist left-wing nitwittery to deal with when they grow up.
We must never let it be forgotten how close our great country came to being brought down by those quasi-marxist dope-head maggot-infested hate-filled smelly anti-American bigots. Let ours be the last American generation ever to face them.
Rush babies.
"rush babies"
I like that! Or Bush babies. Or Reagan babies. That may be a very good Freeper contest.
The Libs are aborting themselves out of existence.
It's always fun to watch the freak show, until it starts entering mainstream life. Paris Hilton is fun to watch, but would you want her for a Mom or a next door neighbor?
Ping
It started with Ronald Reagan! He turned me onto conservatism as a Freshman in college. That would be 1980.
Polls and surveys can be selectively presented to give just about any picture you want. Just out of curiousity, I attempted to follow Glassman's reference to the City Journal information. It referenced a study by the Alan Guttmacher Institute. I then had to search that site. I have no idea what they are referencing. Tough to discern the plausibility of the figures.
I like TCS Daily, City Journal, and James Glassman. But any article that attempts to make its case with obscure survey and poll results I generally discard out of hand regardless of its conclusions.
But, I hope that you're right. Keep fighting the good fight.
This is obviously not politically correct, but check out this article for a controversial though plausible explanation for drops in various youth crimes: http://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/DonohueLevittTheImpactOfLegalized2001.pdf
Where is this happening? Fantasy land?
The kids these days that I encounter are even worse then the 60's leftists ... whos kidding who.
The fact of the matter is that many of today's kids of liberal parents are smarter than their parents when it comes to seeing where the country is headed should liberal insanity continue unabated.
This is good to hear.
I'm on the UWashington campus and my first year here (2001) the College Republicans were also the largest student group. Can't say if that's currently true, but I sure was uplifted to hear it and always donate when they have their fundraising.
The wrong generation may have come along at the right time. A person of average intelligence can see the futility of reaping without sowing. American literature is replete with stories of explorers freezing or starving because they failed to provide for themselves.
A few soft inheritors of other's successes briefly seized the attention of the masses who wanted it all without effort. Just look to the lotteries, or more prevently, welfare for the greedy, or the slothful.
I can tell you that my 16yo boy is anything but PC and loves pi$$ing off libs. All you have to do is explain that the libs are restricting their personal liberty and they're converted. Death to the Nanny State!
Both of my children are conservative and my 11 year old said he is a Republican. My 13 year old daughter says she is an Independent. Cooh huh?
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