What is going on with todays youth???

[ozarkmom]

Here on our local news last night they said two 15 yr. old boys are facing charges because while one was having sex with a 13 yr. old girl the other was video recording it from his phone. The boys now possess child pornography.

 

[INDISMOM]

Our school has a three strike policy. The first time your phone is taken and given back at the end of the day. The second time, the parent must come in, and the third time it is taken until the end of the year. The parents and students sign the policy, stating that they understand and will abide by it.

We see more parents pleading for their kids phones back than we see parents in questioning us about their grades. Then, more often then not, the parents just get them another phone. Can't say where we're headed but it's not good. Kids text in their pockets, in the lavs, in their purses, in their baggy pants, and it's epidemic. Parents text their kids at school, even knowing they aren't supposed to.

Our local high schools also have the 3 strike policy, and one father decided to sue the school because it was his daughter's 3rd strike and the phone was taken for the rest of the year.

The local news interviewed the father and his daughter. His daughter was asked if she got the phone back would she bring it to school again and she said yes. The interviewer then asked if she would be using during class again and she said, "Probably, I like to text my friends."

That must be one proud father!

 

[Pixiedust34]

For starters, your avg. kid doesn't need a phone that can handle photos.

I agree. I don't even have a camera phone! I don't need a camera phone.

A lot of parents say they buy their young kids phones for safety reasons in case they have to call home in an emergency. If that's the main reason why a kid *needs* to have a phone, then a camera phone isn't a requirement. If there's no camera, then there are no worries about taking or getting inappropriate photos sent to a child via phone.

When our kids get phones, they are getting the least expensive tracphone I can buy. That's all they need to call us if they need a ride or whatever.

IMHO it's not today's youth, it's todays parents and their lack of parenting.

My kids are 11 and 9. I guess I just don't get why kids need cellphones of their own. I realize pay phones aren't available but I guess I just don't get it. My oldest keeps asking me for a phone. He's at school all day (office phone) and whne he's not with me, he's with a friends parent (they have phones). When he does seem to be in a situation where he might need one, i have a simple prepaid for him to use. At home, they can use mine or the landline.

I just think we keep giving our kids stuff that they just aren't ready to be responsible enough to handle them.. I realize its just my opinion, but I honestly (no slam intended to anyone) why they need a phone all the time with them.

We used to say that we would wait until for our kids to be of driving age for them to get a phone, but now we've changed our mind and they might get one sooner. Next year ds will be dropped off at a couple of events by himself with some friends and we want him to have to have a phone to reach us. It's not something he needs to have all of the time, but it's something he'll use once in a while on an as-needed basis if he wants us to pick him up early or has a problem.

I agree that a lot of parents give their kids stuff that they are not yet mature enough to appropriately use. These camera phones are a prime example. I was reading a thread (can't remember if it was on the Dis or another board) about a girl who was in a bathroom stall at a movie theatre. She overheard some other girls plotting to use their camera phone to reach under the stall and take her photo. Those girls are not mature enough to have a camera phone. What they were plotting to do is sick.

 

[INDISMOM]

Cell phones are not allowed in my son's middle school. I don't see any uproars from parents. The kids are allowed to have the cells phones, but not in class. I see them talking on them after school hours. DS tells me they are not allowed during school hours.

How hard is it to enforce this? Teachers have been enforcing gum chewing for 100 years. Why can't they control cell phone use?

Because the kids can't hide the fact that they are chewing gum as well as they can hide a cell phone.

I have a friend who is a teacher. She has had students with a hoodie on, the cell phone in their pocket, and texting with one hand. She said it is very hard to see them doing this, especially because it is under the desk.

It also isn't just up to the teacher -- it is up to the parents to make sure their children understand the rules and then support the school when punishment is dished out.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Because the kids can't hide the fact that they are chewing gum as well as they can hide a cell phone.

I have a friend that is a teacher. She has had students with a hoodie on, the cell phone in their pocket, and texting with one hand. She said it is very hard to see them doing this, especially because it is under the desk.

It also isn't just up to the teacher -- it is up to the parents to make sure their children understand the rules and then support the school when punishment is dished out.

Oh, I agree. I'm just saying, my son has a book in his hands 24/7. he has a hard time coming out of the book. He will read during lesson time. The teachers take the book away. Are you saying kids can text without even looking at the phone??? Wow.

