Valparaiso High School - Valenian Yearbook (Valparaiso, IN)

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JM The long road to State at last at an end, Jim Panter proudly displays his victory medal after the Carmel game. (Photo by South Bend Tribune) 1. Pre-Hobart game snake dance 2. Mr. Gerry Coffey 3. Be a smash — clash! 4. Doug Nisely 5. Bruce Ives JF t M mtmm Values Survey 1. Do you feel that American values have changed drastically in the last 25 years? Yes 83% No 1 5% No comment 2% 2. Has religion become a more or less influential force on teenagers today than it was on their parents? More 15% Less 80% No change 9% 3. In your opinion has there been a decline in the strength of the family unit in America? Yes 70% No 27% No comment 7% 4. Do you feel that Americans in general are untrusting of one another? Yes 48% No 47% No comment 5% v. Opening — 3

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+ Values It was hard to believe that even random selection could have come up with such a diversified group as the four participants in this inter- view: an agnostic, an atheist, a de- vout Catholic, and a Catholic who rarely attends church. Their opinions were as varied as their backgrounds, and it was interesting to see how their answers backed up (or ques- tioned) the statistics in the box on page three. Question One: The stu- dents felt that the youth of today are more liberal, more willing to get involved in causes than their parents were. One student said, “Every child wants something different from his parents. Someday our kids will pro- bably think we’re pretty conservative, too.” Although they felt there was no longer a stigma attached to not hav- ing a college education, all four stu- dents included it in their list of immediate goals. They named hap- piness, an adequate amount of money, and -good relationships with others as long-term objectives. Ques- tion Two: Explaining why they agreed that religion was less of an influence, the students said that kids today have an option — they don’t have to participate in religion if they don’t want to.” Although they didn’t all believe in God, all four felt that everyone should be exposed to reli- gion at some time in his life. The group’s atheist had this to say: “Voltaire said that if we didn’t have a God we ' d have to invent one, which means there’s no way to explain things other than saying somebody created them.” Question Three: The group tended to disagree with the majority on this question, saying that they were all from famil- ies which were becoming closer as time passed. One girl said that per- haps some families were drifting apart because parents can’t understand some of the things their children are believing and doing.” All four felt they had open relation- ships with their parents and were able to discuss decisions, although some didn’t “take to confiding in them. Question Four: The money situation and a tendency of Ameri- cans to be cold to one another were reasons the students named for the lack of trust they felt exists today. They added that they felt parents tended to be more apprehen- sive about strangers while teenagers were more skeptical of advertising and the media. One student said, “You hear so much about false ad- vertising and malpractice, etc. — it’s really a dog-eat-dog world.”

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Attitudes Survey 1. In your opinion, is the U.S. gov- ernment doing a fairly good job of running the country? Yes 47% No 31% No comment 21% 2. Do you condone the use of any drug stronger than alcohol or marijuana? Yes 15% No 69% No comment 16% 3. Do you think that anything can be done to bring down the high crime rate in the U.S.? Yes 81% No 12% No comment 5% 4. Are you looking toward the future with a positive feeling about America and the world in general? Yes 74% No 14% No comment 12% Two elementary school children gather with 5000 other Valparaiso Community School stu- dents for the Bicentennial Convocation in October. (Photo by Bob Koenig) 1. Bill Neuffer 2. Don Maiers 3. Allen Ligocki 4. Paula McAleer 5. Kurt Jamison, Brian Stombaugh, Michele McGaffic, Kristen Manatrey