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What Teens Really Think BY ROBERT KIENER Is our future in good hands? An exclusive Readers Digest poll reveals some surprising findings. CANADIANS, by and large, have long believed that if you work hard, success is within your reach. Is that dream still alive? Do Canadas young people still believe in it? To find out, Readers Digest commissioned CROP, a national research company, to survey 1,003 Canadian teenagers with a battery of questions. We asked the 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds what they value, how they spend their time, how they view family life, work and civic responsibilities, and what they think about Canada and their opportunities. Our survey shows that Canadian teenagers have high hopes for the future. Ninety-three percent of our respondents said they expect to achieve happiness and prosperity in their lifetime. I can do whatever I set my mind to, said Lisa Grocholski, 17, of Calgary. Courtney Brown, 17, of Vernon, B.C., agreed. Her goals: To have a happy family and a job I love. The work ethic, too, is alive and well among Canadas teenagers. Eighty-eight percent of our respondents agreed that anyone who works hard can get ahead. These attitudes may surprise Canadians who see our youth in a less-than-favourable light. Daily, it seems, the media report the misdeeds of our teens. In Victoria, a group of adolescents is tried for beating and drowning high-school student Reena Virk. In Winnipeg, a teenager is jailed after a dangerous car chase. And in Montreal, five teens are charged with beating an 81-year-old woman to death. Teens are often seen as spoiled lawbreakers who disrespect authority. Nevertheless, our survey found that there is cause for optimism about Canadas youth. Heres what we discovered: Teens believe in Canada. When we asked them if they agreed with the United Nations ranking of Canada as the best country in the world in which to live, a resounding 93 percent said this was absolutely true or mostly true. Said 16-year-old Bryan Dickie of Sackville, N.B.: The freedom and opportunity we have here is unparalleled. Im proud to be a Canadian. Given their enthusiasm for the nation as a whole, perhaps its not surprising that a national majority, 58 percent, is against independence for Quebec. Within Quebec, however, the results were reversed, with 61 percent favouring independence. Despite this countrys problems, 88 percent said that Canada is holding steady or improving. Teens believe in family. Although divorce has claimed many of their parents marriages - 17 percent of respondents parents were either separated or divorced - in interview after interview, our teenagers said that dependable and stable family life is high on their list of needs. Indeed, raising healthy and happy children and having a good marriage are at the top of the list. Eighty-six percent of those polled said it was very or somewhat likely they will marry; 88 percent thought their marriages would last. Virtually all plan to have children. According to Jessica McCartney, 16, of Red Deer, Alta., give and take on both sides makes a successful marriage. Her parents are separated, but Jessica has high hopes for a happy marriage. Its a commitment that takes a lot of work, she said. And while divorce is commonplace, adultery is definitely a no-no. Asked if it was wrong for a married person to have sexual relations with someone who is not their husband or wife, 82 percent of respondents said it is always wrong. That result doesnt surprise Christine Simmons-Physick, vice president, childrens services, for the national Kids Help Phone. Adultery often leads to divorce, she says, and many teens have seen firsthand the damage divorce can do. Even if it is amicable, divorce crumbles a childs foundations. Teens agree with their parents values. A nearly unanimous 98 percent of those surveyed said their parents had set a good example of right and wrong. Nicole Sul, 17, of Winnipeg, spoke for many teens when she told us, My mom is my hero; I want to be just like her. When we asked teens how their own attitudes about right and wrong compared with their parents, 70 percent said pretty much the same. The survey results confirm a widespread optimism among teenagers, says Sandra Kirby, chairman of the Department of Sociology at the University of Winnipeg. Todays teens are the first generation to have grown up with the new global information network and free from the threat of the Cold War, says Kirby. They are confident and consider themselves, in effect, spokesmen for the new millennium. Teens believe financial prosperity can be theirs. Our young people proved to be much more industrious than the stereotypical layabout teen. Sixty-seven percent said they had worked for pay for more than ten hours in any week in the past summer. Forty-eight percent said they had paying jobs during the school year. Over half said they save all or most of their wages. Just under half of respondents expected to be better off financially than their parents when they are about the same age their parents are now. Another 45 percent expect to be about the same. In a 1998 Angus Reid poll, 57 percent of adult Canadians surveyed predicted that the next generation would be worse off financially than they themselves are. Some of the most vocal support for economic prospects in this country came from teens in immigrant families. Ahmed Shahein of St. Laurent, Que., called Canada the land of opportunity. The 16-year-old, whose parents emigrated here from Egypt and Jordan, plans to become a doctor. My dad always tells me how lucky I am to have been born and educated here, said Shahein. His father, who worked long hours as a hotel clerk when he arrived in Canada, is now the prosperous manager of a Middle Eastern pastry