As a psychologist working primarily with kids and their families and consulting in school systems in 2000, I have access to a lot more information about today's youth than do most people. I've seen hundreds of them at their best and worst on an intimate, firsthand basis. In my fifteen years of doing this work, I've witnessed a clear trend. Wanna know which direction things are really going?
Occasional local news stories about some child's heroism notwithstanding, things are definitely getting worse. This isn't the ranting of an old fart who can't abide loud music or weird hair. It has nothing to do with teenage fads and fashions, routinely denounced by the previous generation. I'm talking about the increasing number of kids who cannot relate to others in constructive, cooperative ways. This swelling percentage of the population has little or no conscience. The few competencies they possess primarily serve criminal pursuits. They are simultaneously angry and fearful, grandiose and insecure, precocious and infantile- thoroughly unprepared to take responsibility at work or in their communities- and they remain resentfully dependent upon others without gratitude or reciprocity. What autonomy and independence they muster is defiant bravado, unrelated to self-discipline or focused effort toward realistic goals. Chemicals substitute for the soothing and enrichment ideally obtained from meaningful engagement with others. If they're not already, these kids ought to be your worst nightmare; they will, sooner or later, impact your life, either with their malevolence or ineptitude.
Of course, they've always been around. The difference between now and the past is their rapidly increasing numbers. As American family life has grown more fragmented and chaotic (high divorce rates, frequent relocations, and so on) and popular culture has become increasingly escapist, the vital connections between parents and kids have taken a severe beating.
Why We Ride Mark Barnes p154