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Letters Editor

NEWSWEEK

251 West 57th St.

New York

NY 10019-1849

USA

May 30, 2006

Dear Sir or Madam,

Inspired by the remarks on family views, made by Thomas Knockbridge in Newsweek on 24th April, I would like to express my opinion on that topic. Being a teenager myself, I feel entitled to speak on behalf of the young people.

First, I would like to refer to the comment that family values have lost their importance over the last forty years. In my opinion, however, what has changed was not the values but the way they are perceived nowadays by the society.

Obviously, it cannot be denied that most teenagers spend their time enjoying themselves and they start studying only when they realize their exams come soon. However, this is a very typical behaviour of young people as they have always prefered fun to duty and hard work. Moreover, we cannot generalize and measure everybody against the same standard. Our attitude towards life depends mainly on our personality and character. The upbringing also plays an important role here. Children who did not received proper care from their parents and were not supervised while doing their homework simply were not taught to treat seriously their school duties.

Parents always do their best to provide their children with good learning conditions therefore we do not need to work. And it is also true that most teenagers are given some pocket money which they can spend on their own needs. However, it must also be taken into consideration that the overloading of the school curriculum with so many subjects prevent us from working part-time. We often have classes until the late afternoon therefore we simply do not have any time to work.

Moreover, I do not agree with Mr. Knockbridge's opinion that most teenagers treat their parents as servants. Similarly to the majority of young people, I respect my parents and I am grateful to them for giving me life. As far as I am concerned, I am involved in doing all the household chores. There is a clear and fair division of work at my house and every member of my family, including me, is responsible for their share of duties. My last remark concerns Mr. Knockbridge's comment on the difference between his childhood and the childhood of today's teenagers. Undoubtedly, it was much different because the world was different as well. Nevertheless, some things have not changed that much. Nowadays we also have to struggle to achieve success at school and later on to be successful in our adult lives.

To sum up, while I can see the vices of my generation I also do not fail to notice our good sides and our likeness to so many previous generations of teenagers. Therefore, I do not think that we should be judged so harshly as Mr. Knockbridge did in his letter.

Yours faithfully

Joanna Kowalska