rockdoc123 wrote:Pup 55 hit the nail on the head as far as I'm concerned. You can look to blame all sorts of external issues such as the economy, poor government planning etc but the underlying problem is that there has been almost zero proper parenting. Morals and ethics are learned at home and generally by example. If a parent gives his child everything he/she asks for and demands nothing in return how does that teach him about the work ethic? If a parent doesn't show interest in what his child is learning each day at school will not the child think it isn't important? If you let your child take a plethora of courses at college/university that have no seeming goal in mind are you not contributing to the problem he will have in finding employment? Where is the direction and discipline that is needed?
I think it is as simple as looking back at the way many boomers were raised. We spent a lot of time with our parents...dinner every night, breakfast if the father hadn't already headed to work. Weekends were family time spent doing things together. School was seen as being important and was discussed regularly at home. If your grades fell there had better be good reason. Sports were encouraged, especially team sports and parents tended to support as much as possible. Money wasn't plentiful for most but then again we didn't need much. A few shirts, a couple of pairs of jeans a pair of corduroys for winter, a warm jacket, cheap sneakers, a good slide rule and you were pretty much supplied for the year. If you needed something else that was seen as being frivolous (say a new bike when yours was perfectly good) then there was always something to do to earn it (fences to be painted, gardens to be dug, a garage that needed a new roof, a driveway that needed patching etc).
Most importantly when you screwed up (and which of us never did?) you were made aware of it in no uncertain terms and instructed in what the right behavior was. The main punishment was embarrassment and I seem to remember it worked like a charm. And yes, it wasn't the same for everyone but for every kid that came from a broken home in the 50's there were ten or more who didn't. It was a bigger anamoly than it is today.
I think everything starts there. That being said the one problem that needs to be fixed is the very liberal approach to schooling. I believe there is a route cause there as well. Teaching needs to be revered as an occupation of choice. When I was teaching at university the normal backup route for students who couldn't cut the mustard in science was to fallback into education. They weren't there because they wanted to be but rather because the standards were lower. And it doesn't help that the profession is so poorly paid. Make teaching an occupation of choice and pay teachers an enviable salary and the education system will improve. Then start to toss out the students that cause problems (which are generally a minority) and you will start to build a well educated student population with a good set of ethics and goals.
And finally the notion of entitlement really gets my hackles up. You are not entitled to be rich and successful...you have to work for it. You aren't entitled to the best education...you have to work for that to. And once you have that education you aren't entitled to a really high paying job right out of the gate either...you have to work for that as well.
Just my opinion of course.
pup55 wrote: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?...
pup55 wrote:It depends on where the baby is born. Here in Suburbia there are two on our street. The young mothers basically live at home, in the same room they did when they were "kids", which they still are, I suppose, and grandma takes care of the baby while they finish school or go to their part time job. I think both of the moms have Pell Grants which gets them into the local commuter college for free, since they are single moms.
The grandmas actually get some pleasure out of this....which is creepy in and of itself. I suppose in previous generations the moms and grandmoms were shunned socially but not anymore.
I'm a little surprised that other posters are criticizing young people and their parents, but no one is blaming the evil corporations for the lack of good jobs for young people.
After all, that is what young people themselves believe-----the whole point of the Occupy Wall Street movement is that wall street and the corporations are to blame for all their problems.
But he was still able to land a good paying job with a major O&G company in a field that he had absolutely no background or knowledge in simply because he was motivated, respectful and came across keen to learn in the interview. As I said previously jobs are not an entitlement....they need to be earned. If it takes getting your hair cut, shaving more than once a week, wearing something other than baggy pants and an untucked shirt, well then if you want a job you should be willing to do that. If it takes going to scores of interviews or going back to school or technical college then that is what you should be willing to do.
Plantagenet wrote:I'm a little surprised that other posters are criticizing young people and their parents, but no one is blaming the evil corporations for the lack of good jobs for young people.
After all, that is what young people themselves believe-----the whole point of the Occupy Wall Street movement is that wall street and the corporations are to blame for all their problems.
IMHO, I think the kids are all right, but years of bad government economic policy have severely damaged the economy.
Personally, I find the Occupy position naive in the extreme, if well meaning. These people need to get out of their suburbs and go have a look at how people live in the 70% of the world who are struggling to earn $3 a day.
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