Respect...What is that?

As I have shown in my profile, I am a teacher. I spend seven hours of my day with middle school and high school students. Since this is my first year of teaching, I have no frame of reference except my own experience as a student, but I wonder if respect for authority has long been lost. I have one student in particular who always has something smart to say when I ask him to do his work or sit down. This young man thinks he is funny, but I view it as a lack of respect. I remember when I was a child, if I even delayed in doing what I was told, I knew there would be dire consequences at school and at home. Not only were there negative repercussions from adults, but my own peers would have looked down on me. Today, it seems like the students who are the most disrespectful are the students that the pretty girls and many of the boys want to date and be like. What has happened? I think the key to this issue is that many parents have changed their roles from being parents to being their child's "buddy". Parents were not given children to be their "friends", they were given children to nurture and train them to be successful individuals that can turn around and be good leaders and parents. I fear if this trend continues, the school system will continue to fail, because students are not giving teachers the time of day and there is no way that instruction time be successful. If taxpayers want to blame anyone, take a look at themselves first, before pointing fingers at us.