british youth gone crazy?

[Itsgauss1]

This mainly directs to those of you living in the UK. Having read about issues such as binge drinking or drug abuse in Britain, I am just pondering whether British teenagers are really poorly behaving or whether it is just the media that make them appear like that.

Personally, I can't imagine youth in Britain being so different to other countries, where this sort of problems does not occur as often in the news, but maybe I am just biased.

Also, do you think that social inequalities alter the behaviour of the youth in Britain?

[Sandwich]

This mainly directs to those of you living in the UK. Having read about issues such as binge drinking or drug abuse in Britain, I am just pondering whether British teenagers are really poorly behaving or whether it is just the media that make them appear like that.

Personally, I can't imagine youth in Britain being so different to other countries, where this sort of problems does not occur as often in the news, but maybe I am just biased.

Also, do you think that social inequalities alter the behaviour of the youth in Britain?

I think a lot of young people binge drink and it is a bit of a cultural thing. I went on holiday to Italy over the summer to stay with a friend and we went out a couple of times and 'drinking' was like a couple of plastic cups of wine each... over a whole night! Whereas somebody might easily drink 3 or 4 before going on a night out here, or even just 3 or 4 glasses just in the evening without going anywhere, purely to relax.

As for social inequalities, I don't think they're related. Binge drinking is for lower class, middle class and upper class young people alike. I suppose the only real difference would be in what is drunk: 'poorer' people tend to go for volume (beers, ciders) whereas middle class people for drinks like wine with a higher alcohol content. But that's a very broad sweep as there are also cheap wines/mixers/Asda Value Vodka (YUCK) etc.

Everybody wants to enjoy themselves regardless of class. I think that binge drinking relates to the idea that you have to be drunk to enjoy activities like going out to a club for the night and also to de-stress so I guess possibly it relates to mood. I suppose the middle classes are more likely to binge drink in 'silence' at home whereas for other people there's still a larger culture of going out. It's true that in a lot of mainland Europe you won't see drunk people staggering around town centres at night, or indeed in the US where the alcohol content of drinks is dead low and it's a lot harder to acquire alcohol due to the age limit being so high.

[Joe Boyle]

This mainly directs to those of you living in the UK. Having read about issues such as binge drinking or drug abuse in Britain, I am just pondering whether British teenagers are really poorly behaving or whether it is just the media that make them appear like that.

Personally, I can't imagine youth in Britain being so different to other countries, where this sort of problems does not occur as often in the news, but maybe I am just biased.

Also, do you think that social inequalities alter the behaviour of the youth in Britain?

Drinking and drugs (especially under-age) are a real issue in the UK, it's in no way unusual for a 14-year-old to go out and drink until they're vomiting and passing out onto a bathroom floor. I think it's pretty ridiculous myself, but it's what people seem to enjoy (actually more like what they believe they should enjoy). I'm not sure how bad it is elsewhere, but I hear from friends who've lived abroad that other countries aren't as bad. It's not something which bothers me in particular, I see no harm in having a beer or three of an evening, but drinking neat vodka for the sakes of drinking it is something which I just think is ridiculous (but I was 14 once, and it seems fun at the time). The problem is that people don't believe they can have fun without being drunk, which is simply not the case, but people seem not to want to believe it. This video is a just about related enough for me to post (and I think it's pretty hilarious anyway) although this was a fairly calm party and most other people weren't anything like this bad:

[Nabz]

This mainly directs to those of you living in the UK. Having read about issues such as binge drinking or drug abuse in Britain, I am just pondering whether British teenagers are really poorly behaving or whether it is just the media that make them appear like that.

Personally, I can't imagine youth in Britain being so different to other countries, where this sort of problems does not occur as often in the news, but maybe I am just biased.

Also, do you think that social inequalities alter the behaviour of the youth in Britain?

This mainly directs to those of you living in the UK. Having read about issues such as binge drinking or drug abuse in Britain, I am just pondering whether British teenagers are really poorly behaving or whether it is just the media that make them appear like that.

Personally, I can't imagine youth in Britain being so different to other countries, where this sort of problems does not occur as often in the news, but maybe I am just biased.

Also, do you think that social inequalities alter the behaviour of the youth in Britain?

Either you don't want other country's news channels or this is just a common "problem" that media doesn't give a flip about it. I would say it's pretty much the same though on a smaller scale here in Switzerland compared to UK

[ro_1293x]

