The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager (quotes)

1.      “She proved herself physically capable of bearing a child, but she had not mentally, emotionally, or morally mature enough to handle it. She had, in a word shown herself to be a teenager.”

The author is trying to teach us that by this teenager, giving birth and suffocating her baby by throwing him away in a plastic bag is not the decision an adult would make. Even though this young woman’s body was able to carry a baby to full term does not make her an adult. She proved this by making such an irrational and drastic decision by not telling anyone about her giving birth and then by murdering her baby.

2.      “Being a teenager is less and less what Erik Erikson proposed-a moratorium period in which in which to find your identity. Teenagers are losing their license for irresponsibility while, at the same time, they continue to be denied a role in their society, other than that of style setters and consumers.”

 I think what the author is trying to tell the readers is that Erik Erikson came up with a period in time called the moratorium period: however, because parents are becoming more and more over protective because of social media and society in general. Teenagers are losing their freedom and independence to go out and explore and learn who they want to become. The reason teenagers are losing their license for irresponsibility is because they are confused with how society wants them to act. For example, one minute society is saying that teenagers are allowed to be irresponsible; this is a time in which they are allowed to experiment and have fun. But then society turns around and becomes upset when a teen does do something irresponsible and society believes there should be repercussions for their action. Lastly, society and social media shuns teenagers and are stereotypical of them because people believe all teenagers do the same things spend money and cause trouble. Society does not want to see the good things teenagers have to offer and that is why they are denied a role in society.

3.      “We are more accustomed to thinking of contemporary teenagers as predators than as victims, but there are good reasons to worry about them. Far more of them are growing up in low-income households than was the case a few decades ago. They spend more time on their own, today’s young people are able to be with their parents ten to twelve fewer hours each week than was the case three decades ago.”  

I think that the author is saying that people because of social media, think just because teenagers who live in low-come households are bad because of the type of people and environment they live in. People also think that just because parents have to work more and the teenager is on their own more that they are bound to get into trouble, but most of the time that is not the cause. Teenagers who live in low-income households are usually more mature and help their parents out by watching younger siblings and taking care of chores and more grown up responsibilities.

                                                                                                                                              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXxlTJcUs6A