Mike A Males

When you make a contentious or challenging declaration, the onus is on you to prove it. And prove it he does! Simply put, this book details (in great detail) how one generation have used their political power to feather their own nests whilst underfunding every aspect of the lives of children. He shows that the previous few generations of Americans used their political power to take children out of poverty at a cost to themselves, but the boomers did the opposite. He shows the terrible show more terrible social costs this has had. He also shows in minute detail how all the things that America blames kids for are done overwhelmingly by adults.

As this book was written in the mid 90s it would probably shock Males to learn that the boomers are still holding on to power over and above all other generational cohorts, and that the world of the 20s makes the 90s look like sunny uplands. This is an important book, which was completely ignored at the time and since, but it tells us partly how we got into the hellscape in which we live, and who is responsible. One day I will go through the charts and run them up to the modern time and see if there are any areas in which things have improved... show less

To read the mainstream media, a person would think that America's teenagers are reckless maniacs, getting drunk, stoned, pregnant or murdered by the thousands. Males, who has spent years writing about, and actually talking to, youth, gives a very different answer.
A teen's home situation is a much more reliable indicator of whether or not they will smoke, drink or abuse drugs than peer pressure or pop culture. In 1996, when teens were supposed to be abusing drugs in record numbers, about show more 100,000 adults were taken to hospital emergency rooms for heroin or cocaine emergencies; in the same year, only 1,000 teens made such a trip. Little-discussed aspects of the teen pregnancy "epidemic" are past sexual abuse of the girl, usually by a family member, and the large number of fathers that are over 20 years old. The media would seemingly rather reprint law enforcement press releases than actually analyze crime statistics. They also tend to lie about crime trends, even when they are going in the proper direction; not stretching the truth, or differing interpretations, but it is closer to saying that black is white and up is down.
This is an eloquent and fascinating look at how badly young people are treated by their elders, filled to overflowing with numbers, graphs and statistics. It is highly recommended. show less

Violence. Drugs. Pregnancy. Suicide. Are our nation's teenagers out of control? Mike Males provides a shockingly different picture--How politicians, private interests, and the media unfairly scapegoat adolescents for America's problems. The Scape Goat Generation dramatically re-defines both modern adolescence and the challenges faced by all Americans to ensure the next generation's future.

good ideas, hard to digest/interpret