read this with and open mind.. I just wrote it for my composition 2 class and im looking for honest opinions.. am in on the right track? Lack of Respect in the U.S. There is no controversy over the fact that in the recent years the level of respect our children have for themselves, each other, and the general public has gone down dramatically. This nation has a serious problem with the way our youth is behaving. This problem is not only affecting the way we interact with one another, but also how our great nation stacks up to the rest of the world. The lack of respect in our nation today has affected almost every aspect of our lives, from our test scores in schools, the way we rank in the advancement of technology, all the way to the way we drive down the road. It is my belief that with a few corrections starting at the beginning we can change this disastrous course that our nation’s youth is on. It’s no surprise to anyone to say that the children of today have lost the humbleness and respectfulness of yesteryears. However most don’t realize just how bad it has become. As few as 20 years ago the United States was ranked number one in high school and college test scores. In that short time we have fallen to 18th in the world. After World War II the United States was number one in technological advancement, coming up with the best and brightest ideas in the world, today we have fallen behind Japan and China. In the 1950’s and 60’s driving down the street was considered a pleasure and something one would do with the family on a relaxing Sunday afternoon, today it seems more like a chore unpleasant and time consuming. Why did all this happen? It is down to a treding notion that respect is not needed in today’s society. However this can be fixed. The first step in fixing the growing problem with respect in the United States today is to go back to the very beginning. We need to look at the way our children are raised in the home. It seems that there are less and less caring parents and more parents that want to pawn the problem off. Teen pregnancy is now not something that is looked upon with shame as much as it is something that is almost expected. This is a problem, how can someone who is not yet ready to take care of themselves properly be expected to raise another child and teach them the proper behavior. In the 50’s all the way through the late 80’s and early 90’s it was common place to discipline your child with a swift smack or a whip with a belt. Now in understanding that this is a fine line and can go too far at times, making it altogether illegal or frowned upon gives the parents no room for real discipline that a child will understand so clearly. By removing the parent’s ability to effectively discipline children we have in a way removed their ability to teach. With no ability to teach respect we can have no hope of our children possessing that virtue. The second step to regain our nation’s respect level is to relook at our school systems. In the past the teachers and parents had a cooperative relationship, with efforts to work together and better the education of the child. Today it seems that the parents and teachers are against each other. Each one trying to find a fault it the other. What we need to realize as a nation is that it is not beneficial to our nation, our children or our future to argue. We need to come together as a society and raise our children together teaching them the core values of life. The old adage “it takes a village to raise a child” was not at all incorrect, children all the way up until late adolescence are like sponges and will soak up all they see and hear in life. They will then take that information and return it in their own actions. Seeing teachers and parents fighting and disrespecting one another shows them that that is the normalcy of society, and that’s not right. If the parents and teachers come together and both communicate all for the betterment of the child’s learning experience, from homework getting done to punishments not ending just because the child has gone home. The Respectful communication is key in showing our children how to behave respectfully. The third step in increasing our day to day respect is improving our own day to day interactions. Simple things we all already know, but don’t seem to use. Things like holding the door for someone, or giving a passing car a friendly wave. Things that show that we care about more than ourselves but also about the world and community’s around us. This nation has seemed to forget that we are not entitled to anything simply by being born. Yes you were lucky enough to be born into this great nation where you have rights, but that is by mere chance 131.4 million babies were born last year, of that only 1,396,701 babies were born in the United states. That means you have a 1% chance of being born in this nation. So you were that lucky, that still doesn’t entitle you to anything other than those specific rights given to you by the constitution. That job you have, it’s a gift from an employer there are other people who can do that job, be thankful. That road you’re driving on it is a privilege given to you, not a right. Services done by a company are a transaction between to likeminded individuals working towards a common goal, they don’t owe you anything. The second we stop expecting everything to be handed to us, or that we are entitled to everything that is the time when we will see respect return. There is no one solution that will bring respect back in to our great nation. The solution can only happen one person at a time. If we each try to show respect to others in our everyday lives our children will pick up on that. They will take that in and return it in their own way, showing the respect to others, and receiving it as well and maybe, just maybe we will see the day where the United States once again sits on top of the world.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 02:38:24 +0000
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