The state of Adolescents today

Historically, one can judge a civilization is by theway they choose to entertain themselves; it is a direct reflection of a moraland ethical code.
Gone are the days where adolescents were captivated bythe works of poets and writers and philosophers, but today they are replaced byobserving the lives of desperate housewives or following the episodes of thewalking dead, or listening to strange music or to football matches which has noeducational qualities.
The concept of a leader, of a role model, of anexample has dramatically changed, gone are the days where adolescents wereinfluenced by great military leaders and scientists and teachers, but today theleader became a singer, he became a football player, he became an actor, hebecame a dancer.
As a result, the adolescents start to dress like them,they talk like them, they move like them and they even make haircuts like them.
Adolescents today are the victims of globalization, ina sea of false idols and false leaders, they follow their masters like a blindsheep giving no importance to knowledge, giving no importance to values, givingno importance to their own civilization.
As a matter of a fact, it is very difficult to findsomeone who is interested to study about his culture, his origins, his legacy.Adolescents today have lost their identity, they mock their language, theyprefer to speak with another language, they change their names to Europeannames, they mock their history and they became the slaves of othercivilizations.
This made adolescents live a crisis of identity.
The dreams of Adolescents today are based only onmaterial goals and not on being a useful member of society.
Finally, i invite you to study more about our own civilizationand our own culture in order for us to keep our identity safe and to be proudof who we are in order for us to challenge the other civilizations.

toddlers become children become teenagers

who brings them up
parents

unfortunately today even parents need educating properly
in fact parents should be role models
but they cant if they are pathetic themselves

Greetings and peace be with you AhmedGassama;

Go back in history a shade.......

"We live in a decaying age. Young people no longer respect
their parents. They are rude and impatient. They frequently
inhabit taverns and have no self control."
Inscription, 6000 year-old Egyptian tomb1


“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.”

― Socrates 399BC



When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly disrespectful and impatient of restraint".
Hesiod, 8th century BC


"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?"
Plato, 4th Century BC


"The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint... As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress."
Attributed to Peter the Hermit, AD 12743


In the 1800s, hordes of teens and pre-teens ran wild in American city streets, dodging authorities, "gnawing away at the foundations of society", as a commentator put it. In 1850, New York City recorded more than 200 gang wars fought largely by adolescent boys.5


"New" menace to society

In 1898, newspapers in England warned of the menace of "hooligans" and of a "dramatic increase in disorderly behaviour". The Times reported "organised terrorism in the streets".2 In every decade of the 20th century there were similar media panics.


In the spirit of never giving up hope.

Eric

AHMED PATEL said:

toddlers become children become teenagers

who brings them up
parents

unfortunately today even parents need educating properly
in fact parents should be role models
but they cant if they are pathetic themselves

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We could blame the parents …..

Personally, I blame the 'times'. The parents can only cope with the demands and they like everybody else are limited human beings. When I was growing up in Malaysia, teachers were allowed to punish students by caning, it is no longer the case these days… the act of disciplining becomes harder.. a recent case in Sweden (if I am not mistaken) where children can file reports against parents, a Malaysian family had their children put in welfare homes and separated from the parents because the parents were religion oriented and the kids wanted their freedom of choice.

There is only so much parents can do, but when the kids 'see' how others live, they often feel left out and would rebel against their parents.

Besides, I have 2 kids and despite my best efforts, the same input to both does not necessarily bring out the same outcome. Everyone is different. . .


eace:

This is actually so true, subhanAllah.

It's ironic, actually. In a day and age where 'individualism' and 'be yourself' is so encouraged and admired, be whatever gender you feel is right for you, go into whatever career path you do, do whatever you feel like it when you feel like it and not care what anyone says, where to be outrageous and different is 'in'. You think it would have produced a generation of intensely confident young people with a strong self concept.

And it's the complete opposite. So many are completely and utterly lost, and have no idea who they are or what they want.

In a time which prizes itself on liberation and freedom of thought, everyone is just so oppressed and narrow-minded.

