The Generation Gap

From my observations, children today are advancing slower and slower. 3 Years ago the kids in grade 7 looked like the kids we have in grade 9 at our school. Currently the 7th graders look like what 5th graders looked like 2 years ago. I notice this because I am tall and always check to see how much shorter people are than me

I know it's not much of a conversation starter, but your thoughts?

That tends to happen; Same thing happened to me. When you're younger, everyone older than you looks far older. But when you're older, everyone younger than you looks far younger. Kinda weird, but it happens.

On a related subject, I've noticed that younger kids are 'growing up' at a much faster rate. And by 'growing up', I mean getting pregnant and learning to talk back. In my school, any year that was older than us (we're currently the oldest now) were very mature. The year below me is becoming quite... err... drug and sex crazed. The years below them... Christ. It really worries me.

Rebecca1208 wrote:That tends to happen; Same thing happened to me. When you're younger, everyone older than you looks far older. But when you're older, everyone younger than you looks far younger. Kinda weird, but it happens.

On a related subject, I've noticed that younger kids are 'growing up' at a much faster rate. And by 'growing up', I mean getting pregnant and learning to talk back. In my school, any year that was older than us (we're currently the oldest now) were very mature. The year below me is becoming quite... err... drug and sex crazed. The years below them... Christ. It really worries me.

The second part comes from the older ones who influence them. I've seen it too many times.
On the first part: They didn't just look older, they did actually mature faster. I mean these days my moustache and beard is just sprouting but back in those days the 7th graders already had theirs almost glaringly obvious. That's how I actually make sure lol XD

Oh lol, my bad ^^'

And I find it hard to believe that the older years influenced the younger years. The year 7s and 8s in my school (2 youngest years) are the rudest little buggers I've ever witnessed. Even the teachers hate them.

You're on to something, Becks, I don't remember my class or any above or below me to act like misfits from a Michelle Pfeiffer movie, and that was during the mid-90's, but then again, I grew up and went to school in a mostly timid area.

The internet was just coming into our households and pre-teens would spend their leisure time in the woods or on the meadows playing cowboys and indians. The gameboy was the only handheld device that would distract one on the go while at home we'd spend an hour or two playing on our Nintendos or on the Playstation.

Sex and drugs weren't on our minds that much and neither was really an issue at home or at school. We would occasionally smoke weed and have a beer or two but we were really a joke compared to the binge-drinking potheads you encounter today.

Youth today is growing up way to fast.

Andeavor wrote:You're on to something, Becks, I don't remember my class or any above or below me to act like misfits from a Michelle Pfeiffer movie, and that was during the mid-90's, but then again, I grew up and went to school in a mostly timid area.

The internet was just coming into our households and pre-teens would spend their leisure time in the woods or on the meadows playing cowboys and indians. The gameboy was the only handheld device that would distract one on the go while at home we'd spend an hour or two playing on our Nintendos or on the Playstation.

Sex and drugs weren't on our minds that much and neither was really an issue at home or at school. We would occasionally smoke weed and have a beer or two but we were really a joke compared to the binge-drinking potheads you encounter today.

Youth today is growing up way to fast.

I don't think its that they are growing up to fast, I think its that they are just mis-informed. Kids are having sex and doing drugs a really young ages now, and I say alot of it comes from getting their informations from television. The problem is that most kids don't learn about sex from their parents or their school, they learn it from what they watch and who they socialise with, and almost always the people the kids they socialise with are just as mis-infromed.

What always makes me sick is when I see girls in high school, not even 18 yet, pregnant. Why would you ruin your life like that. I'm not saying having a child is wrong, I'm just saying at such a young age, your giving up your freedom and your dreams by having a kid so young. When I was in high school, a chick in my year said she was desperate to get pregnant. This was when we were 15 mind you.. Well she did get pregnant and look what happened, the guy, go figure, left and a year later she had to quit school to take care of the baby. She even admitted having the baby so young was a mistake.

