Jun 6, 2026 By Richard Robbins 4 min read

My twin grandchildren graduated from high school this past week. They are good kids, and, I think, their friends are also good kids – excuse me, young adults.

I have little patience with the perennial wail about the faults of the younger generation – that they are lazy, uninterested in anything beyond their own creature comforts, pampered, spoiled, uninvolved; in short, that they are vastly ill-prepared to take on the rough and tumble of adulthood.

That’s not what I have seen and experienced. Not long ago my granddaughter’s track and field team held Senior Day. Part of the ceremony involved a declaration of the seniors’ intentions, post-high school.

I was impressed. Just two or three of the seniors had nothing definite in mind for their futures. The others were planning on going to college at places like Pitt, Penn State, and WVU. Because this is a Washington County school, more than a few were slated to attend Washington & Jefferson. A number of the seniors planned on going to schools outside the region. Villanova in Philadelphia was mentioned. The University of Rochester in New York state was another.

Some of the seniors were eyeing trade schools to become highly skilled (and well-paid) electricians and carpenters, for example. Several had chosen to enter adulthood by serving their country in the armed services. Good for them.

Good for them all.

Over the past several years, I’ve attended my share of high school sporting events. These involve different schools and all kinds of sports – basketball, football, softball, baseball, socccer, cross-country, swimming, and, of course, track and field, including unified track and field. (Sorry, wrestling, volleyball, and lacrosse fans.)

I can report to you the young athletes I have seen were far from lazy and indifferent and unengaged. The actual games and contests were the least of it. It takes real commitment to train and practice every day for months on end with no one looking on.

In the course of the last four years, I’ve taken in several high school musicals. There are some remarkable high school actors, singers, dancers, and musicians out there. It’s quite a trick to keep audience members glued to their seats for two or more hours at a time, four nights in a row. Bravo.

This past school year I was witness to the high school mock trials that take place annually at the Washington County courthouse. Digging into the cases and then taking either the side of the prosecution or the defense (and sometimes both) requires an attention to detail and poise that most adults could not pull off.

My granddaughter was president of her school’s National Honor Society. More than brains are required to join this group. Maturity, curiosity, constancy, love of learning come into play.

Because my grandson was a special education student, he and his fellow classmates confronted challenges in high school that tested them in ways few adults are ever tested. Adaptable and courageous, he, and they, will be part of the whole fabric of life, as it reveals itself, in the next half-century or so.

Good for them. Good for us.

And what of the passing generation of Americans? What kind of example have we set for the graduates?

Not always good, I’m afraid.

Canon-McMillan’s high school principal, Brittany L. Taylor, speaking the other night to a graduating class in excess of 400 students, wisely touted the important life virtues of tolerance and civility. As she spoke it occurred to me that these were not high on the agenda of the current president of the United States.

When I was a youngster presidents acted not as dividers, but as unifiers, as custodians of our highest national aspirations. Even Richard Nixon, in his way, was far better than the fellow now in charge.

The rising generation will confront enormous challenges. Restoring individual tolerance and a sense of shared values to community and national life are two crucial ones.

Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com. Editor’s note: Last week’s column misstated the date of President Trump’s birthday. It’s June 14.