Letter: All is not lost with today’s youth
“Our youth … have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders … and tyrannize their teachers.” (Socrates, 469-399 BC)
Ever since Socrates wrote these words, and probably even before, people of a certain age have been bewailing and lamenting the imminent demise of society because of the decadent youth of their time.
For the past six weeks, I have had the pleasure of presenting Junior Achievement materials concerning career choices to Mrs. Rose’s eighth-grade history class at Stevens Middle School in Pasco. I am happy to report that all is not lost, and our country will be in good hands to the extent that there are more kids just like them.
I found them to be courteous, more mature than I had any reason to hope for, and they generally paid attention to my presentations. When they broke into small groups, their discussions were generally on topic. Were they perfect? Maybe not, but hey, c’mon, they’re eighth-graders.
As icing on the cake, they even gave me a huge “thank you” card that was loaded with individually written notes. In my opinion, it’s too bad that we don’t hear about kids like these more often.
Richard J. Traub, Richland
This story was originally published April 10, 2016 at 12:23 AM with the headline "Letter: All is not lost with today’s youth."