Rebecca1208 wrote:Oh lol, my bad ^^'

And I find it hard to believe that the older years influenced the younger years. The year 7s and 8s in my school (2 youngest years) are the rudest little buggers I've ever witnessed. Even the teachers hate them.

At my sixth form (which is also a school) year 7 & 8s are really mouthy and years 9 & 10 wear more make- up than you'd find in a cosmetics factory (so the girl's faces are covered by about 3 inches of foundation ) year 11 aren't bad but the chavs in that year are really annoying towards the sixth formers...

In other words little kids are getting mouthier or shorter and more frustrated

Yeah. Our year is pretty decent in general. Even the chavs are pretty tolerable (since it's better to be friendly with everyone and get along with who you have to work with).

The year below us is pretty bad in general. They don't go towards some of the extremes like we do in our year, but they can turn out quite nasty. Year 10's are generally a waste of space

The year 9's look more promising, but most of the year consists of people who speak in 'text language' and it's full of attention-whores. Strangely enough, I know most of the year 9's anyway, so im all good with them

Well, let's see...
The kids in my grade are pretty tall and some look like 8th graders. They swear a lot, and one took drugs to school once... 0_o
The 7th graders aren't so bad, although some can be... annoying. Everyday when I get off the bus, one of them yells, "Goodbye, **** *****." They are very short for their age, and look like fifth graders.
The 8th graders, like the 6th graders, are tall and older looking. They swear too much, and talk about sex, drugs, and other, you know, bad topics.

@ Zaros: you should see the drugs problem at my school 4 year 7s got caught with canabis on them and joints

As for the rest of the years they just get worse... and worse with illegal substances!

I find that aswell...
I'm in yr 9 and if some of the kids in yr 7 + 8 went to visit some of teh people that are what the kids are trying to be.... knife violence would probably ensue

When I went to school, people actually looked their age. Now, I can't tell at all. There are a lot that look like they should be graduated but they still have a few years to go.

I remember when I was in high school, I didn't wear mini skirts and a ton of make-up. Nowadays there are a lot of girls that go all out. They look like they're going to a bar to hook up or something. I agree about the drugs and sex too, as well as being influenced by tv and who they hang out with. It used to be fun to go and hang out outside, it's a shame that now it's all about technology, and what was already stated

bmpalmann wrote:@ Zaros: you should see the drugs problem at my school 4 year 7s got caught with canabis on them and joints

As for the rest of the years they just get worse... and worse with illegal substances!

One day me and a couple year 11s were happily sitting in a music room. 2 girls in the year below us come in with meth.

The boys do drugs themselves, and even the worse of the pair was absolutely shocked.

Rebecca1208 wrote:

bmpalmann wrote:@ Zaros: you should see the drugs problem at my school 4 year 7s got caught with canabis on them and joints

As for the rest of the years they just get worse... and worse with illegal substances!

One day me and a couple year 11s were happily sitting in a music room. 2 girls in the year below us come in with meth.

The boys do drugs themselves, and even the worse of the pair was absolutely shocked.

Well, admittedly weed doesn't even come close to meth, but yeah seeing a pair of self-proclaimed junkies almost crap their pants and talk about how even they have standards, was as worrying as it was hilarious. I used to think my year was bad. Now every generation is becoming more violent, more slutty and ultimately more useless and it literally shows. At birth everybody should be implanted with some sterilizers. When you're eighteen, you have to pass an IQ test that either allows you to breed, or if you're an idiot, screw all you want without contaminating the gene pool. Although, assuming that each year takes a bit after the previous one, the whole 'slippery slope' we're seeing seems quite likely. I predict we'll be able to sustain ourselves for about 30 more years, before we run out of intelligent people and have the country collapse.

PS: Has anyone else seen Idiocracy and nowadays considers it an awfully accurate representation of what the future of human race is going to look like as idiots vastly outbreed the smart people?

hmm lets seee..... im a ten year old...... were talking about sex and drugs here.......... is this really nessesary?

yes hawkbird........ yes it is

Reyes1 wrote:yes hawkbird........ yes it is

I suggest closing this topic or mmake a new one

meh.....

but that is if u ask me...

