We (your brother and parents) were just talking yesterday about the shift in maturity levels relating to physical maturation. We drew the same conclusions. What level of digretion must we come to before the trend is reversed? Will it ever be reversed? My heart goes out to those who are given the daunting task of teaching them, especially if they're Eighth-grade Art teachers!
While I don't necessarily believe this theory is a complete explanation, I think there is some truth.
Your account of the youth is true of every generation. Adults always will look on in dismay at the actions of the younger generations, yet somehow despite predictions of world ending or cultural collapse this has not happened. This is not to say that culture has remained the same for hundreds of years, but rather we (each older generation) look back and exclaim "I was not that stupid / misguided / depraved " or a million other adjectives. And somehow they mature and manage to pay bills, raise kids and be generally responsible.
It is true that kids are provided fewer role models. In the past, they were exposed to family members and townsfolk either in factories or on farms and this exposure was also from receiving much less formal education and instead working from the first day you could lift a tool until the last.
"And somehow they mature and manage to pay bills, raise kids and be generally responsible."
That's just the thing though. I don't see this as the case at all.
As for maturity, for one, the maturity level of comedies in the past was far more intelligent than today. Compare the humor in "His Girl Friday" with "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective".
Kids used to behave in classrooms. Now they don't.
The marriage age is rising.
As for paying bills, people are going more and more in debt.
As for raising kids, more kids are raised by single parents now than ever.
Less kids grow up being disciplined.
Finally, though not yet in our country -- "cultural collapse", as you word it, has happened many times. Our country is very young. Cultural collapse was in strong part the cause of the fall of the Roman Empire for example.
yeh, you read about, e.g., Lady Jane Grey and realize how frivolous and useless teenagers are today. It's a real frustration to me, in part because I'm a Sunday School teacher and could use a little maturity in class, and in part because I'm 25 and still find most girls my age to be frivolous and immature.
Re: not to mentionlhynardAugust 31 2004, 21:13:25 UTC
1) I don't think people always get uglier as they get older.
2) Growing old together would be a nice thing, but I hardly think that at 25 you are now guarenteed to miss that.
3) I agree on the this one entirely. Like I said, it is mostly due to the change in education today. It's one of those deals where one has to ask whether the benefits outweigh the bad things. Is your education more important than starting a family. I plan to adopt. As that does not depend on my youth, it is less of a concern for me that I am 26 and still being educated.
Re: not to mention
anonymous
September 1 2004, 18:38:38 UTC
Well, there is a difference between "growing up together" and "growing old together." In the first situation, you meet when you're still forming opinions, deciding what you believe, and learning who you are. You decide together how you're going to live as adults, what your goals will be, and what you're going to do to get there. It seems to me that you have a much, much better chance of developing true intimacy with a person if you start young. I think that by sending kids off single to college and telling them to "grow up first, get married later," we essentially leave them to start their adult lives on their own and hope that a spouse can be patched in later. By the time kids get out of college, everyone's on his or her own track, and marriage is only an option if you can find someone exactly like you, which gets harder and harder the more you define "you." I'm so tired of hearing girls talk about how they're "called to missions" or "called to" this or that (as though marriage would have to be squeezed in) when, biblically,
( ... )
Re 1: not to mentionlhynardSeptember 1 2004, 21:15:30 UTC
I changed your quote, because I assumed you were reciting the common, cliche phase "growing old together." I've never heard of anyone wanting to "grow up together" before. I'm sorry for changing your words. Yes, obviously, they are different things
( ... )
MTV is just plain foul. I'd never really been exposed to it until a visit to Mike's house, where it was on ALL THE TIME (definitely not healthy) and a summer with non-Christian roommates during my internship at Seagate. I simply could not believe the filth they put on there: not just the music videos (which are bad), but the "shows" that consist entirely of half-naked people talking about all the sexual perversions they've engaged in. Ugh, ugh, ugh.
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Your account of the youth is true of every generation. Adults always will look on in dismay at the actions of the younger generations, yet somehow despite predictions of world ending or cultural collapse this has not happened. This is not to say that culture has remained the same for hundreds of years, but rather we (each older generation) look back and exclaim "I was not that stupid / misguided / depraved " or a million other adjectives. And somehow they mature and manage to pay bills, raise kids and be generally responsible.
It is true that kids are provided fewer role models. In the past, they were exposed to family members and townsfolk either in factories or on farms and this exposure was also from receiving much less formal education and instead working from the first day you could lift a tool until the last.
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That's just the thing though. I don't see this as the case at all.
As for maturity, for one, the maturity level of comedies in the past was far more intelligent than today. Compare the humor in "His Girl Friday" with "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective".
Kids used to behave in classrooms. Now they don't.
The marriage age is rising.
As for paying bills, people are going more and more in debt.
As for raising kids, more kids are raised by single parents now than ever.
Less kids grow up being disciplined.
Finally, though not yet in our country -- "cultural collapse", as you word it, has happened many times. Our country is very young. Cultural collapse was in strong part the cause of the fall of the Roman Empire for example.
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Most guys my age are frivolous and immature as well.
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http://www.britannia.com/history/ladyjane/janefram.html
Our pastor read us the speech from her execution (at age 16 I think) and I was absolutely blown away.
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2) Growing old together would be a nice thing, but I hardly think that at 25 you are now guarenteed to miss that.
3) I agree on the this one entirely. Like I said, it is mostly due to the change in education today. It's one of those deals where one has to ask whether the benefits outweigh the bad things. Is your education more important than starting a family. I plan to adopt. As that does not depend on my youth, it is less of a concern for me that I am 26 and still being educated.
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VH1 at least sticks to music.
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VH1 at least sticks to "music" ;) Give me Mozart.
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