As a person in the entertainment business I’ve been asked to write about what’s on my mind, so here’s a couple of things that I ponder. First of all, I’ve taken to substitute teaching on the days I have free. I live in a predominately white, middle to upper class community. After several months of this I’ve decided I don’t want anything to do with these high school teenagers. I’m a Harvard graduate and am reasonably accomplished in my profession. In short I’ve accumulated some wisdom, experience and am deserving of basic respect. What I’ve encountered is the opposite. “Dude”, “Bro”, “What’s up?” This is how I’m addressed. I explain that I am not a dude, I’m not their brother, I’m not even their friend. I’m their teacher. I’m not looking for their approval, I already have enough friends, and I’ve done the work that qualifies me to be a teacher so kindly respect that. I am, of course, met with sullen looks and “Whatever”. Let me state that there are good kids in these classes too, however they keep quiet and do their work. What strikes me is the number of disrespectful ones in each class. Obviously, parents and other adults in their lives are not teaching these unformed humans values they are going to need once they hit the workplace and find that “Dude” and “Whatever” are only acceptable if you are working in a meth lab or car wash. Clearly some movies and tv are culpable by presenting thuggish behavior as cool but, let’s face it, it’s the adults in their lives who are allowing this generation to behave like this.
