2003.05.09
2003.05.09
what is wrong with so much of the youth in america? i read one woman’s account and was shocked and horrified with the behaviour of the kids. just so you’re aware of your own stereotyping before it happens, the kids she talks about are white, not black, so get rid of your racial prejudices; this is a deeper problem.
ed sent a link to OOKEE a while back that covers some of the problems, and i think the focus should be on parental involvement. if the parents don’t care, why should the kids? what sort of example are they setting? do the parents even know these days what their kids are doing?
the "one woman" (deborah fillman) actually makes a list called the parental pledge that makes alot of sense (though if i were her i would take out the slight against the democrats; republicans can be just as snaky) and should be published and given to every person who wants to be a parent, whether in a marriage or a single parent home.
i don’t believe that this problem is a matter just for poverty either; you can see rich kids misbehaving just as badly, just with more money and in different ways. i don’t think this is a matter of race, because it doesn’t matter if the kids are white, black, asian, or martian; you can see this on every street in every town in the country. most of all, i don’t see this as a problem the government can -or even should- be involved with EXCEPT to allow parents to do what they need to do. spanking a child is not lifelong trauma (i am fine, thank you very much) and grounding them for a month is something they will get over (i certainly did, though it sucked at the time). parents should be given more power over their children, not less.
the only time government should get involved is when the kid misbehaves badly and is caught; the parent should be in just as much trouble. if the child commits murder then the parent should at the very least goto jail for a set amount of time as well. if a parent genuinely abuses a child (i’m talking bruises, broken bones, cuts, burns, etc, *not* spanking) then the parent should be prosecuted. our government has gone too far these days, though. i wouldn’t be suprised if a child could sue their parent for not allowing them to spend the night at a friend’s house and get away with it.
everyone needs to realize that a child is a minor, subject to the parents law with limited legal rights. they are not adults. the adults are responsible for them. it sounds harsh or strange, but the analogy of thinking of children like pets is not far off the mark:
if you pet pees on the carpet you clean it up the first time, discipline them the second time on. the pet learns not to pee on the carpet. it doesn’t love you any less for it. if your pet attacks someone, YOU are responsible. the pet has certain rights (you can’t just beat an animal), but it cannot take you to court for better food.
until a child is an adult (most often legally defined in this country at 18) then they should be treated completely differently than they are today. not inhumanely or cruelly, but sternly, fairly, and with the goal of raising them into responsible individuals.
Categorized: thoughts
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