Reasons and remedies
Thesis statement: Morality in youth has declined drastically with time
The unprecedented era when obedient children were found in every family is considerably over now. It is not a matter of Eastern or Western civilisation; every society has witnessed a drastic change in how the youngsters behave with their parents and with each other also. Immanuel Kant had said, “Morality is not the doctrine of how we make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness.” Youth today, would ridicule this quote. In one line, there is an evident decline of morality in youth from the last one decade and is only waning with time. Modernisation and urbanisation was aimed to improve the quality of life for man, which it certainly has accomplished. But this decline in morality is one of the side effects of modernisation. This essay deals with the very issue of morality in today’s youth, the reasons behind its decline and the possible remedies to put the youth back on track.
Reasons behind the decline of morality and their remedies
1. An overall decline in morality irrespective of age, lifestyle or nationality.
First of all, it is not only youth which shows less moral values. Even adults are growing less ethical with time. Crime is on a toll and so is dishonesty. Succeeding is the prime aim; the chosen path hardly matters for anymore. This negative passion to attain
success either by hook or crook laid the basic foundation of decline in morals. It gradually diffused to every other aspect of life.
Remedy: Inspiration from elders
The examples set by parents, teachers and other elders can influence children. The elders need to be practical and righteous to guide the youngsters. How can a corrupt father ask a son to be honest? Teachers should encourage them to achieve success but honestly. Life is not a race where winning anyhow is important. The youngsters must be told that living life efficiently is above everything else and contributes to sustainable success.
2. Degradation of behavioural and sexual ethics
Youngsters feel proud to use abusive languages, indulge in sexual activities before reaching the appropriate age and have almost forgotten the fact that youth is temporary. Premarital sex is not allowed in several societies but hardly any youngster cares about it. Unsafe sex, forced sex and even pornography have become a usual thing for millions of youngsters globally. Proper sex education is believed to prevent unhealthy sexual practices (Corinna, 2012). But, it has only affected the use of contraception, not the ethics. And each of these issues is regarded to be easy-going by them.
Remedy: Proper guidance and vigilance
Visiting seminars on personal development, watching movies which inspire to be larger in substance rather than style in life and developing interest in creative arts can save the youth from degrading. In one way or the other, some TV shows and movies with explicit sexual content and overdose of fashion have also encouraged the youngsters to choose a lifestyle meant for pleasing them. But, it largely should be the matter of viewer discretion. Youngsters should use their brain and heart before getting over influenced by films. Elders should guide them to watch age-appropriate films and learn to use their conscience.
3. Use of crime, drugs and violence
Drug abuse has become very common and most of the people indulged are teenagers (Bachman, Johnston, O’Malley & Schulenberg, 2011). And to fulfil an addictive need, numerous youngsters don’t hesitate to steal, forge and even hurt others. Crime is augmenting. Students bringing pistols to school and shooting aimlessly at others, harassing weaker children for money and work, molesting women and partaking in addictive drugs has become common. Violence has become a fashion statement for the popular youngsters to demean the unpopular ones. And its use to get demands catered to illegally is not a surprising happening anymore.
Remedy: Strict vigilance and punishment
Elders can try to make a child learn ethics with love. But when someone is indulged in addiction, crime or violence, strict actions must be taken against them by parents, cops and other authorities in charge. Especially criminal and violent youngsters must be punished accordingly. Lesser telecast of films or shows encouraging violence among youth should be considered by concerned department of Television and Broadcasting. Above all, strict vigilance and security must be maintained in school, colleges and other public places to ensure that no child/adult is vulnerable to such harmful activities.
4. Improper behaviour by youth in family, society and personal life gap had widened with time. Mostly the parents are working and spend less time with kids. So, there is less interaction between them. Earlier, children used to learn values from their parents. The lack of interaction has almost stopped the transfer of values from elders to youngsters. Another poignant reason behind the decline of values is the ever-growing desire to be the best in appearance and assets. A teenager feels proud not to be a worthy son or skilled student but an owner of the costliest superbike, branded clothes and accessories. Ridiculing those who is not trendy and praising those who look stylish has become a fashion. Many of those who are deficient in resources choose criminal ways to get their demands fulfilled (Rushton, 2012). Youngsters can die to be the central figure in respect of popularity based on superficial issues like style. It is the conscience of the children and teenagers which has shown an unfortunate decline with time.
Remedy: Properly planned nurturing of child and further guidance
Now, this is the real difficult part of the whole discussion. It is not very easy to change the mentality of youth all of a sudden. What they have continued to believe in for the first significant fifteen to twenty-five years of their life would not get altered effectively in a session of moral education. The truth is that the prevention-cum-preparation of a person begins at the age of 3 to 5 years. That period defines the foundation of a child’s mentality and persona (Dr. Chopra, 2011). If the parents exhibit a life of peace, honesty and merriment to a very young child, he/she picks it up and copies. This gradually carves his/her character. No doubt that with time and exposure to newer environment in terms of family, friends, school and professional grounds, strong influence is seen which leads to the final development of personality. But, the basic morals gets finalised in the very stage of 3 to 5 years old.
However, if the child has grown up and is not morally sound, it is not that there is hardly any hope for improvement. Choosing the right friend circle is important. Now, the right friend does not mean a rich, intelligent and smart guy but a good human being. Family interaction must be encouraged and so must be friendship! The children aged 7 to 12 must be handled with both love and discipline. But strictness in appropriate doses would help limit their exposure to the dark side of youth.
Conclusion
J. Edgar Hoover has said, “When morals decline and good men do nothing, evil flourishes. A society unwilling to learn from past is doomed. We must never forget our history.” So, measures must be taken to bring back morality in the lives of people, especially youth. Always a positive approach should be sought to handle youth. They can be aggressive, over-sentimental and egoistic. So, a balance of love, discipline, care and encouragement should be provided to them to guide through the difficult stages of youth. The morals are declining but have not gone extinct in youth. Inspiring with instances of those who are morally sane and yet smart people can help, not comparing to them. A healthy approach by parents, teachers and friends can solve this gradually.
References
Bachman, J. G., Johnston, L. D., O’Malley, P. M.& Schulenberg, J. E. “Monitoring the
Future national results on adolescent drug use: Overview of key findings” Ann
Arbor: Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan 2010. Web 1 Nov 2012
Corinna, Heather. "How Can Sex Ed Prevent Rape?". Scarleteen. .Edited 2010. Web 28 Oct .
2012.
Dr. Deepak Chopra with Oprah Winfrey. Discovery Channel. Broadcasted in 2012.
Hoover, J.E. http://www.quotesandpoem.com/quotes/showquotes/movie/j.-edgar/167652.
Web 1 Nov. 2012
Kant, Immanuel. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/morality.html. Web 1 Nov.
Rushton, J. Philippe. "Cross-National Variation in Violent Crime Rates: Race, r-K Theory,
and Income". Web 28 Oct, 2012
