From Teen-Agers in Morocco, Some Words of Wisdom

The written word has wings.

Some time ago, in a context since forgotten, I evidently wrote the following words of dubious wisdom:

“Teen-agers are only interested in themselves, their friends and their idols.”

A purist might argue that the only should have followed interested , instead of preceding it, but that is not the reason the sentence has come winging back to me all the way from Morocco. Debbie Foulkes, in her third year of teaching at the Rabat American School in Rabat, writes that she put my statement up for discussion by her ninth-grade English class. “I was surprised at how strongly the students reacted to your opinion.”

Ms. Foulkes then suggested that her students write their opinions to me directly. She enclosed some of their answers.

By the way, Ms. Foulkes recalls that I was the speaker when she graduated from Occidental College in June, 1979.

I no longer remember what I said on that occasion, but I’m sure I did not say that “teen-agers are only interested in themselves, their friends and their idols.”

From the signatures, I gather that some of Ms. Foulkes’ students are German, some French, some English or American, and some Moroccan. Their English is uniformly good. Ms. Foulkes has taught them well.

First, I am reassured by a note from Adrien Le Bis: “I like your opinion on teen-agers! I agree with it very much. I am 14 years old and I am interested in myself, my friends and my idols. I agree!”

So far so good.

But Hmamouch Hadj sounds a different note: “I disagree with you because I am a teen-ager and I care for my friends and myself, but I also care for people around me. If what you say is true in L.A. then you should come to Morocco and see the people around you. I would like you to change the quote into ‘teen-agers care for themselves and their friends.’ ”

Well, that’s not much of a change, and it leaves out a group that teen-agers do care for--their idols.

Wanda Bing says that because Rabat American School’s students are from so many countries, perhaps they think more about the world than students in other nations.

“I agree that teen-agers think a lot about their friends, their idols and themselves. Friends seem to be very important to teen-agers. Since you listen to lots of music when you are a teen-ager you also become a fan of certain rock bands. Which means you get idols. . . . But as I said before they think of lots of other things.”

Dawn Lawhorn, an American, writes: “As I am a teen-ager I agree and disagree with you. I agree that we care about our friends but we also care about other things . . . such as world happenings and family. I think you do us, as teen-agers, an injustice.”

“Your quote . . . I think is wrong,” writes Neil Illane. “I don’t always or only think about myself because I’m a person who is generous and loves to share. I usually don’t always think of my idols. Now what do you have to say? Nothing. Right? Well, I told you you were wrong. Next time you write a quote make sure it applies to everyone.”

I agree that whatever truth there may have been in my remark, as a generalization it was too broad.

Mouna Belkaid writes: “I think I agree with you about teen-agers and what you stated about them.”

“I’m sorry, but I disagree,” writes Irina Seidel. “Since I am a teen-ager I think we are not interested in only these three things. I am interested in my best friend and myself but I’m also interested in everybody. I think teen-agers want to know about what’s going on in the world. I think if your quote wouldn’t say ‘ only interested in’ it would fit better for most of us teen-agers.”

(Did you notice that Irina put her only in the right place?)

“I personally felt that this quote was too general,” writes Allisandra Butzbach, reinforcing my own opinion. She notes that the students at Rabat are deeply interested in the Persian Gulf situation and in the environment. “We have two trash cans at every corner instead of one, one for the recyclable cans, bottles, etc., and one for nonrecyclable trash. Furthermore, in each classroom there is a box to put all the used paper into so it can be recycled.”

“Teen-agers are interested in themselves, their friends and their idols,” writes Nate Huey. “They are also interested in hundreds of other things as well; like music, sports, the environment, people and school. . . . Remember, like all people over the age of 19 years you were once a teen-ager yourself.”

Don’t I know it.

“Most of the class agreed with it, but we didn’t like some of the small details you put in like only ,” writes Patrick Chasle.

All right, let me revise it: Teen-agers are interested mainly in themselves, their friends and their idols.

But who isn’t?