German Rivera
English 101
Professor McBride
June 7 2015
Word Count: 1039
1)The
decline of the strong work ethic
2) The rise
of cultural influences
Growing up in the early 70's most families had one or both
parents worked. If only the dad worked,
the mom worked harder still taking care of the home. Most men were blue and white collar types and
waking up at 5 am was the norm. Coming
home at 6pm, fighting traffic, having dinner, helping kids with homework and
still having time to fix the bathroom faucet was a regular routine and repeated
daily. This had a major influence in my life
not seeing my dad until the evening sometimes droopy, looking tiresome but
always had time to talk and recap the day with me. I never gave it second thought that there was always food on the table,
clothes and shoes were always available
and a car to take us places.
Kids growing up
seeing this scene play itself out every day, thought that it was normal
behavior. The parents knew the value of
education and hard work, and try to instill in their kids the thought of being
a valuable and productive member of
society. And that starts with being able to read and write. I was grew older and started to work my
parent's work habits shifted to me as I too took work seriously, always on time
and always being productive.
Nowadays parents have
sense of entitlement and are often self-centered. The strong work ethic has taken a back seat
to sloth and high value of mediocrity has prospered. Parents intuitively know that school is good
for their kids but they are lukewarm in channeling it. Also, if the parent's
education was half-heartedly gained then they saw no reason for their kids to
do any better. Working at menial jobs,
they see no reason for kids to aspire when their parents can get by which has a
major impact on the impressionable youth .
Unlike the valuable example my parents set for me, if a teen today wants
escape the downward trajectory of underachievement set by their parents they must do it on their own. If filling out an application and W2's are the
minimum they have to do then why take an upper level English courses? Free education is lost in the current
generation, why go to school when you can get by, by doing something else? Private schools better promote the three R's
but there is a cost, a cost most parents, even those who can afford it, are not
willing to foot.
Contrast these parents with immigrant parents especially
from eastern countries like India and China where education at any cost is
prized and a priority in the family's lives.
These parents with a solid work ethic, work at multiple low paying jobs,
pool all their earned money to fund
their children's education.
What I stated above are generalizations. Most parents are
hard working and do want their kids to
be successful and better off than they are.
Kids are given every advantage but refuse or just not inclined. Our culture today plays a major role in the dulling of our
youth which brings us to my next stumbling block.
The glamour and glitz of Hollywood, the excitement of sports
and the allure of social media has been a great detriment to education. What kids watch has so much influence in
their lives where fantasy overpowers reality.
They see lives of the rich and famous who talk in jumbled sentences yet
still make millions. They think that
this is normal and if the stars can talk incoherently, they can also. Even
college athletes are not immune to this illiteracy. Just watch an athlete being interviewed and
one will be hard pressed to understand half of what they are saying.
The digital world has also been a detriment to the basic foundations
of communications. Full
paragraphs give
way to half-sentences and sentences give way to abbreviations. Want to share an emotion, then use an
emoticon. Why describe what one is
feeling when one can use a happy face? It has been said that a picture is worth
a thousand words, but in this age of social media, where the public is
bombarded with millions of pictures and photographs, words get lost in translation.
Free education is not free. Somebody has to pay and that somebody most of the time is Joe Taxpayer. Teachers are overwhelmed and underpaid. They have become baby sitters to spoiled brats who are unwilling to learn. Most teaches try to live out their calling but are inundated with rotten kids, arrogant parents, administrative bureaucracy. The few kids who want to learn are swept up in the peer pressured world of below-average.
While basic
skills are on the decline, critical thinking where comprehending what one is
reading and thoughtfully conveying that in a written word, is in a free fall. Reading
and writing take a modicum of brain activity and thought. Critical thinking takes this to a higher
level. Being able to think and discern
good and bad and choosing between good, better and best, takes experience and practice. Some of it is innate and all of us have some
aptitude for critical thinking but the muscle of critical thinking has to be exercised.
In school higher levels of reading and writing will help but other courses
like physics, algebra and logic will
enhance the learning.
Even working at a lowly McDonald job takes a liberal amount
of critical thinking where decisions have to be made for the betterment of the
business. For example, telling a
customer that there is a better deal on the menu, realizing the food is stale
and throw it away or the ability to correctly handle multiple orders during
rush hour are just a few examples where the ability to think is needed.
Yes, free education is a valuable right in this country, but it is also our right to take advantage of it. Sadly, our next generations will be lost unless we can at least read or right lucidly which would lead to better critical thinking which advances to a better society.
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