THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 28, 1994 TAG: 9410280066
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E13 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: TEENSPEAK
SOURCE: BY KIRSTEN SORTON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
EVERY ERA OR generation in America has been defined.
The '60s was the hippie generation while the '80s was the me generation. Just ahead of today's high school students are the slackers of Generation X.
What will the next generation, the students now in junior high and high school, be called? How will it be described?
Six students at Norfolk Collegiate pondered these questions at this week's Teenspeak.
Right off, senior Lauren Marchman, 17, said that defining generations is wrong and it will be difficult to define hers.
``It's a generation of exceptions. That's why they can't categorize it. There is such a diverse group of people. About the only thing we have in common is our age,'' Lauren said.
Another common factor is the host of problems this generation faces, including AIDS, drugs and violence in schools. The students said these problems can't be fixed easily. A few believe they never will. But they feel a tremendous burden.
``They expect us to come in and make everything perfect and we can't. . . kind of feel that it is here, and there is nothing we can do about it,'' senior Kevin Smith, 17, said.
His classmate David Greer, 17, agrees that problems teens face are tough, but he thinks his generation can overcome them. He sees his generation as more cohesive than the Xers.
``I think that our generation is coming together as more as a total society. . . .The discrimination and prejudice seems to be going away,'' David said.
Some people don't see teens in such a positive light. The students find it hard to fight the negative images that the public sees on television.
``A lot of what you see on the news about our generation is that they are being killed or they are doing drugs and overdosing. For people who don't have children our age, they are getting this negative view of our generation which I think is not all that true,'' said Ami Rosenblatt, a 16-year-old junior.
Junior David Craft, 16, thinks adults are influenced by something other than television to create their image of the younger generation.
``I think that the older generations have thought that the younger generations have always been a little lazy or not having strong morals,'' he said. ``I think that it has always been that way. I kind of think as we get older, we are going to do that, too.''
No matter what the older generation thinks or what television says, Norman Aynbinder, a 17-year-old senior, has hope for his generation and the future. ``We are the 21st century,'' he said. ``We are not going to have the two big world wars. We have gone past that and we are going to a different level'' ILLUSTRATION: YOUR TURN
How will the generation following Generation X be defined?
To speak out, call INFOLINE at 640-5555 and enter category 7553.
Selected comments will appear in next Friday's Daily Break.
You must have a Touch Tone phone. Calls are toll-free except west
of Suffolk, on the Eastern Shore and in North Carolina. Comments
will be taken through noon Monday.
Do you have a topic you think would make a good Teenspeak? We
will now field suggestions on INFOLINE. Call 640-5555 and enter
category 7553.
I think that we are very open, diverse and ever-changing. We are
very adaptable. Ami Rosenblatt, 16, junior
I think that we are an open generation and we deserve a chance. I do
think we are one of the greatest generations to ever come along.
Kevin Smith, 17, senior
I think that we are the changed new society. We are the open, the
diverse and realistic society. Norman Aynbinder, 17, senior
I think it is a generation of exceptions to most of the rules.
Lauren Marchman, 17, senior
I think that we are the beginning of a new era. A lot of change is
getting ready to take place and we are going to be right in the
middle of it. David Greer, 17, senior
Every generation changes a little bit and since we are the last
generation to come along, we have changed the most. We are not as
conservative as others. David Craft, 16, junior
by CNB