Most, on both the “left” and the “right,” will complain that today’s young people are too selfish. If only they were more selfless and self-sacrificing, then the military would have better young people from which to choose. Or so we’ll be told. Calls for a military draft will strengthen, on the premise that “drafting young people will make them less selfish, and foster a sense of service and sacrifice for the nation.” You know, the kind of thing people like Hitler and Mussolini used to claim. But think about social trends of the last 20 years or so. Public schools, which most children attend, have made community service a requirement. Progressive education fosters group cooperation and learning by consensus over individuality, objectivity and achievement — the latter of which are considered passé, incorrect, selfish and old-fashioned. We’ve reduced emphasis on things like winners or champions in sports; more and more states are providing free college (reducing the incentives for scholarships or high grades); and valedictorians (top grade-earner in one’s high school class) are increasingly a thing of the past, or at least an occasion for embarrassment. Psychiatry and education have bent over backwards to in effect tell young people, “You can’t be expected to focus your minds. Here, take some medication to make you concentrate. We’ll call it ADHD.” The root of self-preservation and rational morality lies in the basic choice to think, not just now and again but every day and moment of one’s life. If lack of attention, focus and purpose is merely a medical or brain-related disease, then why are so many young people still hooked, at age 18 or 21, on the medication that was supposed to cure, or at least alleviate it? If we teach them that they can’t be expected to manage their minds without medical excuse slips, then how in the world do we expect them to prepare for reality, to say nothing of something as difficult as military involvement? [For the whole article, click on the link below.]
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 21:17:13 +0000
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