It is natural for young people to be critical of their parents at times and to blame them for most of the misunderstandings between them. They have always complained, more or less justly, that their parents are out of touch with modem ways; that they are possessive and dominant; that they do not trust their children to deal with crises; that they talk too much about certain problems—and that they have no sense of humour, at least in parent-child relationships. [79] I think it is true that parents often underestimate their teenage children and also forget how they felt themselves when they were young. [*] Young people often irritate their parents with their choices in clothes, hairstyles, entertainers and music. This is not their motive. They feel cut off from the adult world into which they have not yet been accepted, so they create a culture and society of their own. Then, if it turns out that their music, entertainers, vocabulary, clothes or hairstyles irritate their parents, this gives them additional enjoyment. They feel they are superior, at least in a small way, and that they are leaders in style and taste. Sometimes teenagers are resistant, and proud because they do not want their parents to approve of what they do. If they did approve, it looks as if the teenager is betraying his own age group. All this is assuming that the teenager is the underdog; he can’t win but at least he can keep his honour. This is a passive way of looking at things. It is natural enough after years of childhood, when children were completely under their parents’ control, but it ignores the fact that when they become teenagers, children are beginning to be responsible for themselves. If you plan to control your life, co-operation should be a part of that plan. You can charm other people, especially your parents, into doing things the way you want. [80] You can also impress people with your sense of responsibility and your initiative, so that they will give you the authority to do what you want to do.

When your kids are advised to “get an education” if they want to earn a decent income, they are told only half of the truth. What is really meant is that they should get just enough education to provide manpower, for the society in which they live, but not so much that they become an embarrassment to that society. Get a high school diploma, at least. Without that, you will be occupationally dead, unless your name happens to be George Bernard Shaw or Thomas Alva Edison, and you can drop out of grade school and still be successful. Get a college degree, if possible, because with a BA, you are on the launching pad. After that, though, you have to start putting on the brakes. If you go for a master’s degree, make sure it is an MBA, and only from a first-rate university. Beyond this, the famous law of diminishing returns begins to take effect. Do you know, for instance, that long-haul truck drivers earn more per year than full professors? Yes, the average 2007 salary for truckers was $ 34, 000, while a full professor only earned $ 33, 930. [79] A PhD is the highest degree you can get, but except in a few specialized fields such as physics and chemistry, where the degree can quickly be turned to industrial or commercial purposes, you are facing a dim future. There are far more PhDs unemployed or underemployed in this country than in any other. If you become a doctor of philosophy in English, history, anthropology, political science, languages or—worst of all—philosophy, you are probably over-educated for our national demands—not for our needs, mind you, but for our demands. [80] Thousands of PhDs are selling shoes, driving cabs, waiting on tables and filling out fruitless applications month after month. Many of them end up taking a job in some high school or backwater college that pays much less than the janitor earns. The level of income is proportional to one’s level of education only to a degree—to the degree, that is, that makes a person useful to the gross national product, but not to a degree that nobody can run much of a profit on such a person.

The first paragraph is mainly about______.

Teenagers have strange clothes and hairstyles because they______.

Teenagers do not want their parents to approve of what they do because they______.

I think it is true that parents often underestimate their teenage children and also forget how they themselves felt when they were young.

You can also impress other people with your sense of responsibility and initiative, so that they will give you the authority to do what you want to do.