Does anyone know this story...

[LYother]

... about a spaceship fleeing the now-uninhabitable earth, a trip so long that most of the passengers were born on the ship and have no concept of what they're doing. One of them pulls a knob off the control panel to give to his girlfriend, and an original passenger -- a very old man -- rails at these kids to quit destroying the ship. It's pure paranoia from the inside; the old man knows the purpose of the trip but none of the younger ones do.

 

[BionicGriff]

There's actually a forum here specifically for "looking for" threads, I'm sure one of the mods will move it soon. Shortly thereafter @dannymcg will likely give you your answer.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Children of Time,Adrian Tchailkovsky?

 

[Danny McG]

There's a load of generation ship stories out there.
Your detail of kids pulling chunks off control panels makes me think of Ark by Stephen Baxter.
However I no longer have the book so I can't check to be certain

 

[The Judge]

Can't help you about the book, but I can move the thread over to Book Search where we keep these types of problems. Good luck with finding the one you want.

 

[LYother]

I regret that in my original question I left out an important detail. I read this story in 1960 or '61 and anything written after that ain't it! Sorry about that.

 

[Danny McG]

Ahhhh!

Spins internal dials back a few decades and sets off frowning again.....

 

[tinkerdan]

I don't remember everything about the plot but I'd start with Orphans in the Sky.

 

[Danny McG]

I don't remember everything about the plot but I'd start with Orphans in the Sky.

I've just skimmed all through my copy but can't find a section as stated by OP with some kid breaking off a piece of the control panels.
Must be some other generation ship story

 

[pambaddeley]

Could it be Brian Aldiss' Starship/Non Stop - Starship being the 1958 version and Non Stop the one rewritten to update it in the early 2000s?

 

[monkeypooper]

I have not long read non-stop and that rings no bells but the plot is ringing some long lost phone line in my skull trying to see if anything jostles my memory

 

[monkeypooper]

Just reread that ive only read the rewrite tbh didnt know it was now i'll have to get that also onto my tbr list

 

[Danny McG]

A list here with a goodly number of pre 1960's
List of Generation Ship Novels and Short Stories