I'm not really sure how to take this.....

[Jessie]

Another good childhood lesson from another comedian...
Tim Allen.
He said his nephew was trying to stick a penny into an electrical socket. He covers his mouth and mumbled" I wouldn't do that if I were you".
" whoever said a penny doesn't go very far, didn't see him shoot across that room!"

 

[dougb1946]

Actually, by college age, they know how to drink. The difference is in college, they can buy it themselves from a store. Dad probably still pays. But now, Dad and Mom don't have to clean up the mess.

 

[Comrad]

In my day, only the smart kids went to college. Today, the madness of everybody has to go has filled colleges with kids that are actually not that smart. I think it takes a certain kind of stupid for some of what I hear goes on at our institutions of higher learning. My nephew is a LEO at William Paterson University in NJ and you wouldn't believe what the student body is made up of and the the endless arrests he has to make for every crime imaginable.

 

[BAM-BAM]

In my day, only the smart kids went to college. Today, the madness of everybody has to go has filled colleges with kids that are actually not that smart. I

There's a theory ....... that today you have to go to College to get a High School Education..........



I have two boys in High School...... considered one of the top.... lets say top 20 in the State...... and consistently ranked in the top 3 in W. Pa.
Not a big school........graduates about 200/year..........

I went to one of the other top Schools....more than a couple of decades ago.......my Class was about 700 kids.... 98% went to College

To be candid......I'm not impressed with what gets an A even in an AP or Honors course.........

 

[Rustyt1953]

Your honor, my client is blameless. Firstly, all the thousands of youtube "failed drunk" videos were not directed personally towards my client.

Secondly, when reporting under the influence related accidents, the TV anchors never said," now Biff, don't do this."

And lastly, I blame his doctor for never making him aware that shotgunning a 12 pack and hot boxing a fatty could leave him floating in a goldfish pond, naked, covered in sharpie epithets, a belly button full of chum and 9 million hits on instagram.

 

[CajunBass]

Another good childhood lesson from another comedian...
Tim Allen.
He said his nephew was trying to stick a penny into an electrical socket. He covers his mouth and mumbled" I wouldn't do that if I were you".
" whoever said a penny doesn't go very far, didn't see him shoot across that room!"

When I was a kid, and I don't know how old I was, I stuck a bobby pin in a light socket.

If I close my eyes and concentrate, I can still see that blue flash.

I haven't done that since.

 

[amazingflapjack]

some have addictive personalities: they need education to make them aware of that, even if they have already used alcohol, or other addictive substances, so that they can, at the least, be aware of their choices. NJMHO

 

[pharmer]

"Overall, 40 percent of participants told researchers they'd consumed five or more drinks on at least one occasion and 10 percent had been drunk at least six times in the past month." What, no "6 times in the last week?" which coincidentally would have been my category for a couple decades. "Alcohol, the cause and solution of all man's problems." Today's kids don't get enough "useful" information because we are too busy teaching them to follow rules. Joe

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

First time I drank I barfed. Next day I felt like Larry getting his head crushed in a vice by Moe.
When I tried a cig I coughed and gagged.
Do we really need experts to explain this?

 

[Pef]

I'm not getting that college kids are dumber than we were from the article. Heck, I rarely went to the doc when I was in college and I never discussed drinking with a doc. Seems like the nanny state is more upset than the kids.

As for today's youngsters, a heck of a lot of 18, 19, 20 and 21 year olds spent the last decade in the Godforsaken stink holes of the Middle East. These youngsters didn't fail us; it was the older generation that failed them.

Please think about that the next time y'all bemoan the lazy youth of today.

 

[BAM-BAM]

As for today's youngsters, a heck of a lot of 18, 19, 20 and 21 year olds spent the last decade in the Godforsaken stink holes of the Middle East. These youngsters didn't fail us; it was the older generation that failed them.

Please think about that the next time y'all bemoan the lazy youth of today.

1% of them

 

[Marshwheeling]

When I was a kid, and I don't know how old I was, I stuck a bobby pin in a light socket.

If I close my eyes and concentrate, I can still see that blue flash.

I haven't done that since.

When I was about two, I plugged the car keys into a wall outlet. After that, whenever a cartoon depicted a character seeing stars, I knew exactly what that meant.

 

[williamlayton]

HUMMMM---Caj---I dunno. We all started sipping a beer and/or sippin at whiskey much, much younger than 18 and the folks knew it.
I am a fatalist on this one I think,the DNA may have something to do with it. You never know who will become dependent.
The prohibitionist did not stop folks from becoming drunks.
I have had at least two friends who died from drinking-an uncle, also.
I, and, my crowd, were all very heavy drinkers--I quit when I was 42 and not from pressure---I just got tired of drinking. I still will have a drink on occasion, but it is rare.
I just think that it will happen to some and not some. Not much sense in that but little in this life really makes much sense, when you talk about why anyone does what they do.
No generation is really much different from the other.
Blessings

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

My 4 kids (high school classes of '98 to '03) had chores at home even after they had part time jobs. They got allowance, but only $5 a week and delivered once a month. If they wanted more money they earned it! They worked in the family business for a buck an hour, when they got outside the family jobs, they appreciated their wadges.

