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Adults Receive a "C" from American Teens
UCAN Teen Report Card Shows Adults Score Well in Some Areas, Need Improvement in Others
For more information, contact
Joyce Johnson
Phone: 804/492-4519
Cell: 703/980-7641
E-mail: jjohnson@cwla.org
June 17, 2005, Washington, DC -- With most schools coming to a close for the summer, report card day has now come for American adults. The good news for adults is that they passed, but the bad news is their grades were mediocre.
According to the 7th Annual UCAN Teen Report Card, which asked more than 1,000 teens ages 12 to 19 across the country to grade adults in more than 20 different categories, adults received an average overall grade of "C."
While the grades were fairly consistent, the results from the report card showed that teens in urban areas graded the adults in their lives tougher than their suburban counterparts, while rural teens scored adults higher in every single category of the report card, giving rural adults the best grades across the board. Issues such as gang violence, drugs, neighborhood safety and a host of other subjects led to lower scores for adults from urban teens. Interestingly, the report card showed that Hispanic and black teens across the country gave an average adult grade of "C+", while white teens graded adults at a "C" level.
In terms of race and ethnicity, white and minority teens showed slightly different concerns on issues affecting their communities such as gangs, guns and schools, but were fairly consistent on most other topics.
In total, adults received B's in the following categories: providing a quality education for young people, providing young people with a safe place to live, creating job opportunities for the future, keeping schools safe from violence and crime, fighting AIDS, protecting teens and kids from gun violence, being honest, preventing child abuse, leading by example, making neighborhoods safer and protecting young people from terrorism.
"The B grades signify areas in which young people think adults are doing a relatively good job," said Tom Vanden Berk, president and executive director of UCAN. "It doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement, but teens feel comfortable with the approaches adults are taking on those subjects."
Adults received satisfactory C grades for the following subjects: fighting the war on terrorism (which dropped from a B last year), disciplinary tactics, combating prejudice and racism, preventing teens from running away, understanding the realities of teen sex, protecting the environment, protecting teens and kids from gun violence, stopping young people from using drugs, stopping young people from smoking, getting rid of gangs, listening and understanding young people, stopping young people from drinking, helping young people cope with depression and reducing bullying among young people.
The only D grade adults received was for having a limited understanding of why teens runaway from home. "Adults need to carefully examine the issue of teens running away because young people view this as an area where adults can improve their efforts," said Maureen Blaha, executive director of the National Runaway Switchboard (NRS). As a co-sponsor of the teen report card, the NRS helps at-risk youth and is a resource for parents who are dealing with children that are going through a difficult time.
"The eye-opening report card results should serve as a message for adults to begin to take seriously the needs of children and youth, to be accountable for their actions, and to broaden their communication and listening skills," commented Linda Spears, CWLA Vice President for Communications and Development.
On the question of media influences, more than half of all the respondents said of all the media information sources, television most influenced them when it came to developing opinions about world, national and local events. More than half of the black and Hispanic teens felt television was the number one information source, while 47 percent of the white teens felt the same. In addition, nearly 51 percent of males received their opinions from TV, compared to only 44 percent of females.
Fifty-four percent of the teens taking part in the report card chose parents as their top role models, with friends and peers (13 percent) and sports and entertainment personalities coming next on the list. (9 percent), other family members (7 percent), brothers and sisters (7 percent), teachers and coaches (5 percent), members of the clergy (4 percent) and government leaders (1 percent) rounded out the category.
Created and sponsored by the Chicago-based UCAN (Uhlich Children's Advantage Network), the UCAN Teen Report Card is an annual measure of adult progress on issues affecting teens, as graded by teens themselves. Conducted in January and February of 2005, the survey is a representative sampling of teens across the country. The research division of the Child Welfare League of America, provided long-term trend analysis of the grades received by the adults and facilitated the focus group participation of its member agency; The Sycamores in Los Angeles and the IDEA Public Charter School in Washington, D.C.
The survey was conducted for UCAN by the nation's premier research organization on teenage attitudes and trends, Teenage Research Unlimited, in Northbrook, Ill. The survey carries a +/- 3% margin of sampling error. A full copy of the UCAN Teen Report Card, including all grades and ancillary materials, can be found at: http://www.ucanchicago.org/reportcard. A teen/adult discussion guide is available at: http://www.ucanchicago.org/reportcard/Discussion.htm.
The National Runaway Switchboard, established in 1971, serves as the federally-designated national communication system for homeless and runaway youth. The NRS crisis hotline is 1-800-RUNAWAY. For more information, visit www.1800RUNAWAY.org.
The IDEA Public Charter High School is a career focused, academic high school which prepares middle and high school students (grades 7-12) for college or for careers in electronics, drafting or computer repair. IDEA was founded by a group of retired military instructors and civilian teachers in 1997. The school is based on the Department of Defenses's JROTC Career Academy model. IDEA provides advanced placement college preparatory courses in English, Calculus and Chemistry. The IDEA Public Charter School is located at 1027 45th Street, NE, Washington DC.
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