shop. Teens have a social conscience. We wondered how teenagers across the country felt about immigration. An overwhelming majority - 78 percent - would vote against a law that would stop almost all immigration into Canada for the next five years. Julie Payne, 17, of Lethbridge, Alta., counts a Chinese immigrant among her best friends and said, It is invaluable to grow up with people of different races and nationalities - they broaden our perspectives. Just as most teens supported Canadas immigration policy, a vast majority - 85 percent - said it was absolutely essential to treat all people equally, regardless of race or ethnic background. But when we asked how to achieve that equality, our respondents were divided. We asked if they would favour a law prohibiting preferential job hiring on the basis of race or sex. Fifty-five percent were against such a law, and 44 percent in favour. Another question that split our teenagers concerned welfare. Forty-nine percent would favour a law that cut off welfare benefits to people who had not found a job or become self-sufficient after two years; 48 percent were against it. Canadians have long been quick to volunteer in times of need. Happily, our teens are continuing that tradition. Fifty-nine percent of our respondents said they had volunteered in the past year; 39 percent of those had done so in the last month. Other findings. Compared to American teenagers, our respondents proved to be more liberal on many issues. For example, when we asked how important it was to obey all laws, 58 percent of Canadian teens said it was absolutely essential, compared with 74 percent of American teens, according to the Roper Centre for Public Opinion Research. Only 45 percent of American teens favoured a law permitting same-sex marriages versus 67 percent of Canadian respondents. While many would have you believe that Canadian teenagers are becoming more and more like their American cousins, says CROPs Claude Gauthier, this poll shows them to have distinct differences in outlooks and values. Our survey also found Canadian teens today are highly permissive about premarital sex. Only 11 percent - in Quebec, just two percent - felt it was always wrong for a person to have sexual relations before marriage. Nationally, 87 percent believed it was okay for a man and woman to live together outside of marriage. As for serving in the armed forces during wartime, 59 percent found it a matter of personal preference, and only 14 percent said it was essential. In the latter group is 17-year-old David Houle of Shipshaw, Que., who said, I would fight for Canada. Our poll shows that politics, too, are in disrepute among the young. Sixty-eight percent strongly or mostly agreed that there really are very few political leaders that I look up to. Said Pauline Bodnar, 16, of Scarborough: Politicians dont speak to teenagers; its like were invisible to them. Just 24 percent thought it absolutely essential to keep fully informed about news and public issues. When we looked more closely, we discovered that the higher the grade average a respondent had, the more he or she felt it necessary to stay informed. (Twenty-nine percent of A students versus 18 percent of C and D students.) Only 34 percent of respondents felt it was essential to vote in elections; 31 percent said voting was entirely a matter of personal preference. Just 26 percent - only 13 percent in Quebec - believed it was essential to serve on juries; 40 percent considered it a matter of personal preference. According to Robert Glossop, executive director of programs at the Vanier Institute of the Family in Nepean, Ont., our results reinforce the belief that institutional authorities no longer control the hearts and minds of teens the way they once did. One of our most disturbing findings concerned the problem of cheating in school. Seventy-four percent told us that teens in general think it is usually or sometimes okay. When we asked individuals if they personally thought that cheating is usually okay, sometimes okay or never okay, a still surprisingly large 38 percent said it was usually or sometimes okay. Theres more cheating because theres more pressure on students to do well, said Jordan Marr, 18, of Kamloops, B.C. These results dont surprise Professor Anne-Marie Ambert, a York University sociologist who has written widely on teenagers. Sadly, more and more teenagers see examples of dishonest adults around them who are never caught or punished, she says. This has made cheating seem much more acceptable. Cheating in school is one thing, cheating on ones income tax is apparently another. Eighty percent of our teenagers reported this was never okay. Another interesting result: The majority - 57 percent - were against legalizing marijuana. A death penalty for persons convicted of murder produced an even split for and against, as did a proposal to reduce federal spending for military and defence purposes. Sixty-three percent were against an anti-abortion law; and 67 percent would vote against a law permitting prayer in public schools. The vast majority - 79 percent - favoured a law requiring a balanced federal budget. Teens polled expressed a strong sense of responsibility for their fellow man. Eighty-three percent considered it essential to take action to help if they heard someone screaming or saw them being attacked. Seventy percent of our teens felt it essential to report a crime they had witnessed. Even more encouraging, our poll showed that teenagers have a strong foundation in faith and morals. Nearly three out of four (71 percent) report they believe in God; 18 percent of those polled go to a house of worship once or more a week. We also asked teens what they would do if they found themselves unsure of what was right or wrong. The majority, 43 percent, said they would try