Ideals and values of

other generations

We asked people of other generations what their ideas and values were when they were teenagers.

Margarita Alexandrovna Bezlepkina, principal, LNSTU

The main value for me was my family, health of my family members, harmonic relations with them and life as it is.
It was also important what place I take among my friends. I valued friendship, sue firpport of friends. My ideal was J. Gagarin (Russian cosmonaut, thst man to go to space). I wanted to look like him. His smile and charm attracted many people at that time.

Lylya Fedorovna Antonenko, Biology teacher, LNSTU

I lived in Jaroslavl, a little town not far from Moscow . We are children of the Great Patriotic War, so my adolescence was in post war years. Our memories about childhood spent in the war horrors were very fresh: roar of fascists planes, necessity to hide in shelters, tears of widows.
So, the main value for me and my friends was peace. We wanted to forget the war and never have it again. Our town was in ruins, everything reminded of the war. After school we would plant trees, many flowers. Nobody asked us to do this but we wanted to help to wipe out all memories of the war from the town streets. We thought that beauty would prevent any wars in the future. I think it was the reason why I decided to become Biology teacher.
It seemed to us that there were not more important things than peace.
The other value was kindness. We tried to help all people in need and did everything we could.
During that hard time for our country people were united and concerned about each other. Things are not like that now.

Alla Grigorievna Kalashnikova, Algebra and Geometry teacher, LNSTU

The main value for me and my friends was education and knowledge. We wanted to finish the school with good grades and enter the universities to get higher education. At that time there was a problem with studying materials. We could not buy all necessary books and there were not always enough of them in the library for everyone. We would queue for books, sometimes doing the work at night to give the book to the next person.
I think that now things are different. There are a lot of learning sources available but there is not such desire to learn and get knowledge in young generation.

Anna Georgievna Tamarevskaya, Information Technology teacher , LNSTU

The main value for teenagers of my generation was communism. We believed in the Communist Party, we were preparing to build the better future based on communism ideals.
One of values was responsibility for the group, not individual responsibility. Group interests were more important than personal interests. We did not care about our own time when something was needed for others, for class or for school.
Our value was hatred of dishonesty of any kind. We tried to tell only truth.
Our human ideal was Vladimir Lenin. We all wanted to be like him.
As for my personal ideals, these were three teachers from my school. They helped a lot in my character building, not by their teaching but by their high moral values.

Elena Borisovna Androsova, Chemistry teacher, LNSTU
Of course, our generation had ideals and values. We grew up in Soviet times, in post war years.
A lot of attention was given to moral upbringing everywhere, schools, universities, working places. Our fathers cleared the country from fascists invaders, so important value was the pride of their heroism, Soviet soldiers were our ideals and examples to follow. What a great holiday Victory Day used to be!
The most important value was Motherland. We were taught to put Motherland on the first place and do everything for its well being. All other things were of secondary importance.
Hard work for Motherland, that is what was our value and purpose in life. Having individual interests was not valued much.
Pride of our country, achievements of Soviet people in all fields of life was value too (Soviet man was the first to fly to space, our sportsmen showed good results in competitions, our scientists made important discoveries).
Also, value was the respect to all other nations and international feelings.

Irina Nikolaevna Spiridonova, Chemistry teacher, LNSTU

I think that one of the most important values was friendship. We were all friends in our class.
After school we all were scattered around our big country but relations preserved. We used to meet, at least, once in several years. We all came, no matter how far we were and if somebody needed help, we all help. Unfortunately, now there are only several people are alive and we are in poor health to go collect together but we keep in touch.
Also, important value was interest. We were ready to do what is interesting for us, we dreamt of having interesting jobs and money was not important aspect at all. Most of people I know would work where it was interesting and not where it was better paid.
Modern teenagers are different now. I think they think about money more.

Natalia Dmitrievna Gorshkova, Literature teacher, LNSTU

Teenagers of my generation had values of friendship and pride of our fathers, Soviet soldiers who fought with fascism. We were afraid to betray somebody.
I do not think that modern generation is worse than previous generations. Every epoch dictates its requirements that form morality.
There always were different people, in every generation, mean and generous, lazy and hard working, selfish and helpful. Such things as generosity, openness, sense of justice, hospitality, patriotism are characteristics of modern youth too.

John Worozbyt (Walton Middle School)

He is a 6th grade teacher and his concerns were very good for when he was a teenager. His concerns were:
- Be a good athlete
-To do well in school

He worked hard. He earned a full scholarship to college. It was expected of him to do well.
He encouraged a girl who did not know how to read to not skip her reading classes like she was going to do.

David Arnold Campus Director ( American Institute of Monterrey)

In England in the late seventies values were beginning to be questioned. There was a definite feel of anti-establishmentarianism. Punk rock came onto the music scene and youths dressed in clothes that shocked their parents with earrings and tattoos.Unemployment was at an all time high, and crime was rampant. Education was undergoing major change with “Comprehensive” schools replacing the old “Grammar” schools. The family unit was under threat and the divorce rate rose to an all time high. Religious Education was taken out of schools and people stopped going to church as often. Any values we had were taught by our parents. The world was worried about the relationship between the USA and USSR and the threat of a nuclear war. Youth movements supported organizations such as C.N.D. and Greenpeace, and most youths were very much against the government.

Trudy Kwan Human Resources (American Institute of Monterrey)

Teenagers did not use to have so much freedom. I was not allowed to go out so often with my friends and neither was I given so much money to spend. Nowadays teenagers can go out as often as they want to and they are given a lot of spending money. In the past teenagers did not have much say inside the school, the teachers have the last words. Nowadays teenagers have a lot of influence inside the schools. We were not allow to bring any games. walkman etc to the school. Nowadays kids bring cell phones, ipods and all types of fancy gadgets to school.

Ivete Guerra Academic Coordinator (American Institute of Monterrey)

“A prince, that’s what an honest man looks like”, said grandma.
When I was little, we used to remain seated at dinner table for a while after dessert. Sometimes we stayed longer; it all depended on our guest. I loved it when we had our Italian grandma over because she told the most thrilling stories; she told some that were very tender too.
One of my favorites was the story of a king who was hiring a treasurer. He decided to select the most elegant dancer for that position. Of course he did not tell that to anyone. He just called all the applicants to the palace and had them walk through the treasure room to come before him. He then let the music play as he asked them to dance.
I do not have to tell you what happened to the dishonest prospects, do I?
Well, this was one of the ways my siblings and I learnt the values we honor today.

Esther Ayala (American Institute of Monterrey)

What was I like as a teenager? Enjoyed most of my classes and was a good student. How was the attitude then…we were very respectful because I think it was something instilled at home. My father was not very tolerate but he was a fair man. I worked since I was 16 and he expected the best from his children.

Honesty, responsibility and respect were the norm and consequences were swift and fair. You knew what was expected of you and falling short was a disappointment. They were very supportive of me and we have had a wonderful relationship. It was always the truth no matter how bad and we will help however we can. What can't be cured must be endured was a philophosy about the "mistakes" we made growing up.