2
THE SUMMER SESSION KANSAN
Friday, July 12, 1968
Generation Gap
The generation gap is viewed by some as one of the larger problems in America, these editorials attempt to tell whether or not this is a big problem and if it is a large problem what can be done about it.
Gap no problem
"The "generation gap" is not a crucial and devastating problem.
Certainly parents and their children have trouble communicating, but don't many husbands and wives have the same problem?
No one can say there is a great difference of age and environment between two partners in the average marriage. Their lack of communication is caused by a breakdown in understanding and a failure to cement the relationship solidly. Why is it so vastly different for teenagers and their parents?
Many members of today's newer generation are not experiencing a reportable degree of the generation gap. Sure, there are problems and disagreements and minor skirmishes. But are these serious? Are they really caused by this new and faster-paced world, the greater pressures, and the difference between growing up now and then?
No. There is a basic human weakness when it comes to communication. This has been going on for centuries and is not at all new.
The only way the so-called generation gap can be remedied is through better personal and individual relationships between parents and the teens. If parents would take time when the child is still young enough to listen, not to talk—just listen, many problems between the generations could be avoided. Both groups would become accustomed to discussing separate and mutual problems with each other.
This gap has not been produced by today's society alone, it has just been recognized in modern times. Older generations have been shocked by younger generations since history first began to be recorded.
In some ways the generation gap is beneficial because it brings new ideals and ideas to the scene. The Chinese, for centuries, were completely under the control of the eldest member of the family and progressiveness was almost non-existent in the Chinese culture.
A sound, basic relationship is needed between the teenager and his parents, but their differences can be an asset too.
—Ruthann Lehman
Teenagers' problems are cause of age war
Too many people simply consider the generation gap a lack of understanding between two age groups. They do not examine the problem long enough to discover that the growing pains of the teenager are the real reason for the gap.
The teen years are spent traveling through several living stages. New ideas are constantly being formed and life is re-defined almost daily. It is nothing new to go to sleep with one philosophy of life and to awake with a different plan.
It once was said that the teen years are similar to trying out for roles in several plays. The role that is finally chosen by the teen is that of being himself. These trial roles illustrate that the teenager is desperately trying to find himself so that he can establish his own way of life.
This struggle for self-identity is the larges
single factor of the generation gap. For how can the older generation understand the younger when the latter does not understand itself and when the younger does not identify with one pattern long enough to be understood?
It is easier for the teen to comprehend his self-established elders. However, the changing teenager will usually see the same situation differently. Also, why should the teen conform to a set pattern without first trying several for himself?
It is doubtful that this vicious circle will ever be solved. Tolerance between these two groups is what must be strived for. This can only be done by teaching people that growing pains are a natural function which will always make it difficult for generations to cultivate an understanding. —Linda Eisenberg
What we have here is...
Anger, frustration, disgust. Father and son stare at each other. How can he be so narrow-minded and hypocritical, wonders the son. By God, when I was a kid, I listened to my old man, thinks the father.
What we have here is a failure to communicate. The communication battle between parents and children has been raging since the time of children. Each generation brings new ideas and philosophies.
With this generation came long hair, new morals, and "love." When a boy tries to relate this to a father of the depression—speakeasy, zoot suit eras, there is conflict. The father often is frightened by the changing world, and tries
to keep his son from being too much a part of it. The son, in turn, thinks his old man is a "real creep."
In both cases, father and son, the trouble is a failure to try to understand, and a lack of patience. The wall could be easily torn down with a little effort.
A good deal of the problem of the "Generation Gap" lies in lack of trust on the part of parent and child. The parent is afraid to let the child discover the pitfalls of life for himself. The child is afraid of the parent's over-bearing power, and thus rebels.
Much has been written of the "Generation Gap." Both parent and child have been criticized. But what most people fail to realize is this: communication is a compromise. It is a give-and-take affair.
The child must try to heed what his parents say. After all, they have been in this world and familiar with life longer than he. The parent should realize his child is a person also, and should quit shutting his ears to the teenage world.
Arguing will never solve any problems, especially between parents and children. A more mature approach is needed. Father and son must reason with each other and try a few suggestions of the other. They must be willing to sacrifice a little pride and must trust in each other's intelligence and self-respect.