to do what would be best for everyone involved. Only one in ten would take the self-serving path of doing what would help me to get ahead. WITH RESULTS like these, it seems surprising that so many adults are pessimistic about todays teen-agers. Some of this pessimism is to be expected - every generation looks a bit askance at younger ones. Albertas Adam Hunter, 16, offered another explanation: If a teenager breaks the law, adults are quick to tar all of us with the same brush. The fact is, the vast majority of us are honest, upstanding citizens. Beverley Cathcart-Ross, cofounder of the Parent Education Network, a Toronto-based family counselling and education service, believes many parents lose touch with their children as they become teenagers. They get more and more pessimistic about their kids - usually because they can no longer have as much control over their lives. They feel shut out by the teenager, who needs more independence and privacy,she says. Surprisingly, most teenagers are optimists; it is adults who worry and focus on the negative. Josh Levac, 18, of Brantford, Ont., was bullish on his own and Canadas future. My parents raised me to look at lifes positive side, he said. Thanks to them, no matter what life throws at me, I feel confident I can make it. Welcome to the spokesmen for the new millennium. Canadas future, thanks to a lot of confident and hopeful teenagers, is in very good hands. Why Boys Must Be BoysIs your sons school giving him what he needs to succeed? BY GABRIELLE BAUERFROM CANADIAN LIVING On Liam Courts* first day of Grade 1 in Toronto, he was raring to goliterally bouncing with excitement. He figured hed have no trouble with school: He already knew how to print his name and the right answer to “eight plus eight.” At the end of the school day, his father asked him how the day had gone. “Great,” said Liam. “The only bad thing was that we had to sit at our desks for so long.”Liam is now in Grade 8 and somewhat less enthusiastic about his education. Hes learned to sit still and to hand in his homework on time, but he finds that something is missing in the stuff hes learning. “So much of it is boring, like doing reports on books I dont enjoy reading,” he says.And what does he like to read? “Fantasy,” he replies without hesitation. Hes also a whiz at Nintendo and Playstation games. The problem with school, he says, is “too many essays and not enough action.”Girls education has been a major focus for education researchers since the early 1970s. More recently, well-publicized studies and books, such as 1995s Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher, have argued that school systems put girls at a disadvantage. Educators have taken the accusation seriously enough to implement “girl friendly” teaching methods such as small-group learning and math lessons based on real-life situations.Now the experts are telling us that girls are doing just fineits boys like Liam who need our attention.If Canadian statistics are any indication, this concern is not unfounded. Suzanne Witkin, an instructional leader of English literacy with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), says that ten percent more girls than boys achieve Level 3 or 4 (4 being the highest) in standardized reading and writing tests in Grades 3 and 6. And girls are holding their own in math. In Alberta, boys still have a slight edge in math and science but lag far behind girls in language arts, says Darlene Montgomery, a curriculum specialist at the Calgary Board of Education. Other provinces report similar lags. In a groundbreaking move, several school boards in Ontario now require that all of their schools develop written plans to help boys catch up to their more literate sisters.Whats even more worrisome to educators is the gender gap in academic enthusiasm and ambition. About 60 percent of girls in Grades 3 and 6 in Ontario like reading and writing, while less than half of boys make these claims. “Our boys are clustering in disproportionate numbers in non-university-bound high-school streams,” notes Montgomery. “Theyre also more likely to have behavioural problems and to be suspended.”Boy BrainsSo whats up with boys? The way North American schools teach boys puts them at risk of underachieving, says Michael Gurian, an educator, child advocate and author of Boys and Girls Learn Differently! “Reading and writing dont come as naturally to boys as they do to girls, not initially,” he says. “Many of us have felt this instinctively, and schools are finally coming to recognize it: Boys and girls dont learn the same way or at the same rate.”Many problems experienced by boys in the classroom stem from being normal boys in a setting thats not designed to handle them, says Gurian. “Our educators often lack understanding of typical boy traits such as aggression, verbal and emotional reticence, and interest in objects moving through space,” he says. Case in point: Liam Court, our Grade 8 student in Toronto. He has this to say about the clash between his lessons and his learning: “I get frustrated when I have to write my opinion about something. I dont know what the right answers are or what the teacher expects. And shes always asking me to put more emotional content into my stories, even if theyre about robot wars and that kind of stuff.”Not all boys are like Liam, of course. Boys who would just as soon write in a personal journal as plan an intergalactic battle are by no means rare. Twenty to 30 percent of boys probably fall into the category of liking reflection as well as action, estimates Gurian. Still, child-development experts agree that the average boy is different from the average girland thats partly due to nature, as well as nurture.This is apparent from the get-go. Boys usually speak their first words later than girls and develop