If I had a dollar for every time I heard an adult mutter “stupid kid” (or other versions of the statement), I’d be rich. Being the perfect teen is very difficult when many adults already have a negative notion about kids whose age end in the word teen. It’s amazing how, in the matter of one year, someone can go from “cute kid” to “trouble making teen,” or so they’re seen to many.
In an Ann Landers article in the October 10, 2000 edition of the Democrat and Chronicle, a person signed “Midwestern Realist” wrote a letter stating, “Today’s American youths are the most stupid, impolite, self-centered people on the planet.” “Midwesterner” then went on to say “If we are ever in another war, it will have to be fought by men over 25. The 17-to 24-year-olds are spaced out on pot and heavier drugs and could never pass the physical.”
It simply amazes me how “Midwesterner” somehow managed to squeeze the entire teen population of America into a category of stupid and on drugs. Attitudes such as this have caused this awful view of teens.
In many ways, today’s teens are much more advanced than their parents and grandparents were at their age. Today’s teenagers must meet the ever changing standards in schools, including the raised bar on SAT’s, Regents, GPA’s, class ranks, and college entrance exams.
Yet how many times have you watched the news, heard something shocking, then listened while your parents went off on the, “I tell ya, these kids today” tangent that you’ve heard so many times before? If it occurs more times than you can count on all your fingers and toes, then you’re in good company.
Being a teen means many things, one of which is more responsibilities. For many teens, working at a job is one such responsibility, which ironically is where they face the most discrimination. Kim Krueter, a cashier, says, “Customers seem to think we’re idiots. One time a guy yelled at me because he forgot to put the labels on the bulk food bags. Cashiers must then look up codes by hand in a guide. With hundreds of codes, and pages of merchandise, this can sometimes be a hard task. “It was weird stuff, so it was taking me forever to find the codes, and he was getting mad... Then other customers must’ve figured I was some stupid kid because he messed up his check too, and the order took like 15 minutes.” What some adults see as “attitude” might be built up agitation.
As for the sour views of “Midwesterner,” he or she can rest assured that these views are wrong. Student members of organizations such as Rotary Interact and Key Club volunteer around the community. The Adopt-a-Sixth Grade and Peer Education programs take teens to elementary schools to teach the dangers and consequences of teen issues such as drugs and alcohol. In Peer Mediation, teens teens help other teens solve their problems in a non-violent manner.
So you see, teens are not self-centered, stupid, or impolite. When treated poorly, might we be? Yes, of course, but what adult can’t be the same way? Teens should take advantage of their strength, energy and fresh minds, while adults should give them the chance to do so. And just remember that soon today’s teens will become tomorrow’s adults.

Some may argue that in this day and age, we, as citizens of the United States of America, are the freest we have ever been.
However, some would argue the very opposite: our freedoms are constantly being restricted. The first area that comes to mind is censorship – particularly in music.
Censorship can be defined as “the removal or prohibition of anything obscene or objectionable.” But, the question remains, who has the right to deem what is objectionable for another person? It is a personal decision that everyone should be able to make for him or herself. Yet how is that even possible if a person can form that opinion based only on the limited selection of what is allowed to be presented to the public?
Contrary to what some people may think, the quest for justice in the music industry is not a new issue. This is something that many artists have been faced with countless times; some may choose to adhere, and some may choose to rebel. Is it really rebellion, asking to be granted rights that are legally given to all citizens by the Constitution, musicians or not?
Back as early as the 1950’s, artists varying from Dean Martin to Little Richard to Billie Holiday, people that have become part of America’s musical past, were put under the watchful eye of officials and often had their material altered because of the “suggestive” content of song lyrics.
A problem that is prevalent is ignorance. In 1985, an apartment complex owner and Mormon bishop Leo Weidner of Provo, Utah tried eliminating MTV from entering the tenants’ apartments. He dubbed videos to be “pornographic” and “harmful to tenants.” The concerned public later found that he had never actually seen a music video. This single event just goes to show how the ignorance of one person can take away the rights of many others.
The quest to shut down individual expression does not stop with citizens of the United States. In 1985 President Ronald Reagan made it known that “reactionary” and “obscene” rock music should not be given the right to have Constitutional protection, which is something all people are guaranteed. He stated, “I don’t believe that our Founding Fathers intended to create a nation where the rights of pornographers would take precedence over…parents, and the violent and malevolent would be given free reign to prey upon our children.”
It is very disheartening to know that one of the past leaders of our country is so against individual thought and freedom that he would go so far as to compare musicians to pornographers. He compared people who have enlightened the masses and forced people to really think to people who are dangerous and make life impossible for an unfortunate few. It is an unfair comparison that Reagan had no right to even speak of. Yes, he was the President, but how did he allow himself the right to say the violence and malevolence are what is being offered to the citizens of our country rather than raw talent and profound insight?
One final thought: Pick your battles. It is true that some things aren’t worth fighting for; but some are. Your Constitutionally bound right to freedom of speech and thought should be of some value. Musicians did not give themselves up to our discretion to have their actions censored and their thoughts edited.
Musicians were not afraid to put their thoughts down on paper; why should the public be afraid to experience them?

Censorship: fast facts
·1st Amendment: “Congress shall make no law…prohibiting…free exercise…or abridging the freedom of speech…”
·1963 – FBI starts collecting data on music legends like Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan
·1967 – Jim Morrison performs on Ed Sullivan, is asked to alter lyrics of song; he agrees, then sings the original on stage
·1971 – Lyrics of a Jethro Tull song are changed by Chrysalis Records with no consent from the band
·1980 – Youth Ministers Iowa start to burn records like the Beatles and Peter Frampton
·1983, 1989 – Youth Ministers try to get MTV banned from cable systems
·1989 – Rock Out Censorship – Organization born, aims to end censorship
Information from: Cornell Law School (http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution), and Rock Out Censorship Organization (http://www.theroc.org).