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Moon
THE LANCET
Having explored these myths, Males attempts to unravel why they have been perpetrated. He clearly shows that “the business of America is business” with evidence that the American middle classes have appropriated funding for their own ends. The scandal of teenage psychiatric admissions (for the affluent) and private prison admissions (for the poor “delinquent”) is explored critically and persuasively. The large resources devoted to educators and counsellors are shown to have been ineffective. He is clearly disturbed by projections for the US national debt and worries this will be an intolerable burden to future generations. He does not discuss the alternative view that such a large and expanding economy may rapidly repay such an “investment”. He is particularly scathing at the hypocrisy with which the yuppie generation have selfishly applied market forces to their advantage. He is perhaps unaware of the famous quote from Harvard Business School “If you would understand the entrepreneur you should study the teenage delinquent”. Like many other liberal authors, he is troubled by the consequences of California’s proposition 13 (to reduce property taxes by cutting back social services, school funding, and medical care for the poor) and proposition 187 (to deny access to welfare care and education for illegal immigrants and their children). He is clearly troubled that such selfish behaviour by a special interest group can only lead to deeper social unrest. His arguments are not always consistent and the underlying thesis is flawed. Every generation has had problems with its successor. America’s current problem may be that there is at present no external focus for social disquiet. Many modern families are nearer The Simpsons than The Waltons. The corporate culture which requires large amounts of time previously available to the family has led to dysfunctional parenting. In fairness, the author discusses his own generation’s anti-establishment behaviour in the 1960s and shows how similar problems were perceived in the 1930s (the bureaucracy that had run alcohol prohibition needed new employment and created the first drug scare). Some of the arguments are not always easy to follow: “nonwhite” frequently is used as a proxy for “poverty” and it is often unclear
Vol 349 • January 11, 1997
Moon Symbol of renewal, Secret of life Embodied in you, Beloved moon— Friend of my nights, Calling to the World Ceaselessly—watch me, As I glide from youth To full splendour And wane in age— Then, in a trice, by Magic transformed, Youthful again—
Delirium Remasiri Boralessa
Spirit of courage, Constant in change, Ageless joy to give, Confide in me. Christine Gilbert Larnaca, Cyprus
whether rates or crude numbers are being used in comparisons between different groups. Some of his financial arguments are fallacious: he calculates that supporting all US teenage mothers would cost only 10 billion dollars per annum, yet in 1996 California alone spent 6 million dollars on this group. The selective use of the literature overlooks current American media criticism of parental indifference and selfishness, paying more attention to their careers and comfort than to their children. It is a misleading proposition that the whole of the adult American population is in conflict with their youth. There is no correlation between age and indifference. Although the book is not easy to read, it has provided us with many hours of stimulating discussion. The overwhelming conclusion is that poverty, not age or race, underlies America’s current ills. The polemic style is entertaining: “save on schools, spend on prisons”, “as the old get older the young get stronger”, and the “welfare-bedded all-American industries: defence, prisons and bureaucracy”. His view of the coming reckoning is tempered by his evident respect for the many young people he quotes in his interviews. Towards the end of the book he develops positive arguments for the future noting that the current young generation are seeking to avoid the mistakes of their
predecessors by containing rather than sustaining antisocial behaviours. There is, however, little suggested strategy for the future except to recommend the more supportive approach taken by European countries towards youth poverty. The irony whereby the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers are looking to their original homeland for advice on social democracy is missed. Youth troubled their elders long before Cicero declaimed “O tempora, o mores”. Civilisations and generations oscillate between overstrict and over-indulgent childrearing practices. These cycles will continue. Societies, like other natural phenomena, regress to the mean. The openness of American society encourages criticism and self-correction. With campaigners like Males identifying inconsistencies in their social policy there is time for them to get this right and opportunity for us to avoid their mistakes. As Wilde stated “The youth of America is their oldest tradition. It has been going on for three hundred years”.