 

[INDISMOM]

Oh, I agree. I'm just saying, my son has a book in his hands 24/7. he has a hard time coming out of the book. He will read during lesson time. The teachers take the book away. Are you saying kids can text without even looking at the phone??? Wow.

According to my friend, some of them can. I think it's crazy!

 

[scrapquitler]

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/mul...teen_s_photo_sent_to_students_cell_phones.htm

What would ever posses you to do this? Do parents not know that they can see when their children are texting simply by checking the phone bill? I would be outraged if I saw text after text during the school day.

You can't necessarily see WHEN your child is texting by looking at the phone bill, it depends on the service provider. We have Verizon and our bill just shows the number of minutes for calls, the number of texts and the number of picture/video texts, it doesn't include the details of the calls/texts/pictures. When we had Sprint, it DID show a detail of every call made (time, date, number called). SO no, you can't always tell by looking at the bill.

 

[momof1princess]

things like this are becoming so prevalent around the country, the kids even have a name for it..."sexting". they send suggestive/naked photos of themselves to other teens and think nothing of it. the pp's are right-it stems from a lack of parenting (at least, IMHO).

my 11 yo DD hinted to me last month that she wanted a cell phone (which she has no need for). i let her know that when she NEEDED one, she'd have one. i'm not going to get her one just because her BFF got one for Christmas. she also says that girls in her class (10-11 year old 5th graders) are wearing makeup and sometimes she gets made fun of for not wearing it. i'm not talking a little lip gloss or eyeshadow here, she says they wear FULL makeup, including foundation & mascara. now why the heck does a 10 year old need to wear full makeup to school? what are their parents thinking? or are they thinking at ALL?

 

[luvsJack]

This is not a whole lot different than the pictures the guys would pass around in the locker room. The girl or girls were stupid to let it be taken then and they are stupid to do it now. But, that doesn't mean "today's youth" is suddenly any worse than any other generation. I do think girls are more "allowing" of this kind of thing. It used to be only one or two in a school now its large groups of girls that will do this kind of stuff.

To be completely fair to the parents; my dd has texting on her phone (no pictures) and it is unlimited so, no, I do not know when and who she texts. But, I know where the cell is each morning when we leave for school/work. I do not allow the phone to go to school with her. Ever. Our school would not allow her to keep it anyway. They would take it up and I would have to go to the office to get it. Same at the highschool, only it cannot be picked up until the end of the 9weeks.

Hiding behind a hoodie is not allowed in our school's either. Our principal is very strict about no hoods on inside the building and it better be darn cold if they have one on outside. He will not allow anything that a student can hide behind or hide some thing behind. And I am glad he is that way.

I do think the parents need to be more aware of what thier kids are doing and more supportive of the schools. The parents carry 98% of the blame here. BUT, I think that last 2% can be placed with the school. Teachers need to walk around their classrooms and observe what their students are doing. They should not be sitting at their desks or just standing at the board. If they are walking around and one kid jumps every time he/she comes near; something is going on. At breaks/recess they should be walking around amongst the students, not standing and talking to other teachers.

 

[Disney Doll]

See bolded

This is not a whole lot different than the pictures the guys would pass around in the locker room. The girl or girls were stupid to let it be taken then and they are stupid to do it now. I agree But, that doesn't mean "today's youth" is suddenly any worse than any other generation. I do think girls are more "allowing" of this kind of thing. It used to be only one or two in a school now its large groups of girls that will do this kind of stuff. Well, then doesn't that make it worse?
To be completely fair to the parents; my dd has texting on her phone (no pictures) and it is unlimited so, no, I do not know when and who she texts. But, I know where the cell is each morning when we leave for school/work. I do not allow the phone to go to school with her. Ever. Our school would not allow her to keep it anyway. They would take it up and I would have to go to the office to get it. Same at the highschool, only it cannot be picked up until the end of the 9weeks. And isn't a shame that schools have to have these kinds of rules?
Hiding behind a hoodie is not allowed in our school's either. Our principal is very strict about no hoods on inside the building and it better be darn cold if they have one on outside. He will not allow anything that a student can hide behind or hide some thing behind. And I am glad he is that way. I am glad he is that way too, but isn't it a shame that he has to be? And, there again, is what leads me to believe that things are "worse". When I was a teenager, hoodies didn't mean anything other than you had a sweatshirt with a cute. It was a fashion statement, nothing else. No one had to have "rules" for hoodies because no one really thought of doing anything with a hoodie other than wearing it to keep warm.I do think the parents need to be more aware of what thier kids are doing and more supportive of the schools. The parents carry 98% of the blame here. I agree BUT, I think that last 2% can be placed with the school. Teachers need to walk around their classrooms and observe what their students are doing. They should not be sitting at their desks or just standing at the board. If they are walking around and one kid jumps every time he/she comes near; something is going on. At breaks/recess they should be walking around amongst the students, not standing and talking to other teachers.

