What do a portion of our high school and college-aged students these days do for fun?

Honestly?

They get drunk, smoke pot and giggle mindlessly. Others take harder drugs and talk about the parties they had the day after, either on the phone or on Facebook or MySpace.

They get sick more often, miss school, get arrested, flunk classes and muddy up their futures when this becomes their lifestyle.

Many others, though, don’t deal with any of these things. They meet at church gatherings and have various activities. They worship, center parties around food, games, movies and generally have a leg up in the game of reality.

There are various groups in between, with a foot in one world and the other on a banana peel, so to speak.

I know these things because my corporate headquarters has a team of researchers on the job. I have inside info.

Our youth culture, as it always has been, is a mixed bag. But in Bowling Green, there’s a significant culture of kids who make good choices on a regular basis. You don’t see their names in the paper as often. When you do, they’re on the dean’s list or have done something to help others instead of unwittingly helping to tear them down.

They feel better in the mornings, have much clearer consciences and less guilt, stress, fear and entanglements of all kinds than their counterparts.

But they’re ALL just kids. Some have better decision-making skills and are less prone to peer pressure. Many try to honor God in everything they do, and it gives them a clearer, less-bumpy road in life.

Others scoff at authority of any kind and want to make their own way.

Such is life.

I bring these things up because there is so much negativity toward youth in the media in general. These good-decision-making kids need some recognition.

If you’ve been immersed in the darker side of youth culture and have come out alive, you’re extremely lucky, as you well know. Pat these good kids on the back and know that many others need your wisdom.

We all make mistakes, but they almost always can be covered and put in the past, if dealt with in time. Don’t give up.

Good news

On the scientific front, an urgent bulletin moved on The Associated Press wire Thursday about Super Chickens.

These are DNA-enhanced animals the FDA is considering for human consumption.

This could backfire, as you may have gathered. They may get so fast we can’t catch them. Perhaps they’ll start fighting crime. My guess is the meat will be tough but we’ll get bigger hot wings (sorry PETA; stay at the circus, will ya?).

What we really should concentrate on is DNA-enhancing our politicians instead of the forked-tongue, snake-oil salesmen we often get on our ballots.

A DNA-enhanced Obama will not tax our country into further submission; his McCain counterpart will not have the age issue hanging over his head and will decide to pop our trading partners in the mouth for a more fair playing field.

One can dream, right?

Giant rats

I have a phobia of rats and mice. So when I read a recent story about giant kangaroo rats being monitored from outer space, I got a little woozy.

Satellites will be used to count these endangered animals, which live in deserts and regularly beat the crap out of normal sized rats.

The really spooky thing is if they can count these things from space, you know they can watch us as we unknowingly twitter around.

Think about that, Billy Bob, the next time you’re full of coffee and miles from a gas station. You may be watched.

Bigfoot market crash

If you think banks have been selling questionable products, how would you feel after paying $50,000 for a Bigfoot costume stuffed with animal guts?

Such is the claim of an Indiana man, William W. Lett Jr., who according to police says he paid a $50,000 bounty to two unidentified men for the creature.

It’s this kind of thinking that has our economy in trouble.

Another man, Steve Kulls, who maintains the SquatchDetective Web site, said in August that two Georgia men – car salesman Rick Dyer and now-fired police officer Matt Whitton – “requested an undisclosed sum of money as an advance, expected from the marketing and promotion” of a dead Bigfoot, which they claimed – during a recent news conference in Palo Alto, Calif. – was stored in a freezer.

Dyer and Whitton now say it was just a hoax that got out of hand. It is unclear if they received and/or kept any money from the debacle. They have retained an attorney.

The search for Bigfoot continues.

— Andy Dennis is the assistant managing editor of the Daily News.