I've lived in the US and in India and despite all of the cultural stereotypes and thinking that it'll be any different anywhere, it's honestly the same. The only thing that really makes a difference is the leisurely way in which schools/parents/authority figures handle these sort of things. In any public high school in the states you will keep being shown videos about the dangers of drunk driving and getting high, not that anyone listens, but they sort of make an effort to make the consequences known. Also like mentioned above, it can be harder to get booze so the number of occasions a teen might find themself piss drunk will be limited to big parties or get togethers where someone manages to buy alcohol for the whole lot of people. But even in India it's an issue. When I was 14 it sort of a right of passage to get drunk once when it's totally against rules. As I got older it just became less of a fad and more of a 'thing' I can do when I'm in the mood. I had a lot of friends who went through phases where it was cool to smoke and drink and get high, now everyone's sort of found their own limits. Thanks to IB I hardly drink, hate drugs so don't do them because I genuinely think they can have more of an impact on people's lives than they are willing to believe. I like to drink though at a party or with a few friends, usually not more than a few beers or whiskeys or some fancy cocktail. But the difference is despite how many people around here drink and how easy it is to acquire booze (despite measures in my state where they have even raised the age to 25) no one is really willing to publicly address the problem. It was always though that only the kids from uppermiddle class families got into such kind of stuff, but that's not really true. There was a thing on the news once about how some girls from relatively lower class schools of only 16 years of age, snuck booze into their school building and were sneakin sips. It was a big deal because Indians are "so conservative" but everyone knows everyone drinks but people aren't willing to try and fix it. Parents will deal with it privately as to not make a scene. School's will just label a student as a loser because of their habits or any suspected habits. And the government? Well they run on the bribes they make for nothing busting people. Though lately cops have been getting way more strict and keep busting up raves primarily where young 18-20somethings flock to.. but nothing happens to most of them if their parents can buy them out. It's more like a warning to people.

[Nabz]

I've lived in the US and in India and despite all of the cultural stereotypes and thinking that it'll be any different anywhere, it's honestly the same. The only thing that really makes a difference is the leisurely way in which schools/parents/authority figures handle these sort of things. In any public high school in the states you will keep being shown videos about the dangers of drunk driving and getting high, not that anyone listens, but they sort of make an effort to make the consequences known. Also like mentioned above, it can be harder to get booze so the number of occasions a teen might find themself piss drunk will be limited to big parties or get togethers where someone manages to buy alcohol for the whole lot of people. But even in India it's an issue. When I was 14 it sort of a right of passage to get drunk once when it's totally against rules. As I got older it just became less of a fad and more of a 'thing' I can do when I'm in the mood. I had a lot of friends who went through phases where it was cool to smoke and drink and get high, now everyone's sort of found their own limits. Thanks to IB I hardly drink, hate drugs so don't do them because I genuinely think they can have more of an impact on people's lives than they are willing to believe. I like to drink though at a party or with a few friends, usually not more than a few beers or whiskeys or some fancy cocktail. But the difference is despite how many people around here drink and how easy it is to acquire booze (despite measures in my state where they have even raised the age to 25) no one is really willing to publicly address the problem. It was always though that only the kids from uppermiddle class families got into such kind of stuff, but that's not really true. There was a thing on the news once about how some girls from relatively lower class schools of only 16 years of age, snuck booze into their school building and were sneakin sips. It was a big deal because Indians are "so conservative" but everyone knows everyone drinks but people aren't willing to try and fix it. Parents will deal with it privately as to not make a scene. School's will just label a student as a loser because of their habits or any suspected habits. And the government? Well they run on the bribes they make for nothing busting people. Though lately cops have been getting way more strict and keep busting up raves primarily where young 18-20somethings flock to.. but nothing happens to most of them if their parents can buy them out. It's more like a warning to people.

I've lived in the US and in India and despite all of the cultural stereotypes and thinking that it'll be any different anywhere, it's honestly the same. The only thing that really makes a difference is the leisurely way in which schools/parents/authority figures handle these sort of things. In any public high school in the states you will keep being shown videos about the dangers of drunk driving and getting high, not that anyone listens, but they sort of make an effort to make the consequences known. Also like mentioned above, it can be harder to get booze so the number of occasions a teen might find themself piss drunk will be limited to big parties or get togethers where someone manages to buy alcohol for the whole lot of people. But even in India it's an issue. When I was 14 it sort of a right of passage to get drunk once when it's totally against rules. As I got older it just became less of a fad and more of a 'thing' I can do when I'm in the mood. I had a lot of friends who went through phases where it was cool to smoke and drink and get high, now everyone's sort of found their own limits. Thanks to IB I hardly drink, hate drugs so don't do them because I genuinely think they can have more of an impact on people's lives than they are willing to believe. I like to drink though at a party or with a few friends, usually not more than a few beers or whiskeys or some fancy cocktail. But the difference is despite how many people around here drink and how easy it is to acquire booze (despite measures in my state where they have even raised the age to 25) no one is really willing to publicly address the problem. It was always though that only the kids from uppermiddle class families got into such kind of stuff, but that's not really true. There was a thing on the news once about how some girls from relatively lower class schools of only 16 years of age, snuck booze into their school building and were sneakin sips. It was a big deal because Indians are "so conservative" but everyone knows everyone drinks but people aren't willing to try and fix it. Parents will deal with it privately as to not make a scene. School's will just label a student as a loser because of their habits or any suspected habits. And the government? Well they run on the bribes they make for nothing busting people. Though lately cops have been getting way more strict and keep busting up raves primarily where young 18-20somethings flock to.. but nothing happens to most of them if their parents can buy them out. It's more like a warning to people.

i just read your signatures and it's pretty funny because one of my friends who also lived in India (he is Indian) and he has also lived in US. He is taking French Ab Initio SL, English A1 HL, Mathematics SL but then he doesn't take Theatre and stuff like that...so for a moment i thought you were him

Where are doing IB though because i'm also taught french. Also do you know if there are other languages which are also taught in IB in different countries?