(PHOTOS) Think Teens Don't Care About the World? Think Again
June 10, 2010 - 6:00am (Print)
Kids these days… It’s something we’ve all heard. Kids are so hooked up to their little cell phones, Smartphones, Blackberries, and iPhones. Literally wherever today’s teenager goes they’re hooked up to their friends through Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Blogger, Buzz, text messages, and sometimes even “old fashion” email. Seventy-five percent of kids have their own phone, and one out of three teens send over 100 text messages a day. The attitude of young people towards anything that isn’t on the screen in front of them is pure neglect… and it’s your fault.
My name is Max Kamin-Cross and I’m here to tell you why teens no longer care about our world. Let’s take a few moments to look at our role models… We’ve got the celebrities who make millions of dollars acting like idiots. These people can do drugs, have sex, and attempt suicide; while their entire life is being covered by the media. We are showing kids today that you don’t have to do anything with their lives and everything will work out. News stations spend more time covering the stupid things that rich people do then they do covering the things that really matter. The real world is being left out of news cycles.
With things like this it’s hard to imagine why kids would care about the world. But there is hope! After almost 5 years of dealing with idiotic politicians, who can’t get it through their heads that teens are the future, there are a few things that I’ve learned. The first is simple, but something most people don’t realize: we are the future, teens are. If the next generation doesn’t start getting more interested in politics America will be in some major trouble. The average age of the House of Representatives is 56 and the Senate, 62. It’s no wondered young people don’t care; we just don’t see why it matters or how politics relate to us. There aren’t any political role models for us to look up to.
I said something about hope didn’t I, so here’s what it is: kids are connected, and do care. All that has to happen is one person to start the chain reaction. A few weeks ago several students started a Pro-Life Week demonstration at my school in Pittsford, New York. They planned on wearing shirts saying “Abortion Kills A Person,” that didn’t go well with me. I decided to do something about it.
I called our local Planned Parenthood in Rochester and NARAL in Albany, and told them the situation. The awesome people at Planned Parenthood were able to hook us up with 80 great shirts from GetTheFactsNY.com that said “REAL Sex Ed Saves Lives” and NARAL sent us 180 stickers and buttons that said “I <3 Pro-Choice NY.” Then I went to the one thing that every teen has to put this event into action, Facebook. Within 48 hours about 60 people had replied wanting a shirt to show their Pro-Choice opinion. By the end of the week there weren’t enough shirts and I had to turn people away and give them a button or sticker instead.
The first day of National Pro-Life Week came and over 100 students wore shirts, buttons, and stickers. Only 25 or so wore Pro-Life shirts. This was a huge success in all the students’ eyes. Pittsford is predominantly a Republican area and it was a huge surprise to everyone, including myself, to see that many students participate.
The moral of this story is that kids actually do care. This is a perfect example; all that needed to happen was one teen step up and organize it. We realize there are problems in the world, our world, but what’s one more teen standing up for their rights going to do? As you can see, it can do a lot.
This reminds me a good deal of my high school days, except we didn't really have active conservative groups at our school. We had protests of varying sorts at least once or twice a year, mostly with regards to LGBT rights and the war in the Middle East. Kids do care, but I think a lot of us became disenchanted with protesting because nothing we did actually changed anything. We would have loved to have the power to vote, but without that there wasn't much we could do about anything.
I felt the same way in college, only with the power to vote. I think todays youth care about issues just as much as previous generations, but we don't hold formal protests as often. That's because it's been made pretty clear that student protests aren't effective beyond being a rallying point for people who agree with each other. Heck, I'd say that's true of all protests that don't involve the collection of vast sums of money.
It's hard to come to any other conclusion when 10 million people protested the Iraq war (when it was announced we'd be sending troops there) with no effect, or when the largest single protest in US history (the March For Women's Lives gathered around 1.5 MILLION people at the nation's capital) didn't stop the "PBA" ban. No wonder we aren't as out-there with our opinions when our legislators don't listen. Teens and twenty-somethings are not the ones who are apathetic, it's the old jaded geezers in our government.
Hey MechaShica,
What it really comes down to is that yes youth can have those protests and events but, as you said, not much comes from them. It's up to the politicians to stop seeing young adults as kids, and start seeing us as future voters. Hopefully some will start to and listen to us about the issues we care about.
Thanks for your comments!
-Max
Great arcticle, Max!
I completely agree with your views and it's great that you're actually taking your beliefs and putting them to action!
Keep on contributing to what you believe in, your positive impact on the world is increasing everyday!
Myself along with everyone that participated really appreciate all the support. You can imagine how scary it is walking into school with your political views posted right on your chest, literally.
Thanks!
-Max
Don't answer if you don't want to, but I am curious, can you tell us generally without naming names just how the administration/staff at the school reacted to this? Did all of them stay aloof from the controversy or did some of them signal approval or disapproval?
