"EXCERPT: "These are the teens we have created: mindless consumers, dressed from head to toe in the garb prescribed by specialized divisions of the music and fashion industries, isolated from their heritages and their elders, producing nothing of value for their families or their society, obsessed with non-issues fed to them by waxen heroes. The young men next to me seemed content in their ignorance, but many of their peers want more, and they often don’t know how to express their legitimate needs and desires. Based on my interviews with teens, my experience as a father and teacher, research I’ve conducted and a wealth of data in several fields, I no longer have any doubt about what disenchanted American teens need, no matter how inappropriately they may sometimes choose to express what they want. They need to be reconnected with the adult world—the world they will inevitably join before that skateboard even reconnects with the ground." (from Chapter 13, "How Society Must Change")