THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 19, 1995 TAG: 9512190002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: BY EMBER DAWSON
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
It's the same old thing - the weekend, a time for teenagers to taste freedom. But as the weekly barrage of tests, homework and more homework subsides, the never-ending search for something to do begins yet again.
And so the young in Hampton Roads unite in this thing called boredom. Sure, there are a few places for those between the ages of 13 and 18 to go, but not enough. The result is that too many teens settle into a weekly pattern of drug and alcohol experimentation.
For many, finding ways to obtain alcohol and marijuana on Fridays and Saturdays provides a gamelike diversion. Obtaining substances prohibited by law and consuming them for amusement is a goal teenagers set out to achieve when they leave the house and start driving around the streets. It's something to do.
On a recent Friday my friends and I decided, just like we do every Friday, that we were going to find something new and exciting to do. To start, we went to First Colony Coffee House and then traveled to my living room floor to play a few rounds of poker. Wanting to mobilize, we hopped into my friend's car, made a cigarette run, and continued to drive around the streets of Norfolk for the remainder of the evening.
Other kids from my school would instead have headed straight for a source of alcohol and attempted to find a place to consume it.
I've heard that when my parents were young, their weekends were packed with after-football-game dances or similar events at YMCAs and schools, which provided safe places where teens could socialize.
Ironically, increasing violence and other social problems have led to the cancellation of these safe activities. For example, there is no longer a homecoming dance at Lake Taylor High because of security concerns.
This starts a vicious cycle. Author Joel Fort captures this notion in his book Pleasure Seekers. Fort says: ``Traditional sources of meaning such as religion, political ideology, campus activities and upward mobility have evaporated. . . '' and so teens are forced into a ``find-your-own-thing-and-do-it'' frame of mind.
Most teenagers are searching for the meaning of life and what we want to stand for as individuals. In a world of unprecedented technological and social change, the moral structure which our parents used to maintain a personal balance is falling apart. The result is an underlying sense of desperation that leads teens to a variety of destructive behavior.
Consider these statistics:
One-third of all eighth-graders in a recent report used illicit drugs.
Two-thirds of eighth-graders have tried alcohol.
One-quarter say they still drink.
Fort says that drug abuse among young people ``is a barometer and a commentary on the society, reflecting failure of the . . . schools, and the `leaders' to provide meaningful ingress for youthful energy.''
Granted, some experimentation by teens is almost expected in the process of maturation - they try drugs and then move on. My concern lies in the fact that in the past it seemed that teens indulged because of ``mind expansion.'' But in today's society, this lust for drugs and alcohol has been transformed into what author Richard Powell, in his book Classrooms Under the Influence, calls an ``antidote for boredom.''
In the eyes of teenagers, there's basically nothing better to do.
So maybe not many people show up at the one annual school dance. But if a dance were held every two weeks, students might just decide to stop by. Or here's a suggestion: Teenagers need to be encouraged to express ideas for improvement, to work with adults to find ways to move away from boredom toward productivity and fun.
I'm tired of watching my classmates go to waste. MEMO: Ember Dawson is a senior at Maury High School. by CNB