Sterotyping Essay, Research Paper

I belong to that classification of people known as the stereotypical teenager. I am a teenager, not altogether incidentally I am a good kid. People often stereotype teenagers as terrible. That s not fair for the teenagers that aren’t inferior.

Recently my dads truck was stolen from are underground parking lot. The truck was involved in a “gas and go” and was also involved in a purse snatching. Right away the RCMP thought it was I because of the footage they had on a surveillance camera.

It all started as a knock on my dad’s door. He answered the door and two RCMP officers were at the door. They told my dad that I was involved in two crimes that had happened within the last two hours. My dad told the officers that I was at the beach with my friend and that I wasn t home. They asked my father where his truck was and he said it was down stairs. The officers automatically told my dad that the person in the surveillance was I. They told him that the clerk at the gas station had a video tape of his son, (me), involved in a “gas and go.” They told my dad that I should confess now or I would be in a lot of trouble. They said to him if I didn t confess and it was I on the tape then I would be hauled off to jail. My dad tried to explain to the officers that his truck was downstairs in the underground parking lot, and I was out with my friend at the beach. So my dad and the officers went down to look at the truck and sure enough it was gone. My dad got a hold of me and told me to get home so the police officers could play the footage for me. When I got back to my house the cop said bluntly “they have a good picture of you and if you don t confess right now and that is in fact you on the tape your are going to jail.” Anyway after viewing the tape it wasn t me and it was some other person that stole the truck. I was so angry at the police officers because they blamed me a teenager of committing a crime in my dad’s truck. The police officers didn t even apologize for accusing me of the theft.

I am so sick of people judging teenagers as bad kids. Yes, there are some teenagers that may cause problems or commit crimes but I am sick of taking the blame for those few teens. Statistics show that only 15% of teenagers commit crimes and other offences that break the law. That s 85% of us that don t commit criminal offences.

For us teenagers that get stereotyped as the “bad generation” I feel that the people that are stereotyping teenagers as bad youths should take a look at the positive things we do instead of dwelling on the bad that the 15% of teenagers commit. If people would give teens a chance then they would realize that we aren’t all bad and they would stop the stereotyping of teenagers as insubordinate.