The challenge of youth development in the U.S. is indeed difficult. Youth in particular are faced with an array of contradictory messages about themselves and their generation.
Youth are at once burdens on the society and the hope of the future.
They are criticized for their apathy, but they are given few social responsibilities. They are supposed to conform to adult expectations, but their opportunities for decision-making are limited by many social practices. Regardless of competence, youth are constructed in our society as immature and manipulable for the purposes of development. There is, however, another way of responding to youth. Youth can be respected by adults as resources to and collaborators in their communities.