Today’s Young People: Wild, Yet Sophisticated?

Queen’s University’s recent cancellation of Homecoming Weekend for the next couple of years shows that in many cases, today’s young people are wilder than the twenty-somethings have ever been – the cancellation was due to the wild after-parties held just off campus.  While the crazy homecoming incidents are predominantly the fault of outsiders, people who have little to no connection with the university, it still shows that today’s young people are not the same as the past.  Many are much less disciplined and all together less proper than in previous decades. At least that’s what older people believe.

However, there is also a segment of young people today that is much more sophisticated than the previous generations. One good example is in the area of food. Just look at the types of restaurants popping up in hip, up-and-coming neighbourhoods.  They certainly aren’t places that one’s parents and grandparents would have considered when they were in their 20s and 30s. In large cities like Toronto, there are plenty of new condo projects which are attracting the young.  These condos are usually located somewhere in the city’s core, near restaurants, cafes, bookstores and theatres. The young people who live in these neighbourhoods tend to have more cosmopolitan interests, and be more mature.

Some of you may think that this latter group of people are more mature because they’re older.  After all, they’re no longer living with their parents, and have their own place.  But according to reports, some people involved with the homecoming incidents at Queen’s weren’t current students, but alumni.  Who knows? The same people who behaved wildly at the Homecoming events could very well be the well behaved people in their home neighbourhoods.

At the same time, many young people are actually very sophisticated at an earlier age.  There are lots of high school students, even some middle school students who have done extensive international travels, and have been exposed to foods, music and cultures which would not have interested the vast majority of people of that age group.

All in all, I think we can no longer stereotype “young people”.  They are all different. The older generation has to learn to treat the young people not as a group, but as separate individuals.