Posts Tagged ‘churches’

Who Is Teaching Morality To Our Children?

December 27, 2010

Who Teaches Morality To Our Children?

I believe that America is increasingly weakened by our failure to teach morality to our children. The most effective ways in which moral behaviors are taught to children are through others “modeling” (showing or describing) moral behavior for children and then “positively reinforcing” (rewarding in many ways) their actions when they imitate adults and peers moral behaviors.

It is axiomatic that “Do as I say, not as I do!” fails pitifully.

My question to you is who is teaching morality to our children? Do you think the majority of our parents are doing so? How could that be so when so many of our parents are behaving immorally, or simply unavailable to children due to divorce, work or other activities? Do you think it is our grandparents? How could that be so when so many of them are behaving immorally, divorced, living away from grandchildren, traveling, or disaffected from their own children? Do you think it is our schools? How could that be so when schools are no longer committed to teaching America’s traditional Judeo-Christian codes for moral conduct and their display has been outlawed from the classroom—all of this with no comparable moral code replacement? Do you think it is our religious organizations? How significant is this influence when increasingly our churches do not teach a strong moral code of conduct for fear of offending their parishioners and losing financial support? How strong can church influence be when our sociologists consistently tell us that families are no longer deeply and significantly involved in church activities and with church social functions?

Can you please tell me Who Is Teaching Morality To Our Children?

My own answer is: Fewer and fewer good parents, fewer and fewer good grandparents, fewer and fewer good private schools, and fewer and fewer good churches. Of course, there are some clubs that remain dedicated to teaching moral and ethical principles such as Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Brownie Scouts and Girl Scouts, etc. that are also declining in popularity.

Fewer and Fewer of us and our institutions are teaching moral behavior to our children.

Therefore, how could we expect anything but less and less moral behavior in America?

Can you see that these problems imply many solutions?

V. Thomas Mawhinney, Ph.D.   12/27/10

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Boiling the American Frog, Thoughts from Natalie's Child | 2 Comments »

When “Human Capital” Is Not Enough

February 19, 2010

When “Human Capital” Is Not Enough

The development of human capital is commonly identified as one of the prerequisites to sociocultural and economic success.

Normally, building human capital is presented as educating our people in science and technology, as well as in marketable skills.

But something is missing from this modern conception and it is not a small thing: It is a suicidal  omission. 

The citizens of a socioculture that plans to live long and well, must also teach their children an accurate history of their own culture and a system of guiding ethics with which to maintain it. As importantly, these future citizens must also be taught to love and respect their own history and comply with societies moral/ethical guidelines.

In America, these critical ingredients of human capital  were once taught by schools, churches, families, Boy and Girl Scouts, and the like. Though it may be hard to believe,  America’s entertainment media once, long ago, also  provided a strong assist to teaching these form of social capital to our children and youth.

At the present  in Post-Modern America, who now teaches these ethical virtues to our children? It is not the schools, our government has greatly impaired that function. It is not the church, as families are much less intimately involved than they once were. It is not the families who are working two jobs or more,  reduced, reconfigured, geographically split, and who are often divorced into four parents and eight grandparents (or more). In this last problem “too many chefs” often spoil the brew. It is not in our other strong organizations dedicated to acculturating our youth in  the values and ethics of Americans.  Boy Scout and Girl Scout (also Cub and Brownie Scout) enrollments have been diminishing. America’s  entertainment media have savagely betrayed it’s parents and children to wreak moral and ethical havoc upon them.

Who is teaching our children the essential moral/ethical components of Social Capital in Post-Modern America!?

Thank God some folks are, but their numbers are diminishing.

If something is lost, the  most effective to way to  find it again is to retrace our steps to the place that we once possessed it. 

True, we cannot turn back time. But we sure as hell can begin to teach ethics and values as we  once did, even if we do it in many different and new ways. It is just a matter of  admitting the lethality of one of our own stupid oversights in America,  the will to work and sacrifice as a nation, and the drive  to survive in a very hostile world.

Many of us are wondering if we have what it takes anymore.

Our youth will probably  know the answer within their life-time.

V. Thomas Mawhinney, Ph.D.    2/20/10

Tags:, , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Boiling the American Frog | 1 Comment »

%d bloggers like this: