I must take exception to Twila Van Leer's characterization of respondents to a survey of teens who were included in this year's Who's Who Among American High School Students. She attributed their answers to the "liberal bent" of the teens.
To say the responses reflected liberalism is inaccurate. The definition she substitutes essentially is a caricature of the term, namely liberalism as a bogeyman.Apparently, the students responding to the survey were asked about their own behaviors, their beliefs and about the world they live in. According to Van Leer, their answers paint a "grim picture of [theT country's high school students," depicting "a generation that appears to be sinking into an increasingly amoral, vicious morass."
Could it be, Van Leer asks, that the survey appealed primarily to "young people with a liberal bent"?
What does she mean? Is it that liberals tend to exaggerate social problems? Maybe race relations aren't really that bad. Perhaps the students are just too sensitive to violence in the schools and their own and others' feelings of depression.
In that case, a survey of less liberal teens would put these issues in their proper place. Could it be that the survey showed that cheating is so rampant, the use of alcohol so widespread, access to weapons so easy, sexual activity is so frequent and parents receive so little respect because the students among Who's Who have liberal leanings?
Van Leer implies as much. Apparently in her lexicon one can either be liberal or "good, wholesome, self-directed, ambitious and focused." While we might quibble over the characteristics of a well-adjusted person and member of society, I take exception to anyone who suggests that liberalism is in any way an expression of their absence.
In fact, I would argue the contrary. I believe that an open and questioning mind and an acceptance of and concern for others are basic tenets of liberalism. What kind of people are we unless we think for ourselves and feel for others?
By raising the liberal bogeyman, Van Leer does nothing to further discussion about the problems teens face and what can be done about them.
Paul S. Kelley
Salt Lake City