Why is there such a negative stereotype around teenagers?
I remember, like, three weeks ago, I was set the task (like all fifteen year olds alike in the area) to find work experience. I was very excited, so were my friends as we gushed over where we were going to spend the week.
"I'm going to Hollister!" exclaimed one. "Yeah, but that's not as good as volunteering at Selfridges!" stated another. Well, that didn't happen for them, due to large chains not really accepting kids trying to find jobs for no longer than a week. So when we were set free to find our placements, the task wasn't as easy as I hoped. I had called ten businesses, all independent. All said no. Some had good reasons. The vet clinic blamed it on incorrect insurance, a florist stated that she already had two girls coming in. But other had more strange, almost snide reasons behind not letting me work for them.
"We just don't want kids around the clients" one said. "It's just hard... You know, having under eighteens, if you were older... Maybe" stuttered another. Well... It seems like pure ageism to me.
Luckily, I found a employer who is happy to have me, but my peers told me they had the same problem. Even the secretary arranging the placements told us the issues around finding everyone employers. But that's not much of a problem, considering that it was only for a week and only done in order to look good on our college applications.
But on a more serious note, unemployment in youths aged (16-24) is the worst it's been in twenty years. Rachel Reeves of the pension secretary quoted “I don’t think there is any denying there is an issue here. Unemployment of people aged between 16 and 24 is more than 16% now. And is going up. And there is also a wages issue. Wages for the population as a whole are £1,600 a year worse off than five years ago. If you are in your 20s, average wages are down £1,800.”
So is there a link between the negative portrayal of youths, and the extreme rate of unemployment in teens? Yes, I think so.
If you pick out a movie or a TV series based around teens, you can bet that the portrayal of them will ultimately be negative in comparison to how the elder characters of the series are. For example, the famous television series "Skins." The series includes youths engaging in drugs, unsafe sex, drinking, fighting and breaking the law. But what I find hilarious about Skins is that it was wrote by adults. Like, adults who were teens in the 60s, giving an incorrect view on what teens are like today. It makes no sense.
Same with "Glee," same with "Vampire Diaries," same with "Teen Wolf." The list will go on. And the bloody newspapers. How many times have you seen articles ranting on the uselessness of teens? Since the grades of high school students increase, apparently the 'tests are just too easy'. That all under 25s are druggies, drunks and reckless criminals. Have you seen 'sun, sex and suspicious parents'? That we all make bad decisions, for example '16 and pregnant' and 'teen mom', leaving our parents nagging us about safe sex and constantly thinking were pregnant or have got someone pregnant. And what's totally shit about all this bad media portrayal is that we are getting the other end of the stick of it.
Like I said, employers not trusting us is one thing, but they are so many more examples. To the point that shop owners are putting white noises outside their stores in order to deter teens. It sucks, because ultimately, 95% of the kids I know would make just as good a worker than any other person who's older. How come we can't vote at 16? Not enough trust yet?
And it's definitely a twenty-first century thing. A few centuries ago, kids were becoming mother and starting jobs aged 15. Hell, Juliet Capulet was thirteen when her mother stated she was prepared for marriage. I'm not saying we should all become adults at young ages but I am saying that teens were once seen as mature enough to have responsibility.
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