by pup55 » Sun 01 Jan 2012, 11:42:20
This happens to be one of my favorite topics. Allow me to rant.
Reasons we got to this point (not necessarily in order of their importance)
1. The failed policies of the Reagan, Bush I, Clinton and Bush II administrations which keep their 50-year old parents flipping burgers, a job formerly associated with entry level workers but now held by people trying to keep their act together.
2. The deliberate strategy of the Bush I, Clinton and Bush II administrations to open up our southern border, depriving a lot of these kids an entry level job and teach them some work ethic. Particularly bad is the H1B Visa plan which has a lot of so-called engineers and other hangers on coming into the country from Asia, thus depriving a lot of our own kids an opportunity.
3. The overall collapse of the nuclear family, with strong parental role models. This was caused mainly by a reduced standard of living since 1971. Half of the kids in this era are born to single-parent families, with weak parenting.
4. Parental Guilt-Trip Overcompensation: Possibly as an artifact of (3) a lot of these kids were given a sense of entitlement. The young ladies all want to be Disney Princesses, and expect some handsome prince to swoop down and solve all of their problems, and the young gentlemen expect to become DJ's or studio guitarists or video game designers. Their parents, out of not a small measure of guilt, did not insist otherwise and steer these kids toward some sort of useful activity, and lean on them to make sure they were prepared to enter the labor force.
5. A disgraceful school system that leaves a third of these poor kids dropping out, another third practically illiterate and unable to do simple problem solving. There are plenty of places to put blame: Administrators that are a lot of good old boy ex football coaches whose main mission is to keep in budget and build a bigger stadium, teachers who now come, in large part, from the bottom 1/3 of their college classes, and are only slightly better equipped than the students, underpaid and unable to maintain discipline, a dumbed down curriculum, designed to lift up the lower end of the class, move the AP kids along, and forget about the middle... Complete abandonment of teaching useful skills such as shop or auto mechanics or welding... a victim of "political correctness" I suppose. Whining parents who do not back up the teachers, because the teachers are weak. Teachers that are delivery devices for the curriculum with no flexibility to change what doesn't work.
6. They're out of shape, and don't show up to places on time. I reported not too long ago that 80 percent of these kids are unfit for military service because of physical conditioning, not to mention failing the drug test and the fact that they are felons. True that the current crop of "volunteers" are on the low end of the socioeconomic scale but the very notion that the defense of the country is left up to some of these slugs is enough to make George Patton roll over in his grave. I said a long time ago that Nikita Kruschev is rolling over in his grave right now too. Little did he know that the secret weapon that could immobilize 80% of the American Army was "high fructose corn syrup".
7. Readily available distractions: Drugs, alcohol, electronic distractions of various types. There have always been some distractions, but no parental figures to tell them "no". In fact, lack of being told "no" is a common thread that runs throughout these problems.
8. An incentive system that works in the wrong direction: A young lady in this age group that pops out a kid in my state gets $500 a month from the dad (paid for by grandpa, since dad does not have a job), plus some supplemental income from the state, plus subsidized food and medical care and a lot of other benefits. It does not seem to cramp their style, their hovering parents are happy to babysit their grandkids. Why not crank out 2 or 3 more?
9. Consumerism? You know where I am going on this one.
10. Core Values problems? Whatever happened to Truth, Justice and the American Way? We all know what happened to the Truth ("I am not a crook") Justice (If the gloves don't fit, you must acquit) and the American Way (Saddam is a Weapon of Mass Destruction).
I will think of some others later.
BTW this generation should, in theory be out buying houses right now, instead of sitting around in Mom's basement getting loaded. Until they do, the current housing problem is going nowhere.
