Teenage Apathy

Written by xiahzeuni.

Perhaps, the most widely discussed topic amongst teachers and parents might be teen apathy. Every year—or nearly every year—the topic of teenage apathy is brought up. Some teenagers could be even tired of listening to lectures about teenager apathy. Some don't even bother listening. Could this be just a reiteration of what is trying to be said?

Wearing a ball cap crookedly, a student taps his foot impatiently, chewing the 'forbidden' gum in his mouth. His expression expresses clear boredom and inattentiveness. Sound all too familiar? This character can be seen in most schools. Even during assemblies dedicated to a good cause, such as UNICEF asking for clothes donation to help the children in Cambodia, you see students dozing off or texting their friends with their cellphones.

But there are actually people who do care. There are people who do step up to help the community. National Honor Societies all around the world contribute to the community. UNICEF students around the world go to Cambodia to help out. The sad thing is that the apathetic majority overshadow the selfless minority.

Why are they so unaware of the current issues in the world? Why do they not care about others? Why are they so selfish?

It could be the person. Maybe they are just plain selfish. Yet it is my belief that it's unfair to point fingers at the teenagers. Teenagers are easily influenced by their surrounding, including parents, siblings, peers, and even teachers.

These days, one of the many things that get me include spoiled kids. "Oh honey, you want that $900 laptop? Of course you can have it! You only have two other laptops. Do you want anything else? A nice Mercedes car maybe?" Can they get worse? Actually they can. On a popular show on MTV My Super Sweet 16, there was an extremely worrisome episode. One of the very spoiled kids received a Mercedes. But the response was not "Thank you," but "You got me a Mercedes?! I wanted a Ferrari dammit!" Oookay. Let's step back and look at the world. There are people angry because they got a Mercedes for their 16th birthday...while there are people dying because they can't get enough to eat. What? What? What?

Parents spoiling their kid can lead to the idea of "I'm the most important thing walking on the face of the Earth." Self-centered teenagers overpopulate the world which ultimately leads to teen apathy.

Siblings are not an exception. I know a friend whose brother is nine years older than her, and he buys her bags and clutches from Dior, Gucci even shades from Salvatore Ferragamo. At my school, carrying around a Dolce and Gabbana glasses isn't rare. Their elder siblings in college buy that kind of crap. Why? I don't know. Apparently, the richer you are, the more popular you are. Is that true? I don't think so. I'm not filthy rich and here I am, just kidding. But there you go, peer pressure has its hands on teen apathy. "Wait you're actually going to that stupid walk-a-thon to raise money for the tsunami? You lifeless geek. Suzie's throwing a party that day. You can't miss that! That's like commiting a social suicide." Familiar much?

Teachers. Alas, teachers have their take in the whole issue. If teachers were fun to be around, fun to listen to, why would students ignore them? As teachers, it is part of their job to keep the students attentive and such. It's not at the fault of the teenagers if they feel like their studies, current issues, etc are irrelevant to their lives. Don’t get me wrong. There are teachers who are fantastic at what they do. There are some teachers who are able to realize that knowing the content doesn’t define a good teacher but being able to convey the message in a way so teenagers are able to follow does. But how frequently do you hear compliments about teachers? Rarely. It's up to the teacher to guide the students into society and help them mature. It is the teachers' responsibility to assist students in realizing why they should care. Why aren't they doing their job? Laziness. And maybe even they don't care. Great role models they are.

Teenagers need to become immune to the outside influence that ultimately spoils them. But ultimately, teenagers and adults alike need to understand the source of teenage apathy. It usually isn't the teens' fault. Sometimes people need to fix the head source of the problem, and sometimes that's the adults themselves who are trying to change teenagers. Maybe it's time to educate the adults, not the teenagers.

xoxo
eunice

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Teenage Apathy