America's
Children:
Values Lost and Values Found
by
David Walsh, Ph.D.
 Each
of us as parents must identify the values we have
intentionally taught and displayed to our children.
But, we must also ask ourselves another question:
What values have we as a society taught our
children?
While
the following is by no means a complete list, it
identifies the marketplace messages being conveyed
to our children:
1.
Happiness is found in having things.
2.
Get all you can for yourself.
3.
Get it all as quickly as you can.
4.
Win at all costs.
5.
Violence is entertaining.
6.
Always seek pleasure and avoid boredom.
This
is what our society is teaching our children. Every
morning when we pick up our newspapers we see more
and more of the consequences of this
"education". We don't need to go over the
alarming statistics again. We know that our kids are
in deep trouble because of what we as a society have
done.
The
Search For Scapegoats
As
the situation worsens, we should be searching our
collective soul for real answers and solutions;
instead, we often look for scapegoats to blame, and
for quick fixes. One of the most frequently cited
scapegoats is the American school system.
Recently
I was being interviewed on a national radio show
about the plight of our youth. After several minutes
of discussion, the host paused, and with great
dramatic effect asked me, "Don't you think, Dr.
Walsh, that all of these problems are the fault of
the schools?" I was dumbfounded when he boiled
down the fault for all of the troubling
circumstances surrounding our children to one
culprit. But looking back, I understand why he did
it. In the face of an overwhelming problem, this
radio host, like the rest of us, wanted someone to
blame. I tried to explain why I disagreed with his
assessment, but he would hear none of it. He had it
figured out to his satisfaction: the schools were to
blame.
Our
schools are not the culprits. Schools are dealing
with the results of America selling out its
children. This is not to say there aren't problems
in our schools or that there aren't things we need
to change. But to blame our schools for the
attitudes and values our children are adopting is
akin to blaming physicians for their patients'
illnesses. For the most part, schools try to instill
positive values in our children. It is when
society's values influence their effectiveness (as
in the case of Channel One) that their messages
become mixed.
The
fact is that children are going to school already
wounded by a society that undermines positive
values. Teachers can't teach as effectively because
their hands are full dealing with students' social
and emotional problems that hinder learning. I've
talked to many talented teachers, some of whom work
twelve hours a day. Nearly all of them are
discouraged. The needs of the children they try to
teach are so overwhelming, and our society doesn't
seem to support them. Instead of holding up teachers
as role models, we look to entertainers and
athletes.
Our
schools are affected by the same values of our
contemporary culture as we are as individuals. They
certainly share in the responsibility to help remedy
the situation, but to blame the schools is unfair
and unproductive. It is ironic that many parents
consider the six or so hours a child spends in
school more influential than the other eleven waking
hours, much of it taken up with watching TV and
playing video games. Some parents seem to be
extremely worried about what their kids learn in
school while at the same time they are unconcerned
about what they learn in front of the TV.
Another
popular scapegoat is our legal system. "If
judges would get tough with juvenile
criminals," some insist, "these problems
with our kids wouldn't be happening." Indeed,
judges may need to get tougher with youthful
offenders as part of the solution to the rising tide
of violence among children; but if we think that
simply locking up all those who follow violent
patterns of behavior is the answer, we're sadly
mistaken. We can't build prisons fast enough to
solve the problem that way. Even from a perspective
of pure self-interest, how can we afford to
incarcerate so many of the very people we will need
to count on as productive citizens, workers, and
taxpayers? If we don't change what we're teaching
our kids we'll have the worst of all worlds: rising
crime, more and more money spent on prisons, and
fewer taxpayers to foot the bill.
Some
speak about the deterrent effect of a very strict
"get tough" policy against youthful
offenders. However, the effectiveness of this
strategy, like that of many others, has been greatly
weakened because of all the messages that teach
children that now is all that matters. Today's kids
have been conditioned not to think about
consequences.
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 This
article was excerpted from the book Selling
Out America's Children: How America Puts Profits
before Values and What Parents Can Do, ©,
by David Walsh, Ph.D. Reprinted with permission of
the publisher, Fairview Press (formerly known as
Deaconess Press). www.fairviewpress.org.
For
info or to order this book.
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