Good Manners Seem to be Out of Fashion Nowadays?!

I have heard a lot of people complaining about the fact that teenagers tend to be very impolite these days. People say that most teenagers don’t have the decency to behave properly when they have to interact with adults, no matter if these adults are relatives, teachers, neighbours or total strangers to teenagers.

            I tend to agree with the people who complain about teenagers’ manners and, at the same time, I think I understand why teenagers behave in a way that is in conflict with the system of values adults hold. Speaking about aspects that illustrate teenagers’ bad manners, I myself have noticed many school children sitting down on buses while older people were standing, at school I’ve seen pupils who don’t respect their teachers, I have heard colleagues speaking rudely to their parents and uneducated teenagers shouting and swearing in the street or in public places, showing no sign of respect for the people around them. I cannot approve of such behaviour and I think that everybody should try to do something, at least to show such teenagers that what they are doing is wrong.

            Speaking about the causes of such behaviour, I tend to blame the families of ill-mannered teenagers first. The education that a child gets in the first years of his life has a strong impact in his later life. If the child happens to live in a bad family – with abusive parents, drinking problems, no money and no educational background, it is the role of the teachers to try to show the teenager the right path. The teenager himself should keep his eyes and his mind open and try to learn from the people around him the basic survival skills. Living in a good family is no guarantee of success, either, when it comes to learning good behaviour. The parents who focus more on their careers tend to give their children money instead of spending more time together, talking about such issues, but money can’t buy good manners. The result of such strategies is a teenager who is pragmatic, sometimes arrogant and always thinking that his opinions and attitudes are the best.

            On the other hand, teenagers live in cyberspace, the language of the Internet, the role models they choose from the limited range of VIPs promoted by televisions and other forms of media influence the way teenagers react to everyday situations. To teenagers, the concept of freedom is very important but it is not always well managed. And they have used this freedom to build a code of their own that may be in contradiction with some of the traditional values and ways.

            There have to be some solutions to help teenagers realize that if you show respect, you are respected, and that if you are young and restless today, you will be an adult soon – with responsibilities, children and duties. That’s why it is useful to start listening to the ones who were young once too and who have learnt in time that good education is a solid brick that can be the foundation of a good life.