Crowder,
I understand your dismay at the conditions of the lives of today's children. However, you are behind the times. My wife and I both teach school. She is a third grade teacher and I teach high school agriscience. Today's kids have different names than their parents. The girls get pregnant out of wedlock and then come back to school to parade their babies around like they have done something great. Old timers in town are always saying that I ought to get those "ag boys" to build this or build that, or repair a piece of equipment. Fact is, those "ag boys" are too lazy and lack the knowledge because they have never been made to work. By the time I get them in high school, the mold has been cast, and many of them, (girls, too) have no work ethic, no morals, and are looking for a government handout. The fault is not all theirs of course, because somewhere along the line, people started depending on the government to raise their kids, they decided to have kids without getting married, drugs became a form of entertainment, they decided to live in the here and now and their kids are following suit. Of course, there are students that come from stable middle class homes that have been given cars, clothes, cell phones, TV's, Ipods, and the list goes on. These kids grow up believing that they are owed something. My pet peeve is laziness and this stems from the parents lack of motivation. When kids in an ag class ask how much are they going to get paid to do a job, or complain about child labor laws when they're told to sweep the shop, it makes me irate. Of course, I've got thick hide and have no discipline problems, because as I tell my students, I'm tougher and meaner than they are. To be fair though, most of our kids are good, but the percentage of sorry kids is on the rise and mom and dad are to blame. No Child Left Behind has also hindered the development of responsible behavior since each child has to be given every opportunity to succeed. Sounds good, doesn't it? But the fact of the matter is, that the advanced students are held back while every opportunity is given for the slower kids to catch up. Remediation is made available to kids who have to attend, but don't want it. Why we can't set a standard and require kids to meet it, or else they fail is beyond me. In closing, what I'm trying to say is that even the education system perpetuates the problem to a certain extent by lowering standards, rewarding kids for good grades and good behavior, and not being tough enough in disciplinary measures. The reward for good grades should be the grade itself. Good behavior should be rewarded by the fact that the kid didn't have to receive discipline. There are excellent young people out there, but many problems exist today that weren't prevalent when I started teaching 22 years ago.