I don't think it is a teacher's responsibilty to raise every child in his/her class. It is their job to keep them safe and teach them while they are at school. When a teacher has to spend an inordinate amount of time playing policeman, there's a problem.

 

[hdnmickey]

Same poop, different day (and technology).

If anything, the new technology has made it less intrusive. Back in the day people had to physically pass notes and pictures, and then you had to find a way to hide them rather than just hit delete or turn it off.

 

[JoiseyMom]

I think alot of it has to do the the parents. DD12 got a cell phone last year. I wasn't crazy about the idea..but DH was like...she is home for a short time alone. Ummm....and he said that his father was going to get her one if we hadn't. Excuse me??

Well she has the phone, and she is good with it...she doesn't text insanely or use it insanely. We watch it the same way we do her computer usage. She isn't on myspace or facebook. We monitor her email and her internet access. Her computer is NOT in her bedroom.

She and I also have open communication about everything. This is gonna sound dumb..but she will watch Dr. Phil with me at times. i dont' watch it everyday..but will watch the "sexting" episodes and we talk about them. She will watch with me and say how stupid these kids are. And why would someone do something that dumb. We watch and talk about the shows with the girls that dress inappropriately and the ones where the tweens are having sex. So we discuss all these topics. It's not just "don't do that cause I said so!!".

Parents have to be parents and watch over their kids. If we don't do it who will??

 

[luvsJack]

See boldedI don't think it is a teacher's responsibilty to raise every child in his/her class. It is their job to keep them safe and teach them while they are at school. When a teacher has to spend an inordinate amount of time playing policeman, there's a problem.

Walking around her/his classroom is not playing policman and it is keeping the students safe.

When ds was in 6th grade (he is 27 now) another student brought a gun to school. Because the teacher never got away from the front of her room she did not see him showing the gun to the rest of the class. The principal discovered it at the end of the day, just before the boy got on the bus (which is where he was having bully problems). You can bet your bottom dollar that the teachers spent the rest of that school year walking around their classrooms while they taught.

I have observed several teachers in their classrooms and the best ones always walk around their classrooms One reason is to be able to cotinually bring the students attention back to the lesson. Parents cannot be at the school with their children. A teacher cannot sit at her desk rattling off the day's lesson and then blame the parents because little suzy is in the back not doing what she is supposed to; at that point it is the teacher's responsiblity to see what little suzy is doing and stop it. Same goes in double for at recess/break. Sorry, it is just part of the job.

The parts you bolded: Today's youth are not necessarily worse. They have more available to them. So instead of a photograph, something like this is spread by e-mail and text to a much wider audience. I will say that for some reason girls do seem to have less morals than in the past--so in that respect, yes, they are worse.

There may have not been rules about hoodies but even back when I was in school there were rules about certain types of clothing and it was for safety reasons. Hoodies are just the item for now. When my sons were in school, it was anything that could be taken as a gang symbol (and that seemed to be mostly up to the opinion of the principal)

Schools have always had to have rules about the latest fad. When my sons were in school it was beepers that a rule had to be made about now its the cell phone. The rules will always change as the technology and fads change; not worse just different.

 

[Pixiedust34]

Same poop, different day (and technology).

If anything, the new technology has made it less intrusive. Back in the day people had to physically pass notes and pictures, and then you had to find a way to hide them rather than just hit delete or turn it off.

You're right in that it's the same type of thing (passing child porn by hand) that used to happen, but now those pictures travel a lot faster than they used to travel and they can reach a great amount of people. I think that the phone pictures escalate the problem because just one photo can reach a whole lot of kids in a matter of minutes by using cell phones to pass the photo(s).

If someone posts one of those phone pictures on My Space, think of how many people that would reach within minutes.

