I just want them to stay off my lawn.

Oh dear, are they on your lawn? What are they doing there?

Now your'e sounding like me... or is that my mother I'm hearing? LOL!

You talkin to me? You talkin to me? (That's my DeNiro from Taxi Driver imitation; do you like it?)

Parachute pants were awesome though.... just kidding
 

Some "kids" are dumb, but the drop-out rates are drastically decreasing. Kids and teens are actually getting smarter (probably because there are more things to learn with every passing day). Besides, that's not something you can dumb on kids- I've met more moronic adults than kids.

As far as style goes- there's no excuse for poor hygene and I will admit that there's a lot of it these days (perhaps declining economy = less showers in some families?). However, while you can make fun of flannel and skinny jeans those ''kids'' are making fun of letterman, leather, and jean jackets, as well as pastel prints on boys. [For those of you not picking up on the reference, the described articles of clothing are just a few typical 80s fashions that are seen as hilarious today.)

Kids aren't getting smarter - test scales are changing so that scores are higher but do not reflect actual increase in either knowledge or intelligence. Kids have to know more about certain topics (technology) than they used to, but that doesn't mean they are getting smarter.

Alas, I worked at a very elite boarding school - I mean elite of elite, the sort that accepts maybe 15% of applicants... these kids are supposed to be the best of the best. The "I can just google anything" mentality and need to have their phones with them ALL THE TIME and be texting ALL THE TIME is shortening their attention spans, and I think that their actual pool of knowledge is less than kids had even 15 years ago.

But, the kids are, for the most part, good kids. They're no better or worse than kids of the past. These fashions will pass... I don't get it, either, and it makes me feel old! :)