What are we going to do about The Other Generation?

As I read this article, I was struck by a couple of things.

1) A 14 year old was in downtown Atlanta at midnight with friends. (Implied in the article was that the friends were of the same age).

2) His mother didn't know he was downtown.

It is no wonder we are having the crisis in education when parents are that out of touch with their children.

Add that Georgia will now use the students' test scores in the teachers' evaluation and I can tell it is going to be a banner year.

I have students who do not come to school to take their graduation tests (forget taking them seriously, they don't take them) when they cannot graduate without passing the test. Yep, I want my efforts judged on their efforts.

"The Other Generation" Flower Drum Song, Rogers and Hammerstein
What are we going to do about
The Other Generation?
How will ever communicate
Without communication?
You can't account for what they'll say or do.
And what peculiar thoughts they think
They never reveal to you.

A very discouraging problem is
The Other Generation.
They want to lead a life that's all their own.
Perhaps we ought to let them,
Forsake them and forget them!
But then we'd only find ourselves alone.--With one another!--
I don't believe we'd like to be alone!

What are we going to do about
The Other Generation?
They never take the blame for one mistake.--Oh no!--
Their parents are responsible
For ev'ry mistake they make!

A very discouraging problem is
The Other Generation.
And soon there'll be another one as well!
And when our out of hand sons
Are bringing up our grandsons,
I hope our grandsons give their fathers hell!--Can't wait to see it!--
I hope our grandsons give their fathers hell!

(Reprise)

Well, the more I see of grownups
The less I want to grow.
The more I see what they have learned
The less I want to know.
And yet we've got to all grow up,
There's no place else to go.
I wonder why we're all so poor
And they've got all the dough!
What are we going to do about
The Other Generation?
How will ever communicate
Without communication?
When we are using words the modern way,
They're much too big to try to dig
The colorful things we say.

If we could take over the training of
The Other Generation,
We know we could improve them quite a lot.
But they will never let us.

They stay the way they met us,
And so we're simply stuck with what we've got.--You can't improve them.--
The kids are simply stuck with what they've got.

What are we going to do about
The Other Generation?
How are we going to stop them when
They start an explanation
Of 'What is used to mean to be a kid!'
The clean and wholesome fun they had,
The innocent things they did!

They all had a wonderful childhood in
The Other Generation.
The games they played were bright and gay and loud.
They used to shout 'Red Rover,
Red Rover please come over!'
They must have been an awful droopy crowd when they were younger.
They must have been an awful droopy crowd.