Thomas Hine on The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager

As soon as I saw the title of Thomas Hine's introduction, "Are Teenagers Necessary?," I was intrigued. As we have discussed in class and as I have voiced, for some reason tennagers and the idea of being a teenager has been stigmatized. Why is this and why do adults seem to forget that they too were once teens? Hine says, "It is simply that we remember ourselves as ourselves. Being a teenager isn't an identity but a predicament most people live through." I never thought of it like that and I think that is the problem. People think of being a teenager as an identity rather than just an age of changes.
I found what he said about the rise of teens interesting. Teenagers are the "symbol of Americans' rising aspirations, the reprosityof hopes, the one who will realize the American dream. And inevitably, the teenager is a dissapointment, whose combinations of adult capacities and juvenile irresponsibility sows personal heartbreak and social chaos." I haven't thought about being a teenager in this way before. I agree with what he is saying here. Perhaps we as a society and as adults put too much pressure on our teenagers. The reality is that teenagers are classified as such from age 13-19. That is a lot of years and a lot of changing that is happening. At what point in those years do our standards for them change? In those years, they are finding themselves. They are trying to navigate and find who they are. At the beginning of their teen years, they are entering high school-- four years that will change them and throw them for a loop. Then, they are turning 18 and entering college, or the military, or the 'real world.' Suddenly when they turn that age, they have even more added responsibilities and expectations.
As I was reading on, in the first chapter, Hine tells the story of the 18-year-old girl who gave birth in the bathroom the night of her prom and put the baby in a plastic bag and threw him away. That story I vaguely remember hearing about when it happened and I was just as sick reading it now as I was then, if not more. I think it could potentially be a good example for talking about teenagers but I don't really know where he took it. I found that part of the article a little disjointed and I struggled to understand him bringing it all together.
Hine goes on to talk about a study done in a 1997 survey. It said that "90% of adults said that young people are failing to learn such values as honesty, responsibility, and respect, and two thirds agreed that the next generation will be worse than the last." I am not surprised by these resulty, unfortunately, but my question is "why?" Why specifically do adults think this and is anything being done to show adults, or rather remind them what teenage life is life?
One thing I did like about the article was his comparison of teenagers now to teenagers of the 1970s and 1980s. He says that contemporary teenagers are coping very well despite challenges. He gives examples, such as they are healthier than ever, the high levels of alcohol and drug use is still below the levels of 25 years ago, the drop-out rate is lower and more kids than ever are going to college and that they just express greater optimism about their lives. While there are still many problems out there, such as the drug and alcohol intake of teenagers, it was nice to hear someone giving teenagers some credit.
"It's good to feel hopeful about the prospects for the young and to feel confident that today's and tomorrow's teenagers will turn out all right."