Claire Sunderland (teenager), R Sunderland (paediatrician) The Birmingham Children’s Hospital, NHS Trust, Ladywood Middleway, Ladywood, Birmingham B16 8ET, UK
143
Having explored these myths, Males attempts to unravel why they have been perpetrated. He clearly shows that “the business of America is business” with evidence that the American middle classes have appropriated funding for their own ends. The scandal of teenage psychiatric admissions (for the affluent) and private prison admissions (for the poor “delinquent”) is explored critically and persuasively. The large resources devoted to educators and counsellors are shown to have been ineffective. He is clearly disturbed by projections for the US national debt and worries this will be an intolerable burden to future generations. He does not discuss the alternative view that such a large and expanding economy may rapidly repay such an “investment”. He is particularly scathing at the hypocrisy with which the yuppie generation have selfishly applied market forces to their advantage. He is perhaps unaware of the famous quote from Harvard Business School “If you would understand the entrepreneur you should study the teenage delinquent”. Like many other liberal authors, he is troubled by the consequences of California’s proposition 13 (to reduce property taxes by cutting back social services, school funding, and medical care for the poor) and proposition 187 (to deny access to welfare care and education for illegal immigrants and their children). He is clearly troubled that such selfish behaviour by a special interest group can only lead to deeper social unrest. His arguments are not always consistent and the underlying thesis is flawed. Every generation has had problems with its successor. America’s current problem may be that there is at present no external focus for social disquiet. Many modern families are nearer The Simpsons than The Waltons. The corporate culture which requires large amounts of time previously available to the family has led to dysfunctional parenting. In fairness, the author discusses his own generation’s anti-establishment behaviour in the 1960s and shows how similar problems were perceived in the 1930s (the bureaucracy that had run alcohol prohibition needed new employment and created the first drug scare). Some of the arguments are not always easy to follow: “nonwhite” frequently is used as a proxy for “poverty” and it is often unclear
Vol 349 • January 11, 1997
Moon Symbol of renewal, Secret of life Embodied in you, Beloved moon— Friend of my nights, Calling to the World Ceaselessly—watch me, As I glide from youth To full splendour And wane in age— Then, in a trice, by Magic transformed, Youthful again—
Delirium Remasiri Boralessa
Spirit of courage, Constant in change, Ageless joy to give, Confide in me. Christine Gilbert Larnaca, Cyprus
whether rates or crude numbers are being used in comparisons between different groups. Some of his financial arguments are fallacious: he calculates that supporting all US teenage mothers would cost only 10 billion dollars per annum, yet in 1996 California alone spent 6 million dollars on this group. The selective use of the literature overlooks current American media criticism of parental indifference and selfishness, paying more attention to their careers and comfort than to their children. It is a misleading proposition that the whole of the adult American population is in conflict with their youth. There is no correlation between age and indifference. Although the book is not easy to read, it has provided us with many hours of stimulating discussion. The overwhelming conclusion is that poverty, not age or race, underlies America’s current ills. The polemic style is entertaining: “save on schools, spend on prisons”, “as the old get older the young get stronger”, and the “welfare-bedded all-American industries: defence, prisons and bureaucracy”. His view of the coming reckoning is tempered by his evident respect for the many young people he quotes in his interviews. Towards the end of the book he develops positive arguments for the future noting that the current young generation are seeking to avoid the mistakes of their
predecessors by containing rather than sustaining antisocial behaviours. There is, however, little suggested strategy for the future except to recommend the more supportive approach taken by European countries towards youth poverty. The irony whereby the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers are looking to their original homeland for advice on social democracy is missed. Youth troubled their elders long before Cicero declaimed “O tempora, o mores”. Civilisations and generations oscillate between overstrict and over-indulgent childrearing practices. These cycles will continue. Societies, like other natural phenomena, regress to the mean. The openness of American society encourages criticism and self-correction. With campaigners like Males identifying inconsistencies in their social policy there is time for them to get this right and opportunity for us to avoid their mistakes. As Wilde stated “The youth of America is their oldest tradition. It has been going on for three hundred years”.
Claire Sunderland (teenager), R Sunderland (paediatrician) The Birmingham Children’s Hospital, NHS Trust, Ladywood Middleway, Ladywood, Birmingham B16 8ET, UK
143