With a computer, modem and phone line they have access to more data than all their forebears throughout history. You can't go through that without changing, I believe, for the better. Kids today are socializing on a global basis not just through the restricted physical community in which they were born. They already know more at their age than you did. As we move further into tomorrow more radical suggestions will appear.
Brawn is out and knowledge is in.
Economics have always been a vital factor in human existence. Not all made it. Then as we entered the Agricultural Age it required holdings of land that grew wealth to be wealthy. But not -all had land. Most, of course, did not have machines.