Sometimes I feel like I'm influenced by these things, like most adolescents....sometimes I seriously look back and just realise how half the things I do are not for myself, or how I would do something, but how I think the world would want me to do something. It's a very real pressure - let's face it, in a consumerist culture of Hollywood and pop-songs, image is life. If you're not projecting the right 'image' no matter how messed up the person behind the image might be, then you're not 'successful'.

Bless you Ahmed. You are truly learned. It's a pitty more young men are not so mindful of how society changes what we consider acceptable. I hope you discuss this with your brethren in your daily lives (and in your mosques) for this is where man has overlooked and to some degree religion as a whole.

If I may loosely paraphrase a great American author- we as adults look at these adolescents with dismay. What is wrong with them, are they really going to inherit this world that we live in, what's to become of us? And the answer is the same as it's always been- those adolescents will grow up to be adults, they'll become parents, and they'll have their turn watching adolescents in dismay and wondering how they can be so ignorant and hopeless.

Mark Twain is the man I'm paraphrasing (his pen name at any rate, the actual name is Samuel Clemens). I don't know the exact date on what I'm paraphrasing, but it was definitely more than a century ago.

To your specific points though- the most popular mass entertainment is typically crafted at a fourth grade level, and there is tremendous value in what you're pointing out. I simply think that this level of hopelessness in the generation that follows is a bit much. There is value in having high expectations and in pushing people to meet them, so let's not just sit back and say I'm fine with whatever you do, even if it's awful. Of course we all want excellence, and we don't want people to be lazy and stupid. But when people are pressured in a positive way to do good and valuable things, it generally kind of works. At least a little bit. It's the blanket sense of hopelessness that I hope to push back on somewhat.

I think you have a naively and nostalgically distorted view of what adolescents of past generations used to entertain themselves with.

Eric H said:

Greetings and peace be with you AhmedGassama;

Go back in history a shade.......

“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.”

― Socrates 399BC

Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your clarification about this subject.

However i also meant by saying "one are the days where adolescents were influenced by great military leaders and scientists and teachers"
is that there were a lot of adolescents in the period of the Muslim history where we found a lot of heroes and scholars and scientists who made great impacts and a huge change not only in society but also in the world.

I also want to inform you that this is was one of my présentations in the university, i did this presentation to show the state of the adolescents in our modern day life to my peers and my teacher.

And as you know, i'm a very enthusiastic kind of guy, i spoke with all of my heart and with the deepest feelings that i had. And as a result i only found the students laughing at making fun out of my presentation, they didn't accept what i was presenting.

"He has weird ideas and thoughts" this was one of their comments.

Youth today in Tunisia has nearly adopoted the whole life style of the west (especially those who are specialized in the western civilization studies) and they will find it very Strange if you critisize them or even stating the facts as they are.
I can also say that i was astonished that they don't know Nothing about their own civilization or even religion.

And this is one of the reasons why they won't accept any criticism, they already found the life style of the west very confortable.

I also want to inform you that this is was one of my présentations in the university, i did this presentation to show the state of the adolescents in our modern day life to my peers and my teacher.

And as you know, i'm a very enthusiastic kind of guy, i spoke with all of my heart and with the deepest feelings that i had. And as a result i only found the students laughing at making fun out of my presentation, they didn't accept what i was presenting.

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Did you talk to any of them about the way they felt about it, did you get some of their reasoning, was there any specific part of what you said that stuck out to them? Perhaps it wasn't a rejection in its entirety, maybe there were certain things that got a lot of criticism. I mean, I really don't know, maybe it's broader and maybe it was just the whole thing for them. But it's possible that there were some points of agreement and resonance, along with some jarring points of disagreement that were more memorable for your audience and led to a more notable reaction.

"He has weird ideas and thoughts" this was one of their comments.

Click to expand...