 

[Disney Doll]

I guess I am going to have to agree to disagree with you luvsjack, because kids didn't bring guns to school when I was a kid. So the teacher had no need to walk around the classroom to see what kids were doing. The worst thing we were doing was throwing spitballs and passing notes. We weren't pulling guns and passing around child porn. Any porn that was being looked at was Playboy and it was in the boys bathroom or under their covers at home, alone at night. Not on a video for 6 million of their closest friends and relatives to see.

I do think it's worse now. And I did go to public school for a number of years in a fairly good-sized city...one with enough "city" type issues to make people say "You lived there?!" when I say where I grew up. My father was a cop in the city and "back in the day" you had to live in the city.

 

[Charade]

Most of "today's youth" are not sending explicit naked photos.

Just because the news glamorizes the idiots to get a story does not make "something going on".

Technology is just another tool in today's century. You are going to have kids that do stupid things. That never changes.

Of course they're not but too many are. This is not just "another isolated incident". It's "the sign of the times" because we've lowered the moral standards by which we live. We're reaping what we've sowed.

 

[luvsJack]

I guess I am going to have to agree to disagree with you luvsjack, because kids didn't bring guns to school when I was a kid. So the teacher had no need to walk around the classroom to see what kids were doing. The worst thing we were doing was throwing spitballs and passing notes. We weren't pulling guns and passing around child porn. Any porn that was being looked at was Playboy and it was in the boys bathroom or under their covers at home, alone at night. Not on a video for 6 million of their closest friends and relatives to see.

I do think it's worse now. And I did go to public school for a number of years in a fairly good-sized city...one with enough "city" type issues to make people say "You lived there?!" when I say where I grew up. My father was a cop in the city and "back in the day" you had to live in the city.

You don't think that if the teacher had been walking around the classroom she could have but a stop to passing notes and spitballs? The fact that she should be up and observing what her students are doing is not something that has changed.

I don't know when you went to school, but I attended a very small country high school and we had a lot more going on than note passing and spit balls. We had bullies and fights and people being threatened and drug use and alcohol use (I graduated in 1981). We didn't bring guns to school; but then unless they were hunting guns most of my classmate's households didn't have guns in them--again more is available to them now. A lot of the rules I see put in place now, I can say "yep, we did that and I am glad they are stricter now."

 

[onelilspark]

I was in HS when the whole texting and cell phone craze really began. My parents were fairly strict I suppose. I was def one of the later kids to get a phone, but I didn't have a big problem with it. The rule was that I would get one when I started driving. OK by me. And I didn't have texting on my plan, anything that my friends texted me or I texted them I had to pay for, so I let everyone know not to text me. It really wasn't a big deal.

I don't understand the need for any kid to have a phone prior to driving. Unless there are absolutely no pay phones at the school in case they miss the bus or are there for after school activities and need to let you know when they're done.

Geez, I'll be 24 in a little over a week. At the rate things seem to by going, by the time I have children, I should just hand them a phone as soon as their born. I mean, I might need to get in touch with them when they're in the nursery at the hospital and I'm in the hospital room!!

 

[hdnmickey]

People are really going try and paint this as something new, and a sign or lower moral standards? What a load...

Porn as existed for every age since the invention of the means to distribute the porn.

Sex between people of all ages has been going on as long as there have been people of all ages.

Guns have been in schools for as long as there have been guns and schools.

If you didn't see these things happening, you must not have been looking or were trying not to see it.

IMO, trying and paint this as something "new" is simply either people trying to masquerade prudish feelings or some kind of bias. It also, IMO, continues to be one of those signs somebody has officially become too old.

 

[Charade]

People are really going try and paint this as something new, and a sign or lower moral standards? What a load...

Porn as existed for every age since the invention of the means to distribute the porn.

Sex between people of all ages has been going on as long as there have been people of all ages.

Guns have been in schools for as long as there have been guns and schools.

If you didn't see these things happening, you must not have been looking or were trying not to see it.

IMO, trying and paint this as something "new" is simply either people trying to masquerade prudish feelings or some kind of bias. It also, IMO, continues to be one of those signs somebody has officially become too old.

How old are you?

Yutes are MUCH more sexualized today than ever before.

So, you think it's morally OK for 14 year olds to take nude photos of themselves and pass them around? Really? If you don't, then you're a prude too.