At the same time they want to be a selfsufficient and rebellious group， they reach out for a hand to guide them. Their accusationaccusation n.谴责， ［律］指控 that adults “fail to understand” them is a reflection of our “wanting to understand”， and their “rebelliousness” is， in part at least， a reflection of our fairly new belief in “permissiveness” and in our encouraging them to make up their own minds. They seem to be in a terrible hurry to be grownup， to have grownup respect paid to them， at the same time that they resent the group they most want to be part of - a not uncommon human condition.
They have reason to resent us， and if the reflection of ourselves that we see in them is not a pretty one， we should not be surprised. Let，s look a little deeper into the mirror of our society and see theirs.
There was a time not long ago when parents not only preached the virtues of work but practiced them. The work week was ten or fifteen hours longer than it is now for father， and his day off each week was a restorative to enable him to do a better job on the other six days. Now leisure has become a kind of job in its own light， and it is going to become still more of a job. When the work week shrinks， as economists say it will， to twenty hours， it is going to be difficult indeed for father to preach to his children the old gospel that “the devil finds work for idle hands.” There is plenty of evidence around us now of what happens to young people deprived of the opportunity to work and without the resources， either cultural or social， to put their time to good use.
But time on parental hands has still further effects. At its worst it is corrosive and it is stultifyingstultify vt.使显得愚笨， 使变无效， 使成为徒劳. It passively accepts what is put before it. It wallows in ways to make time pass - hours of sitting before the television or in aimless puttering. Or it can be dangerously aggressive against society， or against self， as in dope addiction or alcoholism.
Less spectacular， but also corrosive， undirected leisure takes itself out in consumption for consumption，sconsumption n.消费， 消费量， 肺病 sake， in buying gadgets that save time， when time is the thing that least needs saving for the already timeladened. It shows itself in ostentation and in competition with one，s neighbors. Everyone wants to be the biggest Jones in the block. These are the lessons that the young learn when leisure is not constructiveconstructive adj.建设性的 and does not enrich the spirit. It can， of course， be otherwise， but it is the parents who show the direction.
There is another direction they show. A good deal of journalistic space is occupied these days by articles about the number of young people who cheat on exams. Is this， after all， very different from padding an expense account or， more important， shading the truth on an incometax return？ If colleges and universities promote gifts in such a way that it is sometimes possible for a donor to make money by giving gifts to them， doesn，t the line of academic honesty become a little blurred？
Or take another matter that is related to schools. It is not uncommon today to find youngsters who， when they have graduated from high school， wished they had been made to work harder. Why？ Suddenly adults have been spurred into believing that only education will save us from lagging behind the Russians； suddenly bright students have a few status which a few years ago they sadly lacked - often to the point of being ostracized by their contemporaries. The “grind” and the “brightie” were looked down upon， a reflection of intellectualintellectual adj.智力的， 有智力的， 显示智力的 n.知识分子 distrust on the part of parents. Now the winds blow in a different direction.
Or take the shibboleth of “conformity” with which the critics of our society plague us. （In my opinion this is a convenient tag that has been greatly overused to describe one aspect of a highly industrialized nation.） How is the teenage custom of “going steady” a reflection of our own insecurityinsecurity n.不安全， 不安全感？“ To what extent is it， as I have suggested， an attempt to inject a kind of formalityformality n.拘谨， 礼节， 仪式， 正式手续， 拘泥形式 into relationships among young people that they miss in this age of informality？
The Girl Scouts may say that they are against it， but it has become a tribal custom of the young that they observe with almost universal respect all the same.
We are inclined to be indulgent about the heroworship of the teenager for the movie glamour boys， for the Presleys and the James Deans and Eddie Fishers and Ricky Nelsons. We should be. We are heroworshipers ourselves. It is evident in our political attitudes， in the numbers of us who don，t even bother to vote， presumably because we are willing to “leave it to the boss.” It is evident in our reverence toward leaders of business and industry， toward scientists， toward anybody who we think can lead us by the hand through the maze of complications that beset us.
To what extent is our fear of the Russians， for example， responsible for the teenager，s belief in censorshipcensorship n.审查机构， 审查制度， in wiretapping， in search without warrant？ If we are worried， as we should be， about their attitudes toward personal liberties， hadn，t we better look to our own？
It is easy to take this subculture， this minority group， the teenagers， and read our characters and future in them as though they were tea leaves. We can adumbratedadumbrate vt.画轮廓， 预示 in them our attitudes toward religion， toward the arts and toward education more clearly than we can by looking at ourselves. We are likely to be more indulgent in looking at ourselves than at them； we smooth over our own exaggerations while we view theirs with alarm.
