For every expert there are several definitions of what exactly has gone wrong with America's youth. And for every one of this generation's collective failures there are even more theories explaining just how and when it all went wrong. The Church would have it all blamed on Godlessness, the liberals on conservatism, the Republicans on welfare, and Allen Bloom (author, The Closing of the American Mind) diagnosed the problem as nothing more complex than the pitiful fact that we're all stupid.

The violence and crime corrupting inner cities is our most urgent crisis, and the one least likely to work itself out as another expression of typical teenage rebellion. A psychologist on a recent episode of the Oprah Winfrey show traced the problem to teenagers' lack of self-worth and self-respect. Because they do not value their own lives, they also do not value the lives of others.

On the contrary, I think American teenagers value themselves very much. The all-out explosion of gang warfare and violent crimes cannot be so easily attributed to a little damaged self-esteem. If American teenagers didn't have any self confidence, if they didn't feel that they deserved something more, then this problem would hardly exist.

American teenagers know what they want. They want exactly what every other generation in this country has felt that it deserved and then strived for and achieved. But the America of the 50s is gone and this is the first generation to really feel that era's quality of life slip through our fingers.

This country is founded on the promise that hard work pays off; that a college degree earns a well-paying job which in turn yields security and a comfortable standard of living. So what do you tell people who have followed the rules, adhered to the formula, and yet still define themselves as struggling members of the "have nots"?

Everybody knows that a degree in English earns a job waiting tables (with bussing experience, of course) and that being born a black male in some parts of Los Angeles doesn't necessarily guarantee that you'll live to see adulthood. America's youth, raised on the promises of wealth and success, are looking around and seeing all the good jobs occupied, all the big scholarships taken, and a job market tight as a drum, which no longer welcomes aspiring self-made men.

This is where the fatal piece is put into place. Americans today feel like they're getting screwed. Once a person can convince himself that he is the circumstantial underdog, the justification for any self-preserving actions is simple. If you're getting screwed out of what you believe is rightfully yours, then it becomes morally acceptable to do a little of the screwing yourself.

Americans, especially the younger generations, no longer feel respect or gratitude toward this country. They are constantly discovering that their tax dollars are misspent, their politicians are corrupt, their schools don't educate and their hospitals don't cure. So who blames them for losing faith in the system? Why follow the formula when selling drugs or stealing from others ensures a lifestyle that the honest path only gambles at? It stands to reason that when the system doesn't work for you, you don't work for the system. Teenagers today are only tapping their most American of values by discarding what doesn't work for them and seeking out what does.

_ is a weekly column where a Wildcat reporter sounds off some personal opinion, literary or otherwise. Read Next Article