Weird isn't the worst thing, it basically means the ideas (some ideas?) were unfamiliar to them and seemed out of place in their experience. There's much worse things that can be said about ideas and thoughts. Were you able to get anything more specific than that? Maybe there's just certain things that could be explained in a different way, for this type of audience. Or maybe it was more of a thesis-statement-followed-by-everything type of deal. That would be quite a different situation.

Youth today in Tunisia has nearly adopoted the whole life style of the west (especially those who are specialized in the western civilization studies) and they will find it very Strange if you critisize them or even stating the facts as they are.
I can also say that i was astonished that they don't know Nothing about their own civilization or even religion.

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Just a suggestion- if you go back to this type of situation in the future, perhaps you could start by acknowledging there are some differences in perspective between you and the audience, then make whatever concessions you're able to make where Western civilization is concerned, and then invite the audience to also consider some things about their own civilization and their own religion. Sure, you tell them, I can tell that you've been considering a lot that has to do with the West. And now here's some other things to consider that are a bit closer to home.

By the way, when it comes to people from Tunisia specifically, what are some of the big things they would want to know about their own civilization and religion? Tunisia is kind of a small country, I'm not from there (also not Muslim), I know barely anything about it specifically. How much of this knowledge would be exactly specific to Tunisia, and how much of that knowledge would take you to a different part of North Africa and/or into the Middle East? Were there any specific things that you tried to talk about, and nobody seemed to know what was going on?



Does any of that seem workable to you? Do any of these questions and suggestions seem weird to you? (Hopefully nothing worse than that).

When people laugh at you, you know you are doing something right. Let them laugh and criticize. Take their advice, look away from their insults.

Welcome their criticism. A youngster aware of his purpose in life (i.e. to Worship Allah Alone, and to not live in vain) compared to someone who only seeks the current life... They are not equal.


Allahu alam.

Eric H said:

Greetings and peace be with you AhmedGassama;

Go back in history a shade.......

"We live in a decaying age. Young people no longer respect
their parents. They are rude and impatient. They frequently
inhabit taverns and have no self control."
Inscription, 6000 year-old Egyptian tomb1


“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.”

― Socrates 399BC


When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly disrespectful and impatient of restraint".
Hesiod, 8th century BC


"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?"
Plato, 4th Century BC


"The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint... As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress."
Attributed to Peter the Hermit, AD 12743


In the 1800s, hordes of teens and pre-teens ran wild in American city streets, dodging authorities, "gnawing away at the foundations of society", as a commentator put it. In 1850, New York City recorded more than 200 gang wars fought largely by adolescent boys.5


"New" menace to society

In 1898, newspapers in England warned of the menace of "hooligans" and of a "dramatic increase in disorderly behaviour". The Times reported "organised terrorism in the streets".2 In every decade of the 20th century there were similar media panics.


In the spirit of never giving up hope.

Eric

Click to expand...

This post is misleading to those who don't know history. Cultures rise and fall. When the youth are obviously inferior, this just means that one is living in a falling culture which is the case today. It was also the case in Athens at the time of Socrates and Plato, and in fact Athens fell to Sparta soon after and never recovered. The comment by Hesiod and in 1800s America are the same, complaining not about decaying morals but rather disrespect for authority. This disrespect is often justified and is a sign of a rising culture. Peter the Hermit lived in the European dark ages when almost any complaint was justified.

Cultures have risen and fallen throughout history, but what is new is that modern culture has global influence. And modern culture is clearly falling and will take down any culture that is too weak to resist it. I hope that Islam and other religions find a way to resist the evil influence of modern culture.

its hard to believe that the world was any different than it is.

if i were to think that manners, etiquette, truthfulness, selflessness..and showing of respect were steps towards and sort of godly pleasure..

those thoughts have been easily dispelled.

i have been shown otherwise by young and old alike.

...as my old man says, what happens when your there?

most the time it just feels like your a step to be climbed.


and so i say, by the one in whos hands my life/soul is in.

he raises and lowers as he wills.

the value of manners, etiquette, truthfulness and respect is for him to determine.

...i am unfortunately set in my ways..

..as we all are.

ya'ceen.