I don't know about you guys, but I always hear from the older generation that our generation is lazy and up to no good. It seems like everywhere grandparents are remarking how sexually active and reckless teenagers are. There always seem to be drug scandals at high schools and even in junior highs and middle schools. Just earlier this year, the North Shore witnessed a sexting scandal that caused one girl to transfer schools. Things like this make our generation seem like it fits what older generations say about us.
Actually, our generation isn't the "worst". According to statistics our generation is the "best"! "Best" is kind of a weird word though... What makes a generation the "best"? Well, our teen birth rate is the lowest it has been in quite a while - just 29.4 births per 1,000 women ages 15-19 compared to 89.1 in the 1960s. High school seniors' use of illegal substances has also decreased - only about 40% of seniors drink alcohol compared to 72% in 1980 - and they are barely using cocaine at all. Although marijuana use has increased slightly within the next past 10 years, it is still much lower than it was in the 80s. So what are kids doing instead of drugs? Exercising. 29.7% of students meet federal exercise guidelines compared to just 18.9% in 1998.
So the next time anybody tells you that teenagers nowadays are all corrupted druggies, you can prove them wrong and tell them that their generation was actually worse behaved than ours.
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