Why Teenagers Hate Hope
I was talking with my friend Mike Cage the other day about the intense skepticism of current high school and college students.
He said something that stirred me to thinking. He said, "The 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' series has ironically created the context for extreme cynicism amongst teenagers. It's done this by creating endless waves of chain emails sharing stories from their various books and then following those heartfelt stories with a picture of the cuddly puppy and then either a marketing plug or a hex about a life of hellish torture, acne and celibacy should you not forward the story to others."
What's come of this, he explained, is that teenagers think that everything is just another scam trying to get them to believe something, buy something, or get their name on some douchebag's email list.
This kills hope. In a world where everyone is peddling the newest, latest, greatest thing, we've sensitized our teenagers to be wary of everything. We've given them the world via unlimited resources on the Internet and then stripped that world of its soul. Then, in the few places that they actually have passion - instead of letting them explore it, we send them to school where the last shreds of passion and fascination can be fully and categorically destroyed through the forced study of outdated subjects in a militaristic setting.
School (noun) - where passion is, at all costs, discouraged - except by those rare teachers who, by some grace, have managed to slip through the educational systems maintaining at least some of what fascinated them in their youth.
He said something that stirred me to thinking. He said, "The 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' series has ironically created the context for extreme cynicism amongst teenagers. It's done this by creating endless waves of chain emails sharing stories from their various books and then following those heartfelt stories with a picture of the cuddly puppy and then either a marketing plug or a hex about a life of hellish torture, acne and celibacy should you not forward the story to others."
What's come of this, he explained, is that teenagers think that everything is just another scam trying to get them to believe something, buy something, or get their name on some douchebag's email list.
This kills hope. In a world where everyone is peddling the newest, latest, greatest thing, we've sensitized our teenagers to be wary of everything. We've given them the world via unlimited resources on the Internet and then stripped that world of its soul. Then, in the few places that they actually have passion - instead of letting them explore it, we send them to school where the last shreds of passion and fascination can be fully and categorically destroyed through the forced study of outdated subjects in a militaristic setting.
School (noun) - where passion is, at all costs, discouraged - except by those rare teachers who, by some grace, have managed to slip through the educational systems maintaining at least some of what fascinated them in their youth.
I have an interview coming up soon on Pathbreaker.tv with educational iconoclast and author, John Taylor Gatto. Gatto quit teaching on the OP ED page of the Wall Street Journal in 1991 while still New York State Teacher of the Year, claiming that he was no longer willing to hurt children. One of the main topics he's railed against for nearly two decades now, if i can editorialize, is an educational system which turns students into robots.
For me, this is the main issue. In his book, Island, Aldous Huxley says that the point of boys and girls is to become fully human. We live in a system which kills our ability to do this. Obsessed with the ol' reading, writing and arithmetic model 'current' public educational teaches outdated, outmoded forms of learning.
They focus endlessly on content rather than the ability to learn. As Joseph said, it would be better if the education system were totally dismantled so kids, who at this point can learn anything about anything in 2 hours or less on the Internet, can actually start learning.
What teenagers yearn for now is anything that smacks of authenticity - even, as Mike pointed out, if that authenticity is a corporate pre-packaged image designed to sell to people seeking authenticity. No offense Suicide Girls.
The outstanding question for me is, "what now"? What can we do to create an environment for teenagers that doesn't suck and that supports them in getting to know what really fascinates them so they can start building a life around it?
For me, this is the main issue. In his book, Island, Aldous Huxley says that the point of boys and girls is to become fully human. We live in a system which kills our ability to do this. Obsessed with the ol' reading, writing and arithmetic model 'current' public educational teaches outdated, outmoded forms of learning.
They focus endlessly on content rather than the ability to learn. As Joseph said, it would be better if the education system were totally dismantled so kids, who at this point can learn anything about anything in 2 hours or less on the Internet, can actually start learning.
What teenagers yearn for now is anything that smacks of authenticity - even, as Mike pointed out, if that authenticity is a corporate pre-packaged image designed to sell to people seeking authenticity. No offense Suicide Girls.
The outstanding question for me is, "what now"? What can we do to create an environment for teenagers that doesn't suck and that supports them in getting to know what really fascinates them so they can start building a life around it?
posted by Devon White at 4/04/2008
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1 Comments:
From my experience, this cynicism comes more from watching TV and the post 60s mentality: the American youth felt something deep inside them and their hopes and dreams for a better world were practically suffocating, and all ofr nothing. No matter how hard they fought the "man", in the end the general sentiment was that they had no power. That, I think is more the problem in our world than chain emails--though as an example it is a good one. in general, people today feel powerless to change the world in the image they deem worthy, and any effort is just a waste of energy. What's the point? I hear many of my friends say. Sure people want the world to change, but no one actually thinks that anything they do will have any effect.
In addition, the Liberal Arts education is such that students come out so sheltered and incapable (how do I do my taxes, how to I find an apartment, how do I get a job?!) that they feel even more helpless in a world they already feel has given up on them, if they themselves havn't already given up on the world. I know I have found college to be a waste of my time, and that is very unfortunate, seeing as the only way I can prove my worth to the mainstream world is with a little slip of paper saying that I earned my Bachelor's, or worse, I have to go on to get my MAsteres before I can be taken seriously.
It is horrifically demoralizing.
Or you could always get caught smoking a joint and go to prison for a few years...
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