“ Amed, why did you leave you dishes in the living room? Amed! Why isn't the garbage out?” I hear this echoing through my house everyday around five o'clock in the evening. The answer is always something along the lines of : “Oh, I was getting to that.” or even “I was to lazy.” Did that really come out of my ten year old cousins mouth? Maybe my parents were old fashioned but they always taught me that laziness was something of which to be ashamed. As a child if I were ever to complain about being bored or having nothing to do, my parents were quick to make a long list of chores to keep me occupied.
It wouldn't be as big of a problem if the laziness stopped at petty things like taking out the trash but the sad fact is that it doesn't. American youth are trailing behind other developed nations in test scores and are the lowest margin of the population to turn out to vote. Blame is being tossed around everywhere. They are watching to much television and not reading enough books Its not the schools that are failing its the parents. All of these conjectures may be true but I don't think they are the only reason young people from every class and race are falling behind the rest of the world.
Parents baby their children too much. Parents want their children to enjoy their childhoods while they have a chance but the problem is that there is no transition out of these childhoods. Children are often not forced into the difficult work that the real world demands. Every every American deserves a chance to have a childhood but this should be a structured childhood. In most globally competitive countries out there laziness is punished. In America we are fostering a culture of lazy children who will under-preform in the classrooms and in the work force.
It is the responsibility of the parent to prepare a child for the challenges of the real world. We must return to the foundations of hard work that this nation was founded upon to ensure that American has a future in the global economy. The youth of today literally are the future of this country and American needs more to keep it active in the world than lazy citizens.
Agreed. There is perpetual laziness afoot even in the college-aged generation.
ReplyDeleteDiscipline is seen as something "mean" or "abusive" nowadays. Sending a kid to their room for 15 minutes or denying them a privilege, however, is necessary if they are hitting their brother. If parents cannot even discipline their child when they do something wrong, however, then they are definitely not going to be disciplined when they are lazy, disobedient, and constantly underperforming. It must be a very difficult balance between love and justice to be a parent, but without any of the justice parents are actually doing more harm to their child then loving them.
Unfortunately, the future global economy is shaping up to be totally different from previous societies. Before 1900, 90% of all citizens were engaged in farming and other food production activities. Now, it's about 5%. So that other 85% had to find other work in the industrial and service sectors.
ReplyDeleteWe're now seeing another paradigm shift. By 2050, most of the industrial plant work will be done by robotic devices, and most of the service sector work done by computer programs.