AMERICA’S YOUTH: A NEW IDEALISM : Meet the ‘We’ Generation . . . : In the 1990s, teen-agers everywhere, including Orange County, show greater concern for social causes, surveys show.

They grew up hearing about the depletion of the ozone layer and the destruction of the rain forest in Brazil. Live Aid, Farm Aid and Comic Relief became part of their vocabulary. And they witnessed the materialism of the ‘80s clash with growing poverty and homelessness.

So it’s not surprising that the emerging generation of the ‘90s is showing more interest in social causes and less interest in the pursuit of fast-track corporate careers.

And, as interviews with Orange County high school teachers and counselors and an informal survey of high school seniors show, the county’s young people are not just paying lip service to these social concerns.

Whether it’s helping preserve the environment, feeding the homeless or trying to keep classmates off drugs, a number of Orange County high school students are getting involved.

In the survey of 604 seniors at four Orange County high schools--Newport Harbor, Santa Ana, Woodbridge in Irvine, and Troy in Fullerton--nearly a third said they devote at least an hour a week to volunteer work. Of those, the vast majority cited a desire to help the community as their primary motivation.

The written survey, which was distributed by school officials for The Times Orange County Edition, was completed by approximately half the seniors in the four schools.

“Teen-agers are notorious for not thinking of other people first, so it’s really rewarding when you see them begin to help others,” said Shirley Bebereia, adviser to Santa Ana Volunteer Youth (SAVVY), the community-service club at Century High School. “I notice a lot of my students continue to volunteer after they graduate: They’re looking for ways to serve.”

Sue Williams, a counselor at Woodbridge High School in Irvine, agreed: “The kids I’ve been working with appear to be much more socially concerned, much more interested in helping others.”

Orange County’s socially active young people reflect a nationwide trend that may well define young people in the ‘90s: an action-oriented, socially conscious generation that is replacing “me” with “we.”

The 25th annual survey of 200,000 incoming freshmen conducted last fall in 382 colleges and universities by the American Council on Education and UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute shows that an all-time high of 43% said it is essential or a very important goal in life to “influence social values.”

Other survey findings show that:

* Student interest in business careers continued its sharp decline, dropping to 18.4% of the 1990 freshmen compared to 24.6% in 1987, the peak year.

* Their need for being very well-off financially declined for a second straight year, from 75.4% to 73.7%. Although small, the drop followed 17 consecutive years of increases.

* 88% said the government isn’t doing enough to control pollution, an increase from 77.6% in 1981.

Said the survey’s director, UCLA professor Alexander W. Astin: “These trends show that there is a rapidly expanding number of American college students who are dissatisfied with the status quo and who want to become personally involved in bringing about change in American society.”

A look at Orange County high school campuses shows evidence of the ‘90s generation in action:

* Stephanie Genovese of Irvine, an 18-year-old Woodbridge High School senior, is founder and president of the Irvine Teen Community Coalition, an 8-month-old group of more than 100 students from various campus organizations that has collected $36,000 worth of food for Irvine Temporary Housing.

* Jason Shanker appeared with other high school students in a series of anti-drug public service films that are still being shown in several Edwards Cinemas throughout the county. The 18-year-old Corona del Mar High School senior is president of Students Against Drug Abuse, a council of high school student representatives working to create positive peer pressure against drug abuse.

* Laurie Firestone, 18, a senior, belongs to Green Cross, an environmental club at Newport Harbor High. Said Firestone: “I try to get involved in as many community activities that are geared toward helping the environment as I can . . . because we’re the only chance left. We’ve already destroyed the Earth so much.”

Orange County public opinion pollster Mark Baldassare , who was not involved in the students’ survey, believes the shift of young people away from materialism toward concern for the environment and other social problems is, to some extent, “a reaction to the excesses of the ‘80s.”

“It also indicates an awareness of the fragile nature of the environment and problems such as homelessness, drug abuse and alcoholism,” said Baldassare, a professor of social ecology at UC Irvine. “There was a time when suburban youth were kind of protected from a lot of these issues, but today suburban youth are surrounded by many of these problems that have come to plague modern society.”

Although the students themselves are responsible for generating many of the community volunteer activities, there’s no denying the influence of a socially conscious teacher.

At Woodbridge High School in Irvine, social studies teachers Joan Malkin and Judy Marx initiated a volunteer social action club, called VISION, seven years ago. Students have since done everything from helping feed the homeless to collecting shoes for impoverished children in Tijuana and collecting books for a bombed-out school in Lebanon.

“We’ve really made a conscious effort at this school to get students more socially aware,” Malkin said. “We decided that each year we gave them more awareness of these global and national problems, but it never resulted in anybody doing anything. They just got depressed and had a sense of helplessness the more they became aware of these problems.”