Jakey wrote:

Rebecca1208 wrote:

bmpalmann wrote:@ Zaros: you should see the drugs problem at my school 4 year 7s got caught with canabis on them and joints

As for the rest of the years they just get worse... and worse with illegal substances!

One day me and a couple year 11s were happily sitting in a music room. 2 girls in the year below us come in with meth.

The boys do drugs themselves, and even the worse of the pair was absolutely shocked.

Well, admittedly weed doesn't even come close to meth, but yeah seeing a pair of self-proclaimed junkies almost crap their pants and talk about how even they have standards, was as worrying as it was hilarious. I used to think my year was bad. Now every generation is becoming more violent, more slutty and ultimately more useless and it literally shows. At birth everybody should be implanted with some sterilizers. When you're eighteen, you have to pass an IQ test that either allows you to breed, or if you're an idiot, screw all you want without contaminating the gene pool. Although, assuming that each year takes a bit after the previous one, the whole 'slippery slope' we're seeing seems quite likely. I predict we'll be able to sustain ourselves for about 30 more years, before we run out of intelligent people and have the country collapse.

PS: Has anyone else seen Idiocracy and nowadays considers it an awfully accurate representation of what the future of human race is going to look like as idiots vastly outbreed the smart people?

People sell drugs at my school all the time, it's part of going to a Catholic school, as myopic as it sounds. Every year does it, I don't see it getting any better, but I don't see it getting any worse. Glass half full stand-point? Likely, I don't have the statistics required to make an established hypothesis on the matter, not that I particularly care. I don't see our generations getting progressively worse, but I base this on a relatively small point of view, so correct me if I am mistaken. I'm one of the more intelligent people out of my school overall, even the year 13's behind me don't seem any worse than my year. Sure, you have the drugs, sex, and the universal debauchery. I still feel that has always been there, in a sense. With that out of the way, there are the promising individuals who carry out my school's good name. I can tell your heart is in the right place for the little "test" you evidently want to perform. I'm not going to bother to point out the public uproar, the economical impossibilities, or even the general impracticality. I will, however, point out the idiocracy is a movie. It's a comedy, you can think there is a profound underlying message that has some validity in the real world, but it doesn't; to a major extent. It's not really based on any statistics, I know intelligent families that repopulate like mad. The point is just moot to begin with. If you have major statistics regarding the issue, send them my way. I do believe it's an intersting thing to mull over, and to discuss in a conversation. I just don't want to dwell on something that seems to make sense, though without the proper analysis. Regardless of hard evidence, you might be right, but even so called stupid people have the cognitive ability to make sound choices based on how they feel about something. They're not mildly mentally challenged, like the people in idiocracy. I digress, but you get the picture.

Personally, with religion on decline in many 1st world countries, I see a relatively bright future, depending on how we deal with the cards we're dealt. I find religion to be an overall silly thing itself. Not so much the belief in a higher power, but the inability of some people to take how they feel about religion and put it into a medium that will be better off for everyone. Donating to a church is all fine and well, but think of where else that money could go? The major worry I have is the escalating feelings of disdain between relgion. The people aren't stupid, they're just misinformed. Teach a person to be violent to another person, sharing a slightly different view than you, for their whole lives, and they're bound to follow up on it. That's what I fear: not the people who wallow in their mediocrity, not the people unable to make the right choices, but the people with the good sense who don't use it, or have it supressed. The people smart enough to get in prestigious electoral or dictatorial positions, but lacking in any sense of how to handle themselves, or how to act like a human being. Bigotry and fear are what would drive us into the ground, the idiots can just be along for the ride. In any event, whether the morons out populate the intellectuals is irrelevant. We will still exist, it's not a matter of natural selection, in which the majority will be the only survivers.