How about the other students? Did the ProLife students interact with the ProSexEd students about their messages? Did the students who were not directly involved with either group signal approval or disapproval?
I agree that it took guts to wear those t-shirts but I wondered if wearing the view led to discussing it in moire depth if people commented on them.
The administration tried to stay out of it as much as possible. Legally, because of the landmark Supreme Court case Tinker V. Des Moines, their hands are tied when it comes to politics and the dress code. They are unable to ask us to remove a piece of clothing because of the message it sends, unless it promotes drug or tobacco use or disrupts the classroom (such as having a shirt with flashing lights). There had been some discussion about it the week before, so the administration knew it was going to happen and had done their research about the legal issues. Just in case, I had discussed the whole situation with someone from the NYCLU (a chapter of the ACLU) and was assured that the school could not legally do anything about it. Students who responded to the Facebook event, which is how I primarily got the word out, also received a message the night before detailing their rights to wear the shirts, as laid out in Tinker V. Des Moines.
Other students knew that this was happening, and there was some lively discussion on the Facebook event about it, but everyone stayed pretty civilized at school. There were no fights or anything like that. Teachers were very quick to shut down any discussion about it in class because many were worried that if students stared talking about it that there would be fights. There was discussion but I think the big thing that happened was that Pro-Choice students realized that there were others in our mostly Republican school that shared their view points. I thought it was really successful and did lead to some conversation and spreading the Pro-Choice message.
If you want to hear about more events like this feel free to follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ProChoiceMax
Thanks!
-Max
Very impressed that you took the time and were able to organize people to express their views. I encourage you to continue being involved and being a facilitator. We all really really need people just like you to help create that future.
Thanks crowepps!
I'm having a lot of fun working with all the amazing people in the pro-choice world and don't plan on stopping anytime soon. I even just set up a Twitter at http://twitter.com/ProChoiceMax to keep everyone up to date with what young adults like myself are doing to change politics.
-Max
I'm real proud of those kids! Good for them!
Thanks Wendy, it's awesome to hear that. If you want to follow other events myself and other young adults organize like this, I just set up a Twitter at http://twitter.com/prochoicemax
Thanks so much!
-Max
Thanks so much for the article, and I'm so impressed by you (and the others at your school). I love the shirts. :)
It's funny, actually -- I went to a Christian (Anglican) girls' school, and it would never have occurred to us to do something like this, largely because our school was pretty feminist (our school priest was one of the first women in Australia to be ordained as an Anglican priest, and she's now Australia's first female Anglican bishop - I'm so proud of her, lol), we had comprehensive sex ed, and we all would have fallen over in horrified shock if anyone had suggested teaching creationism. It's kind of depressing that 15 years later, this country has regressed so much socially, and it's not even as bad here as in the US.
So yeah, anyway, thanks, Max, and good for you! :)
Thanks Emma!
It's sad that we have to do events like this today (it seems like your school was better with sex ed then ours is now), but it has to happen and teens are always willing to go out and make a difference!
-Max
Hey Max,
My name is Dave Atias. I'm involved with the local Green Party in Monroe County. Your article rocked! Maybe we should talk some time. If you're interested, give me a call 585-315-7687.
Dave
I would love to! I'll give you a call later this week once school is done.
Thanks so much!
-Max
Max, I am so happy and thankful for your article and what it represents, that I just had to let you know. I think that this should be spread all accross the High Schools in this country! Though most of you are not old enough to vote, it is very important to speak your mind and continue to fight against politicians who are against choice, by keeping the message alive that the majority in this country is pro-choice, and that the younger generation is going to use all of the tools available to keep those choices. Also, birth control information is so important, as is fighting abstinence only types of "education". I look forward to reading more about this movement, and want to encourage you and your fellow students in all of your future actions. This truly made my day when I read it. Peace and much love to you all! Keep up the good work!
Thanks for your comments Jan. Though it's true that we can't vote right now, I honestly have no idea why politicians don’t do more to engage my generation. We are the future to this country and if they don’t start dealing with issues we care about (the environment, gay marriage, and of course reproductive rights) we will have absolutely no problem voting them out of office. Sex ed is another big issue. I received an almost completely abstinence only education through the school system. Though it was a very well developed curriculum with a good teacher, the program did not truly cover sex ed. I believe condoms were mentions a total of two times, in over 20 weeks, by the teacher. He did not even discuss the proper way to put one on or some common misconceptions, like putting two on at once will make it less likely to become pregnant. This is obviously not true, but is thought to be true by many high school students. Whenever anyone mentioned condoms or any other form of contraception the teacher would bring the conversation back to the fact that the only 100% safe thing to do is to stay abstinent. My school consistently ranks in the top 100 schools in the country (69th this year!). I cannot even imagine what type of sex ed programs are put in place in schools that don’t receive as much funding as ours. It really is a major issue and we are proud to be taking a stand. Feel free to follow future events on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ProChoiceMax.
Thanks!
-Max
