Leilani Tirado
The issues of Gen z
The new generation of teens and young adults, Gen Z, have had a countless amount of complaints from people in society. Gen Z consists of people from the age of 11 to 26. As a New York resident, commuting from home and school, I have seen many young children project such bad behavior that concerns me of their safety. Living in a majority black and brown community, there is often not enough support to help the children get the aid that everyone so badly complains about. Everyday you will see adolescent children acting out of place, being involved in gangs, smoking and drinking at young ages, etc. This issue catches my attention because as I have two younger siblings, I want to see them succeed and grow up with a good structured mindset. I want to be sure that the community that they live in is safe and that they do not get manipulated or peer pressured into the wrong crowd. In an article by the CDC, they demonstrate how the highest age range rates are people between the ages of 15-24. This demonstrates how young teens, starting at the age of 15, are having unprotected sex that creates bodily issues. The standards for the next generation have decreased and create an eye-opening result of teens being “destructive” and “inappropriate”. Young adults and children are more likely to participate in take in drugs, alcohol, nicotine, and violence. Each day more young adults are getting into more fights, drinking more alcohol (underage), smoking, and being publicly destructive. I believe that by giving more resources to help, are not going to help in anyway. As this generation is more likely to do whatever they want to, they can easily find a way to avoid getting help and instead help each other stay in to wrong lifestyle. In my high school, we had to get metal detectors more than often due to students getting into fights, getting threats, gang affiliated issues, and etc. There is no reason a school from grades 6-12 should be dealing with heavy violence and children with weapons, it is a place of learning. Students should feel safe in an environment that they need to attend to for 5 days of the week. We need to set better standards for the younger children and create better community for them to be able to become successful and follow a different lifestyle.
CDC ARTICLE: