I had to catch the train to Bacchus Marsh yesterday to meet Rohan at work and was lucky enough that my train trip coincided with a whole bunch of fans heading down to etihad stadium to see eminem the now clean-living, 'great white rapper' as i read him described in the paper. I've always found him a bit more like a great white crapper myself, but to each their own musical tastes I guess. Today is really about pondering at the future of society.
I went to the counter to buy my train ticket and in line were a teenager and his scantily clad girlfriend (I'm using my teacher skills to say they may have been about 17)- and with them was mum. Mum was frantically hissing instructions in his ear 'now buy a ticket for the way back at the same time', 'how come?' 'because that way you won't have to get it at the counter in Melbourne, do it here, oh look there is a special train coming back late after the concert', says mum spotting the poster that told all fans they could see the show and still manage to catch a train home. So son gets to counter with girlfriend and mum starts to slink off. Boy stammers a bit and vline man looks bemused. Mum is suddenly centre stage again, 'so they're going to that concert and they want a ticket on the train to Melbourne, they need to get back home on that special train. do they need a special ticket for that or will a normal ticket work?' Mum completes all the transaction, pays the money while these two almost adults stand there looking like superfluous appendages. It worries me when young people cannot work out how to ask for a train ticket and when parents continue to take responsibility for them. Particularly when the children then move away and strut around like they are rapper fans from the bronx. Give me a break kiddies if you can't buy a train ticket I don't think you'll be out there causing societal revolutions.
On this same day a former colleague told me her 19 year old wanted to know more about a university course that she wanted to do, but was too embarrassed to ring up and ask, so mum got on the phone and left a rambling, pleading message with an academic asking them to call her back so she could find out the information and pass it on to her daughter. Why? At 19 you can drive, vote, drink - but you can't dial a phone number? As an academic nothing would piss me off more than a phone call from a parent - it's like the student who got his mum to ring uni and ask about the vit requirements for teachers - honey if you can't ring us to find out what you need to do to get your registration then I don't think you should be going out and facing a classroom of kids and their parents next year.
All this depresses me - what does this mean for the young folk of today? Oh god, I just used young folk, now I sound like Kevin Rudd. Is it too early in the day for sherry and the crossword - I must be getting old and grumpy.
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