IN CONCLUSION: There will always be smart people, there will always be stupid people. The smart people are just the ones who need to make the right choices. So, the stupid ones don't piss themselves in fear of the rammifications for which they couldn't forsee, and of which they will have likely caused.

As interesting a point as that is, the post you're referring to was posted in April, most people here don't read massive clumps of text, and those who do would probably forget half of it by the time they finished. Was it really worth writing all that?

Well, some of us read massive clumps of text.

I'm now done with Elementary School (Croatian school system is different from others, so no thinking ''Ars is lying about his age'' or stuff.), and you know what I'm leaving behind?

A bunch of would-be-grown-ups. The biggest problem, from witch all sex&drugs problems go, is that kids want to be accepted in grown-up community or so, but their picturing of an adult person is very wrong, gotten from TV and internet.

Jeezsh, they leave the most beautiful period of human life half-lived in a rush to grow up. And as Loki said that the older generations are better than young buggers, is that they found some wisdom in their life path or something. They are respected by younger kids who strive to be like them, so they don't feel the need to be accepted in such a rush.

Yayz! Now I have my very own mountain of text! Er...hill. Not that impressive. But I have nothing more to add.

ArsDraconis out.

ArsDraconis wrote:
Jeezsh, they leave the most beautiful period of human life half-lived in a rush to grow up. And as Loki said that the older generations are better than young buggers, is that they found some wisdom in their life path or something. They are respected by younger kids who strive to be like them, so they don't feel the need to be accepted in such a rush.

I may be young comparing to other people on the Eurospore, but I just felt like I had to be included in this thread.xDD

My class is the worst one currently in our school. We had problems from the 2nd grade, and they never got solved. Apparently, girls started it. Makeup, swearing, going out, even doing perverted stuff during school (which is very disturbing, seriously) drove a few of us crazy. A few months later, the same thing occurred in younger classes. One of my friend´s younger brother even started to smoke. And that was when he was 4th grade. I´m quite proud of myself for not falling in with them all. In my school, everything just went woosh in the last few years. But it can clearly be seen, they want to grow up so badly,but they still act like little children. The same as my younger sister pretends to be a princess, she does that because she wants to become a princess by herself too.

SuperLoki wrote:As interesting a point as that is, the post you're referring to was posted in April, most people here don't read massive clumps of text, and those who do would probably forget half of it by the time they finished. Was it really worth writing all that?

So, because the post is moderately old, and no one will care, I shouldn't post? I'm not interested in either of those things, which is not to say there isn't something else to regret.

Though, I suppose that would just be a guess.

The thread may be old but the topic is still ongoing.

Ars just reminded me about youth in the early 20th century - no, I'm not that old - and the teenage revolution of the 50's. Back in the 20's, 30's and 40's, you were a child until the age of 13 and then moved on to learn how to become either a housewife or an entrepreneur. And if you weren't that lucky, you'd start an apprenticeship and become a factory worker or took on a lousy job at a workshop.

In other words, there was no time to act out and you were thrown into life as an adult. Then came the 50's and teenagers started to find the time to hang out and be themselves and explore all the venues and ways to party. A great example it displayed in the movie Pleasantville were two siblings from the gritty 90's are thrown into the suburbs of a picture-perfect 50's TV show and slowly but surely teach the other teenagers (and adults) how to express themselves and bring some color into their world - literally!

I think that we've reached a point in time where we can't go back to the innocence of the early 20th century and pretend the bad things don't exists, nor can we expect kids to behave like in a 50's TV show (even though back then they weren't that innocent) but I think we can teach them consequence. What goes around comes around, I always say, and parents have to toughen up and teach their kids that everything they do now can have good or bad consequences in the (near) future.

One of the best examples is the personal display on sites such as Myspace, Facebook and Twitter. I've known people who'd reveal pretty much every gritty detail on there, forgetting that some if not all can acces that not-so-private information and use it against them.

You wouldn't want your fiancée to find that salacious picture of you and the stripper from your bachelor party.