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Fifty years ago, my grandmother, then in her 70s, warned me against developing golden-age syndrome, especially the belief that today’s younger generation are going to hell and high water. Given the current debate about today’s youth (“ ‘Protect the unprotected’: Motorcyclist’s death prompts friend’s call for youth crime reform ”, 12/8), her warning still strongly resonates. As well as careers as a teacher, youth worker (in juvenile justice) and lawyer, I have a PhD in history – an obsession since primary school.
Today’s debate is not new. You see it in contemporary sources throughout the ages. The earliest I have seen was by a 3000BCE Egyptian scribe, who lamented that youths have no respect for their teachers, their elders, or authority in general, and who idle their days away lounging around the marketplace looking for trouble.
(Sound familiar?) Today’s older generation might do well to read some of the comments made about them as they were growing up in the ’60s. Yes, there are, and always have been, problem youth – some presenting very serious problems. But here’s a newspaper headline you will never read: Last week, 4 million Australian kids went to school, committed no crimes, and didn’t abuse or threaten an.