@Nrdsb4 I just met an antivaxx nurse today. I was shocked! And also very grateful that she was retired and would not be harming any more people.
Yeah, I didn’t know at the time that this was all that unusual.
Oh, I get adults in their 40s, 50s, 60s, doing this all the time. It’s not age related.
I know plenty of millenials who complain about Gen Z. I suppose in another 5 years Gen Z will begin to complain about Gen alpha.
Whenever I see this thread title come up, my brain starts up with the song from “Bye Bye Birdie” –
Kids! I don’t know what’s wrong with these kids today!
Kids! Who can understand anything they say?
Kids! They are disobedient, disrespectful oafs!
Noisy, crazy, sloppy, lazy, loafers!
While we’re on the subject:
Kids! You can talk and talk till your face is blue!
Kids! But they still just do what they want to do!
Why can’t they be like we were,
Perfect in every way?
What’s the matter with kids today?
Yea. Every generation complains about the generation before them. My response (besides yada yada yada) – who raised those kids, anyway ??
[quote=“Joblue, post:27, topic:2081142”]
With all due respect, the vehemence of your statement suggests that you may have influenced your kids in terms of your suggestion that classical literature is “boring” and “outdated”, kind of like my mom suggesting that girls tended to not be good at math did for me. Both attitudes are pretty unfortunate.
Joblue. With all due respect, I didn’t influence my kids at all. They are their own independant thinkers who have done pretty well for themselves. I certainly respect if your family loves the classics…Mine doesn’t.
@katliamom.
I am college educated. Are you suggesting that I am anti-intelluctual because I am merely suggesting that books that would invoke healthy debate and discussion of current events may be just as healthy and beneficial to high school kids than reading books written 75 or more years ago? I am not judging you in any way, yet I find massive judgement of anyone on cc who doesn’t abide to the same intelluctual mantra. Not directed at your personally. Just an observation.
I thought, maybe mistakenly, the current trend was moving away from a traditional western common canon to instead teach more contemporary fiction and non-fiction in high school and college. We have certainly had thought provoking discussions on this site about assigned readings. Remember “Fun Home”?
Folks do discuss Homer, Shakespeare, and other dead white men, at parties I attend, usually comparing them to contemporary writings or movies.
Who hasn’t been re-reading “Little Women” the last month or so? Or at least making the attempt?
My millennial kids read everything. They aren’t lacking. 
adding: Who has looked at Sanditon since the new PBS show began? Compared the screen play to Austen’s finished novels? Surely lots of folks, right?
Watching Sandition - haven’t looked at the text. Thoughts, @alh?
Of course, you know the text runs out before the first episode.
I’m finding it hysterical and loving it. Everyone else I know watching is disgusted.
Maybe we need to start a new thread? I didn’t intend to derail this one. Just thinking how we really can’t escape so-called classics in pop culture even if we want to.
For fun. https://historyhustle.com/2500-years-of-people-complaining-about-the-younger-generation/
Or, "The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.
Socrates
@lookingforward, I’m surprised it took 71 posts for someone to finally quote Socrates. That’s one of my favorites. 
I have to admit being amused reading this thread and working for the past 20 years in a statistically average public high school. I’ll admit my data point for schools is one, but…
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Just today while talking with kids in a Calc class, one said he thought Huckleberry Finn is a terrific book. Another said he never has read a book for pleasure. It led to an interesting short discussion (last 5 minutes as they were packing up) among students talking about books they’ve read and loved, many of them classics.
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Kids read classics and more modern top books for class. At our school The Old Man and the Sea and Night come to mind, but there are several others (both older and newer). Pending which student you talk to, there are different favorites and hated books. Same age student.
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Some kids check out books daily and others never check a thing out. My own tippy top lad read - for pleasure - both War and Peace and the unabridged version of Les Miserables (among oodles of other books). My non-reading lad only read what he had to. Both are super respected among peers and adults. Character matters - not how much they read. Ditto with other students at school. Whether a kid likes reading or not really doesn’t matter what they had to read in school.
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Politics - both sides - IS discussed at school. As is religion (esp religious history since it IS a good part of history). What isn’t taught is theology.
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Parents who complain quite honestly are those not wanting their kids to hear the “other” side. Sorry folks. This is a public school. Homeschool if you want to keep your kids in a bubble. Some do. (As did I for middle/high school varying based upon the lad, but my choice was due to educational level, not “sides.” Don’t lump all homeschoolers with those who want to shelter kids. That’s as bad as any other stereotyping.)
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My “room choice” for music when I play it in my classes (during tests or other solo work) is “80s Top Hits” from Accuradio. Many kids love it telling me how we had a ton of great music in our day. Several have added songs to their own playlists. Some may wish I would play something else, but they haven’t told me directly.
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My personal favorite hand made sign I saw in a dorm while visiting colleges came from the University of Rochester. It said, “We’re not nerds. We’re intellectual bada____!” It was no surprise that my tippy top lad enjoyed going there. One thing he loved about it is the students can be singing, dancing, juggling, or whatever (at clubs, for fun), and still discussing things like the classics.
Different strokes for different folks. It’s been that way for eons.
ps I seriously can’t imagine any gov’t class not teaching about current politics. Our teachers are eating this whole thing up. Kids have had debates in class, thoughts get discussed, the future gets pondered - you name it. Reasons get discussed and kids get to decide things for themselves.
Heck, they’re teenagers. You couldn’t tell them what to think if you tried. They’d rebel and run the other direction by nature!
Back to the classics, who can place this quote?
And what sort of lives do these people, who pose as being moral, lead themselves? My dear fellow, you forget that we are in the native land of the hypocrite.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: This thread drifted way too far into political commentary. I deleted 22 replies. Any more deletions will mean I have to close the thread.
Personally, I am thrilled with many of the people I know who are my kids’ generation. They are kind, intelligent, deep thinkers, often love nature, and many act on their convictions in positive ways.
Sorry, I’m terrible with quotes and haven’t read many classics.
My suitemate in grad school read classics in the original language they were written in — for fun. She has read a ton more English classics than I and her grad degree was organic chemistry.
Me, too. A really impressive bunch with good hearts and good minds and caring and thoughtful ways.
I’m glad many of them are being thoughtful about how they choose to earn a living and focus on having a nice work/life balance instead of putting their life on hold until they have a pile of money.
Many also seem to value experiences and traveling — learning about other places and cultures rather than just checking off an arbitrary list.