To quote a song, "You've got to give a little, take a little, and let your poor heart break a little. . ."
-Kelly Slaughter
Prejudicial shields cause generation gap
You, a card-carrying member of the Pepsi generation, are the center of a storm, and that storm is youth.
This generation has been addressed in the same tone of voice as the bubonic plague and bad beer. We are not the spoiled, rotten brats those over 25 supposedly think we are if we believe television and the great metropolitan scandal sheets.
What is wrong with the older generation is the same thing that is wrong with the younger. It is simple as that
But at the same time, in all fairness to those over 25, for the most part they don't believe the garbage vomited up from so much of the mass media. There is just as much bigotry in thinking all adults are bad as there is in thinking all teenagers are bad.
Now we come to those unfortunates who want something they can't get—youth, and those fortunate who can get what they want—youthful money and votes.
The tale of the little old lady tooling about town in a candyapple red Mustang with a big, meaty engine, 12-inch slicks, and straight pipes is almost legendary. Trying to recapture your youth is
futile and any attempt is pitiful, but somehow Madison Avenue salesmen keep selling.
When not selling to little old ladies, Madison Avenue is busy selling to youth, and the youth market is worth billions. But selling is not confined to merchandise. Political personalities are hot items, and boyishly handsome middle-aged millionaires cash in on youthful idealism for base political advantage.
The fast approaching majority of those under 25 has been heralded as signaling a revolution in thought and practice in America. What most people don't realize is that this same thing happened twice before in the memory of the census takers, in 1893 and 1925. What followed was not a Renaissance but two world wars within 20 years—time enough for those under 25 to become over 25. There is little reason to believe things will be different.
Maybe it is time there was an end to prejudice by these two opposing forces of the new and the old since it seems in essence they are the same. Maybe it is time that youth put down its shield of self-righteous idealism and the
—Michael Albers
THE SUMMER SESSION kansan
THE SUMMER SESSION
The Summer Session Kansan, student newspaper at the University of Kansas, is represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East 50 Street, New York, N.Y., 10022. Mail subscription rates: $6 a semester or $10 a year. Published and second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas, every Tuesday and Wednesday. Mail services: complimentary accommodations, goods, and employment advertised in the Summer Session Kansan are offered to students without regard to color, creed, or national origin.
The opinions expressed in the editorial columns are those of the editorial staff of the newspaper. Guest editorial views are not necessarily the same as those of the editor's. Any opinions expressed in the Summer Session Kansan edition may be shared with University of Kansas Administration or the Kansas State Board of Regents.
Kansan Telephone Numbers
Newsroom—UN 4-3464 Business Office—UN 4-4358
Executive Staff
Business Manager
Our leaders attempt to bridge the generation gap by catering to the youthful voter and supporter. Our clergy orient their sermons to topical subjects designed to create controversy and attract the young. Our parents strive to talk to us by dressing, acting and adopting some of the more striking symbols of our generation. They all want to eliminate the generation gap, and they all must fail.
'Gap' is progress
Advisor
Office Manager
Managing Editor
Managing Editor
Assistant Managing Editors
Jack Haney
Mel Adams
Helen Owens
Robert Stevens
older generation its shield of money and crass cynicism.
The United States is a nation of worriers. We worry about the lack of "meaningful dialog." We worry about the "credibility gap." We worry about "communication." And we worry about the "generation gap."
Photography Advisor ...
Eric Kramer, Daryl Pinckney,
Richard Vleits, and Diane Wandel
Robert Stevens Rees Roderick.
Bill Seymour Dr. Larry Day
Our clergy must never abandon their attempts to gain the youth, but they must never succeed.
Our leaders must never stop in their attempts to draw the majority of the younger generation to their side, but they must never succeed.
Our parents may understand, and always try to be "pals" with us—but they, too, must fail.
In other words, there must
In other words, there must always be a generation gap, but we must never stop trying to bridge it.
For the "gap" is the key to progress, progress that arises from the combination of the old and the new. Once there isn't a gulf between the old and the new dictatorship and tyranny may follow.
Neither Hitler nor Mao had a generation gap.
-Don Wallace
—Kansan Cartoon by Don Wallace