To give even more students a sense that they could make a difference, Malkin made it a requirement that seniors in her political science classes identify a problem in the community and then attempt to solve it.

The assignment has resulted in hundreds of projects ranging from getting a traffic light installed in a busy intersection to organizing a beach cleanup.

“I really think if you want kids to learn how to make a difference you’ve got to give them a lot of opportunities,” Malkin said. “ ‘Think globally, act locally’ is important for these kids to learn. Once involved, they get hooked on it and see they can make a difference.”

Although it is not mandated by the state Legislature, some California school districts have begun making community service a requirement for high school graduation.

State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig is spearheading a statewide effort to coordinate youth community service projects in anticipation of receiving federal funds from the National and Community Service Act of 1990.

The act, signed into law by President Bush in the fall, pledges about $250 million to service programs over the next three years and is designed to encourage volunteerism and community service among young people: The kind of good works done by Santa Ana Volunteer Youth at Century High School.

In fact, the 150-member club, which distributes food and clothing year-round to needy families, was designated one of President Bush’s “Thousand Points of Light.”

“If we want to have a caring population , then it has to begin at school,” maintains Bebereia, an English-as-a-second-language teacher who founded the student volunteer group.

Despite the youthful idealism that propels many young people to get involved, high school counselors say there is a more practical reason for the upsurge in student voluntarism: It simply looks good on a college application.

“To be realistic,” Malkin said, “the word has gotten out that a lot of colleges and universities want students to be more well-rounded. They are especially looking for community service. If you have people who are doing a lot of things on their own--organizing projects, helping out other people--it shows leadership.”

But there’s more to it than that. Said Mission Viejo High School counselor Sue Guy: “A lot of kids volunteer, and it seems to be more genuinely motivated: They’re doing it because they’re interested in the cause they’re supporting, not because it will look good on a college resume.”

The Times’ sampling of Orange County high school students shows that, of those who do volunteer work, 25% did so so they could list it on their college application, and 43% said it was a school requirement, although in both cases, many also expressed a willingness to help in the community.

Other findings in the survey show that 70% view making a lot of money as essential or very important in their long-term choice of career. At the same time, however, 60% also said it was essential or very important that their career make an important contribution to society, and nearly 75% said it was essential or very important that their career be helpful to others.

As the UCLA college freshman survey indicates, increasing concern for social causes corresponds with a shift in the choice of college majors.

In the past, said Guy, “the choice of majors tended to be those which would lead them to prestigious, high-paying jobs,” such as law, medicine, business and engineering.

“Those areas are still very popular, but kids seem to be turning away from those to some degree,” she said. “I’m just guessing, but I think some kids are seeing that pursuing those big-ticket items isn’t necessarily the route to happiness.”

School counselors report seeing more students showing an interest in such service-oriented careers as social work, nursing, law enforcement, criminal justice and--a surprise to many educators--teaching. Some students have even been inquiring about the Peace Corps.

In fact, many observers see similarities between the ‘90s and ‘60s generations.

Woodbridge High’s Malkin recalls teaching similar college-bound middle-class high school students in Pennsylvania in the mid-’60s.

“The kids were very socially oriented,” she said. “They were all doing things like going to work in Appalachia and helping the poor. A lot of them joined the Peace Corps, and a lot wanted to be teachers.”

But in the intervening years, she said, “I think kids got involved more in the pursuit of the material things again and getting a job that would bring in a lot of money. I don’t think there was as much interest in the social sciences in the first part of the ‘80s.

“Now there seems to be more altruism and helping your fellow man and being your brother’s keeper.”

Stanford University professor emeritus George Spindler, who has been studying student attitudes for 38 years, says that for many of today’s high school and college students the overemphasis on material values in the ‘80s “is getting a little hollow because it really isn’t working.

“It’s just too damn hard to get all that stuff together--the houses and the cars and the clothes and the good restaurants and the trips to Europe.”

That’s not to say greed and materialism have left, Spindler said. “I don’t think it would be American culture if we didn’t have a lot of concern for material well-being, but there’s a difference between a greedy concern with materialism and more or less a normal concern with it.”

Spindler said young people today are not only questioning “the material path to success,” but “there’s this well-based concern for, ‘Are we going to have a world to live in?’ And this is very much on young peoples’ minds.”

Spindler doesn’t think young people of the ‘90s are a replication of the ‘60s, however.

“They’ve developed their own style,” he said. “My feeling is this generation is more tempered than the ‘60s. I think the radical of the ‘60s was sometimes more petulant than thoughtful. Even though they were very sincere, you really got tired of (the student demonstrations) at a place like Stanford.”

