Why are young people so disrespectful?

Question

I am ayoung person and I don't see whart is wrong with holding the door open for someone or just being generally a polite person. I saw a kid in the street yesterday shouting and swearing at an old person, so I went over and told him to leave her alone and he tried to punch me! A policeman interveaned but because he was only 12 they aren't goiung to do anything about it. Am I being really old fashioned or does any body else think that thisa country is falling to peices?

Answer 1

I totally agree, I am 19 and now because of all the yob culture I get treated a lot differently. I find it so offensive when I whitness yobs shouting abuse at anyone esp. the elderly. They think they're above the law, because the law does nothing to stop them, the idea of trying to integrate them makes me laugh, they don't want to be integrated into our society they want to disrupt it and we're letting them. Any challenge to it could lead to youself being harmed, e.g. the young father who was stabbed. Even though he had be slashed with a knife before the police did NOTHING. My faith in the police is totally none existent now.

Answer 2

I am 21, and for as far back as I can remember, older people have always commented on my good manners and respect for my elders. I think this is down to one thing - your parents. My parents bought me up to know how to act and how to treat people.

You can't blame broken homes, i have two dads, a step sister, a half sister and two half brothers, yet i know how to act and how to use manners.

It's when parents can't be bothered to teach their children how to act. My parent's worked, though we still had little money, I wasn't spoilt, but I never went without the things I needed, and still, I managed to grow up into a polite, friendly and bubbly person.

Yobs are a breed of human as yet unexplained by science, but they are spreading - not just in inner cities either - I grew up in a little village in the middle of no-where, and yobs ran the place like the Maffia).

They seem to be starting younger and younger too, I saw a girl the other day, can not have been more than 9 years old, and she was smoking and yelling abuse at another little girl for wearing glasses - WHY?!

It's a multitude of factors - parenting being the biggest one, followed closely by the culture of youth today - the way the pop stars sing, the way kids act in films and on TV shows - you don't get the Brady Bunch or the Waltons on telly any more, you get Eastenders and The Simpsons - TV is a big factor!

I'll stop rambling now. In conclusion, Dependent on your upbringing and the culture you live by, there will always be good people and bad people - but negativity always seems to show up so much more than the positive.

Answer 3

You sound a lovely person and you should pat yourself on the back for been a nice well mannered caring young person, your one of the lucky ones that had a good upbringing and was taught how to show respect, a lot of the kids today haven't had the opportunities you have had, a lot of it through no fault of their own, broken down family relationships do a lot of harm to a lot of the young kids, some kids see so many things they should never see and unfortunately for them its 'normal', there parents were probably brought up in the same way they are bringing their kids up now, a lot of these kids are been shown nothing but violence themselves at home, they think it's how life is sorted out and go out doing the self same thing themselves, its a vicious circle and for some never gets broken, there is absolutely no need for it, but until the welfare, police and other government bodies are given the powers to sort it out it will continue long into the future, the child you had problems with yesterday will have been cautioned in front of its parents, whether they choose to have him see the error of his ways is another question.

Answer 4

Its down to the parents, what you saw the other day was how that kids parents treat him and other people.

I had a similar experience a few weeks ago, there wernt any police around and im 23 so i beat 7 bags of crap out of the kid because I work for the police and I know for a fact that youth justice is non existant and a broken nose will remind him why not no mouth off to people a lot more that making him write a letter of apology.

I say good for you though, the world needs more polite people such as yourself.

Answer 5

There will always be nice people and horrible people in the world.

Think back over the last 1000 years. Have all people always been nice and polite to each other? I think not.

How do we deal with the issues of respect? Simple.

National Service for all.

Which would include; the armed forces, rubbish collection and street cleaning, government work, hospital work, etc. Something that adds to society.

And send all the horrible brats to boot camp, while the good kids can stay in school...

This way everyone would learn respect while at the same time, earn it.

Answer 6

Well the way I see it, is that society is becoming more and more anti-social, we chat instead of visit people, we shop via the Internet, not in the store etc. So children don't play outside that much anymore and add the factor that a lot of parents because of guilt (by working both) treat there kids as kings and queens and the little time they spend with them they see everything as cute (which in fact is not) over protecting them, and so they grow up to be self centred, spoilt with the wrong kind of attention, they think the world revolves around them, and only them..

Answer 7

I think it depends on environment, like family education, school civics and morals education. The "level of rudeness" also differs in different countries. But nevertheless they are really getting out of hand. Is it because parents no longer know how to teach their kids. I think nowadays they are too lenient. And yepp you're right the country's going to fall into pieces if our country's future pillars of support turn out to be a bunch of rude, bratty kids. Yet I hope that as they mature they will understand?

:D 16 yr old person

Answer 8

1) Parents are afraid to whack their children on the butt when they need it. because it is seen as a bad thing cause of those who stepped over the line and went to abuse.

2) Parents lost of times both have to work full time jobs to make a living so they are not around to see what their children do.

3) Some parents just don't want to be bothered with their own children therefore let them do whatever they want.

4) Some parents let their children treat them that way.

My step daughter now once was disrespectful to her mother when she was around 8. We where in the car going down the road at 55. I slammed on the brakes turn around in my seat and yelled at her. Told her never to speak to her mother like that again. She was good for a long time after that.

Answer 9

The problem is expectations of young people like you have. There is a theory called the self fulfilling prophecy - media stereotypes young people as yobs, criminals, disrespectful etc. and pumps this into everyone's head until they start to believe it.
Good on you for holding doors open etc but don't write off the rest of your age group.

Answer 10

It's the same here in Australia. Young people have little respect for anyone and I think it all falls back on what they have NOT been taught as they were growing up. Who was their role model? And, why didn't this person teach them correctly? It's because that person, was never taught correctly. This picture in which I am trying to paint revolves around our family/sociology and so the story goes on.