| Young people in the early 1980s are
taking on a set of attitudes and values remarkably different from those of the
stormy' 60s and '70s. Instead of anti-establishment outbursts, today's younger
generation had turned more thoughtful and more serious. There is heightened
concern for the future of the country and a yearning for the traditions and
support systems that gave comfort in the past. Many young men and Women of
high-school and college age are having second thoughts about the "new morality"
and condemn what a soaring divorce rate has done to families. They speak openly
of gaining strength from religion. Patriotism, too, seems to be making a modest
comeback. One change in the early 1980s is a questioning of the permissive moral climate of recent years. More young people, while hesitant to preach or to condemn their peers, cite the destructive effects of the drugs and alocohol that are so widely available in the schools. It is peer pressure that pushes teenagers into drugs, but now the habit often is dropped after high school, according to Debbie Bishop, a 22-year-old secretary. James Elrod, a college junior in Kentucky, also reports that use of marijuana on campus has lessened. A Cornell University law student reflects the views of many with the comment: "I think that drug abuse is harmful to your own health and those around you." But he adds: "Drinking is fine only as long as it's not done to excess." With the added pressures of a more uncertain world, most young people stress the importance of a healthy family life. Yet, as they look at the family's breakup that has taken place in the past decade, they concede that the challenge for many is to make the best of one-parent families. "The American family is evolving and changing, "according to Nina Mule, "Women are going out into the world and having careers. They're becoming more independent instead of being the burden of the family." "But a great need remains for a family structure, "says Nina, who still lives with her parents, "because people have to be able to survive emotionally." In Atlanta, 18-year-old Liss Jciner feels strongly about what's happened to the family." People have realized that the family has disintegrated, "she says, "But today's family—particularly the black family—is trying to pull itself together and become the strong unit as it once was. "A similar view is expressed by a senior at Brigham Young University: "A happy family means everything to me. I read a lot about how the American family is falling a part. But I see losts of strong families around me, and that makes me very optimistic." |