In the ‘60s, he said, “the attitude was more, You’ve got to find your alternative consciousness. The orientation was inward: ‘What am I going to be?’ Now, I think we’re combining an interest in material welfare along with what you’d call an interest in the health of society as a whole.”

Woodbridge High counselor Sue Williams, who describes herself as a former “ ‘60s hippie,” views the emerging ‘90s generation as “probably a little more self-assured, probably a little more practical” than their ‘60s counterparts.

“In the ‘60s, we didn’t have AIDS and people did lots of impulsive things without much thought,” she said. “I also see this generation being a whole lot smarter about drugs. I’m not saying they’re perfect, but they’re smarter. They’ve been educated to death about drugs.”

Young people in the ‘90s, she added, “seem deeper than the last few batches of kids 10 years ago, more thoughtful.”

Williams recalled reading the results of a health class survey a year or so ago in which Woodbridge High students were asked what they felt were important qualities in a friend or future spouse.

“The thing that shocked me was they wanted pretty upright people: Friends and spouses with good values and who valued their family,” she said. “I thought all teen-agers were rebellious about their families, but I don’t think that’s true. They wanted people with good morals.

“Now that’s a term we haven’t heard in years.”

Goals and Dreams of ‘90s Youth

Seniors in four Orange County high Schools--Newport-Harbor, Santa Ana, Woodbridge in Irvine and Troy in Fullerton--were asked in late May to fill out a 10-item questionnaire prepared by the Times Orange County Edition that inquired of their career plans, life goals, heros and how they spend their time. About half--604 in total--returned the survey.

Hours Spent During Typical Week

“During your last year in high school, how many hours did you spend during a typical week doing the following activities?”

(Number of hours)

More 0 1-5 6-10 11-20 than 20 Studying/homework 4% 53% 25% 11% 4% Socializing with friends 3 14 23 21 32 Partying 22 31 22 12 5 Working (for pay) 33 8 10 31 15 Watching TV 5 50 21 13 8 Volunteer work 63 26 4 1 1

Note: Left over percentage in each case were those who could not say how much time spent.

Importance in Long-Term Career Choice

“Which of the following are important to you in your long-term choice of career?”

Very Somewhat Not Essential Important Important Important Intrinsic interest 40% 36% 17% 3% in the field Able to work with people 34 38 17 4 Can be helpful to others 30 43 21 5 Great deal of independence 27 43 23 3 High anticipated earnings 27 43 20 5 Can work with ideas 25 42 26 3

Don’t know Intrinsic interest 4% in the field Able to work with people 7 Can be helpful to others 1 Great deal of independence 4 High anticipated earnings 5 Can work with ideas 4

(Other categories with less than 25% “essential” included: can make an important contribution to society; rapid career advancement possible; chance for steady progress; work would be challenging; well-respected or presitgious occupation; job openings generally available, and can avoid pressure.)

Most Admired Man/Woman

“What man/woman living anywhere in the world do you admire the most?”

MEN 1. Dad 2. President George Bush 3. Nelson Mandella 4. Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf 5. Magic Johnson

WOMEN 1. Mom 2. Mother Teresa 3. Margaret Thatcher 4. Madonna 5. Christie Brinkley

Motivation for Volunteer Work

(Among those who said they performed at least one hour of volunteer work per week.) School requirement: 43% Could list on college application: 24% Wanted to help in the community: 88%

Note: Percentages add to more than 100% due to multiple responses

Ranking Political Orientation

“Rank each of the decades’ high school graduates in terms of political orientation, with 1 being those most liberal and 4 being those most conservative.”

1960s 1990s 1 37% 14% 2 6 14 3 3 24 4 13 33 Don’t know 41 15

Importance of Life Goals

“Please indicate the importance to you personally of each of the following. Is it essential, very important, somewhat important or not important?”

Percentage saying “essential”: Raising a family: 42% Being very well off financially: 31% Obtaining recognition from colleagues: 25% Developing a meaningful philosophy of life: 25% Becoming an authority in my field (of work): 22% Helping to promote racial understanding: 21% Keeping up to date with political affairs: 21%

(Other categories with less than 20% “essential” included: Becoming accomplished in one of the performing arts; influencing the political structure; influencing social values; having administrative responsibility for the work of others; helping others who are in difficulty; making a theoretical contribution to science; writing original works; creating artistic work; becoming successful in a business of my own; becoming involved in programs to clean up the environment, and participating in a community action program.)

Ranking Materialism

“Rank each of the decades’ high school graduates in terms of materialism, with 1 being those most concerned with money and material success and 4 being the least concerned.”

1960s 1990s 1 7% 50% 2 4 25 3 10 5 4 63 6 Don’t know 16 14