Do you think that the counterculture had more positive or negative effects on American culture and society?

This is, of course, completely a matter of opinion.  I
wish that we could have gotten the "goods" that came from the counterculture without the
"bads."  However, all told, I'd have to say that I think that the goods outweighed the
bads.

To me, the major good that came out of the
counterculture was a greater amount of equality for women.  If you include the Women's
Lib movement as part of the counterculture, you can see that the counterculture gave us
a society in which women go to college as much as (or more than) men and in which women
and men are coming to have nearly equal status in society.   The bads of the
counterculture are generally things that people can avoid if they want to.  You don't
have to subscribe to the ideas of "sex, drugs and rock and roll" if you don't want
to.

That is why I think the goods outweigh the bads.  The
goods are things that apply to everyone (or at least all women).  The bads are things
that you don't have to accept.  That means that everyone can enjoy the benefits of the
changes brought by the counterculture while not everyone has to suffer from the
bads.