A friend arranged a job on a carpentry crew for my oldest. I ask the boss what he was paying on the first day. He said $6.50 (1996 dollars) an hour "If I keep him." My son was so impressed with that amount, he worked his tail off (by the bosses standards). He never got that $6.50 an hour, his first check was for $7.50 per, and they made sure he was working on long school breaks and the next summer. When he joined the Army the crew wanted to be at the induction center to witness his "Oath" and sent him off with a assurance of employment on completion of his service enlistment. The others had similar experiences. Did they like low allowance and serious chores? Not at all! Did they B. and moan? absolutely! Did I love them enough to make sure they knew how to work and be an asset to their employer! I did and still do. I wasn't their friend growing up, but we get along pretty good now though. I still think they may write a book about me though.

Ivan

 

[RJJ 1971]

I'm not getting that college kids are dumber than we were from the article. Heck, I rarely went to the doc when I was in college and I never discussed drinking with a doc. Seems like the nanny state is more upset than the kids.

As for today's youngsters, a heck of a lot of 18, 19, 20 and 21 year olds spent the last decade in the Godforsaken stink holes of the Middle East. These youngsters didn't fail us; it was the older generation that failed them.

Please think about that the next time y'all bemoan the lazy youth of today.

Think every 20 years there was a war to say that about (where our youth went off to battle).
So did our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents fail?
So your theory doesn't quite hold up.
It's up to the individual - not your environment or upbringing.

But I still thank everyone for their service.
Thank you.

 

[model70hunter]

Lifes lessons are to be learned. Then thdre are those who are untrainable.

yes there addicts their depressed path drains all around them. Lost 2 cousins to alcohol related death by 40. Only one of them had a parent who drank. At times I thinkmost afe lost causes.

Learning for me at age 4 I found gramps kindling hatchett in the shed. Gave piece of wood a whack, missed the bone on my left thumb but got stitches ans endless lectures from Mom. I chopped and split wood for many years afterward, I never got a scratch from an axe.

Drank a too much a couple of times and spent the night dry heaving. I never go past a minor buzz, never drink more than 1 if I have to drive. My wife and family as my witness theve seen me with a minor buzz 2 or 3 times ever. My choice for me, I dont judge others.

Taught my kids responsibility and work ethics young. All excell at work.

Where did I learn some of lifes lessons? My Dad. Hey Dad the town DOC just bought his son a new Vette. Hmp, he did not earn it and will be worthless. Well Dad was right he lost it to the PD in a felony drug bust. Worked his entire life in the back of an auto parts store not allowed to touch the register.

Remember Chris Lloyd on taxi? Chris could not have portrayed my cleassmate any better.

Dad did tell me tnose new Vettes were at the Chevy dealer.

A lesson to my son at age 16 on car ownership. I bought him a nice original VW bug with a new motor. Handed him the keys. He said id rather scrat h in the barn yard with the chickens than be seen In that. I guess the keys were in his hand a couple od secomds. I snatched them rigjt back and said the next car keys you have will come with the car you buy. Later he told me that was a poor decision on his part he leaned and did feel bad.

I took the back seat of the bug out and hauled my labs to and fom hunting. I drove it to work for a couple of years. 5 bucks in gas went for ever.

 

[Pef]

Think every 20 years there was a war to say that about (where our youth went off to battle).
So did our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents fail?
So your theory doesn't quite hold up.
It's up to the individual - not your environment or upbringing.

But I still thank everyone for their service.
Thank you.

My point is that it's cliche to disparage our youth. For every anecdotal case of the coddled slacker one can counter it with a case of a hard working, motivated person of the same age.

As for linked story in the original post, it's the Nannies of Nanny state that have their panties in a bind, not today's youth. I just don't see how the article can be spun as an exemplar of the naivete of our youth.

As for the older generation failing them, I'll try not to turn this into a political thread, but it wasn't the 19, 20 and 21 year olds that let the sacrifices they made slip away. That's all I'll say about that.

Edit - You said Thank you after the line about service, but I did not serve in the military in case you thought I did. Just want to clear that up!

 

[rwsmith]

Somehow.......

Some way, some how, kids are even more stupid than we were. I never knew anybody that needed medical intervention. Sleeping it off was about the most serious cure we had to take for a really bad hangover. And maybe some Alka-Seltzer.

And I never took drugs outside of trying some weed and nobody in my circle ever OD'd on anything. And I grew up in the 60s and 70's. Oh, I did get sick on Skoal one time because I was trying to get through a bad exam. I don't think I did that great on the exam and I felt pretty bad for a day or two.

I thought I was close to needing medical intervention when a friend gave me a real Cuban cigar that he had 'obtained'. A few puffs of that thing and I was reeling around like a drunk sailor. Holy Smokes.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Great posts-all of them. We all did stuff wh would not do today and the reason we do not do today is because we remember how much the hangover hurt. Problem as I see it is that the only way to make stupid go away is to allow one to experience the consequences thereof and then to stand over the person and say "See I told you". SOme people-God Bless em-never learned and dies or just wasted away. We can't prevent this as sorrowfull as it may be. That's caled evoloution.
And Rusty1953-shotgunning a 12 pack and hot boxing a fatty??????? Seems to be a total waste of a 12 pack and a fatty to me. Some things were meant to be savored

 

[chaparrito]

One time my son said dad I've never seen you drunk.
I said son, it could be you've never seen me sober.