In our society, teenagers are subjected to a vitriolic depiction as horrid, barbaric creatures with perverse motives. The media constantly portrays kids as savages who smoke cigarettes and marijuana, consume large amounts of alcohol and indulge in violent battles with knives and guns. Vivid words and images converge together to paint a terrible picture of teenagers. They flow together like a wide spectrum of gloomy colors from an artist’s palette, forming a dark mystic picture of teenagers as primitive human beings, the execrable scum of our society. Anywhere you look, you can see commercials and movies taking a jab at the character of young people. Like a blow to the brain from Mike Tyson, this is an insult to our intelligence and pride. Teenagers are wrongfully all put under one lurid light that categorizes them all in the same manner.

Filmmakers and advertisers constantly elicit a portrayal slandering kids. They insinuate that each one spends his or her days participating in 24-hours of mayhem. The wild lives of teenagers are a major focal point of their discussion, while another integral part of this depiction is how teens are susceptible to peer-pressure. In reality, teens can be remarkable people, as demonstrated by their performance of virtuous acts such as community service. For example, at HarlemLive several dozen teenagers devote themselves to producing educational publications. We spend our time working arduously to make ourselves into something and to contribute to the New York City teen community.

I am not saying that all teenagers are perfect and are beautiful little angels, but rather that it is not fair or constructive to put them all under one classification as wild criminals in the making. What makes stereotyping wrong is that it is discriminating against people because of their age, without knowing who is good or bad. People should not assume that a person acts in a certain way because of how they look. Some are good and others are bad, just like everything else in the world. By having such low expectations, you actually end up encouraging irresponsible behavior. Furthermore, one cannot deny the intense influence of peer pressure on teenagers. While it can be the cause of many negative actions, high expectations can serve to reinforce and influence positive behavior.

Any person who watches television or who is not a nomad wandering clueless in the Sahara Desert, has seen an inordinate number of publications reprimanding teenagers for their behavior. There are a prodigious number of infomercials about teens and their supposedly grotesque ways. Some of these advertisements include a kid finding a gun and shooting another or kids with cigarettes and drugs. There are also tons of movies based on stories about vile kids up to no good -- whose only purpose is to suck the blissfulness out of life. This is shown in movies such as “Animal House”, “187”, “Dangerous Minds” and “8 Mile”. There are also dozens of television shows about shrewd kids going wild and scheming deviously. Some examples of television shows are “Dawson’s Creek”, “That 70’s Show” and “90210.” In these shows some kids are shown as good and others as bad. In the show “90210” there are kids who are “corrupt”, like the character Dylan, who is only up to trouble. Then there are others like Brandon, who are hard workers, always trying to persevere. While adults also can be categorized in this manner, they tend to use teenagers as a scapegoat, blaming them for the problems in our society. They envision teenagers as one big group of culprits who devote all their energy to thinking of ways to upset the natural order. When most adults think about teenagers, they have an idea of a bunch of rowdy kids in a high school doing bad things. Many times when middle aged or older people see a group of kids together they view them as similar to a vicious wolf pack. They avoid them by crossing the street or speeding up their pace like a frightened deer. Its wrong and absurd to brand teens like cattle with the idea they are horrible people. It is no different than the Salem Witch trials.

As a teenager, I am extremely offended that kids are seen as such a destructive part of our society. It breaches the camaraderie that should exist in our society. Personally, as a teenager, I am subjected to these rancorous actions. I have gone to many restaurants where I was looked at and served differently. Not only that, but I was given a check before I ate the food just to make sure I didn’t leave without paying. Many times I have been looked at wrongly and treated differently because I am a teenager. This discrimination occurs not only in restaurants but everywhere -- especially with the police.

Many times kids are looked at as being shady. As a result, the police watch over kids like hound dogs. Sometimes they are arrested for things they didn’t do, or are punished more than they deserve. Society has tried to rid the world of racism and sexism, so I think it is hypocritical when the same society discriminates against teenagers. In the past, changes have occurred regarding previous discriminations and I think it is pivotal that another change is made, so that teenagers are treated fairly.

I agree and am aware that teenagers cause a lot of problems. It is the time of life when a person starts to grow up and learns the way of the world. My point, however, is by putting teens all under one classification, it is not only unfair to those teenagers who are actually good kids -- but you also accentuate the problem. I understand why adults might feel the need to walk away from a rowdy group of kids, but giving a person a check before they eat is absurd. By subjecting teenagers to low expectations, you are actually encouraging irresponsible behavior. If you don’t expect much from people then they won’t have high expectations. In other words, people generally behave the way they’re expected to -- so if you expect them to act like “barbarians” then “barbarians” they will be.