Where Have All the Good ones Gone?

Honesty. Respect. Integrity. Motivation. Dedication. Patriotism. The preceding words represent qualities many of today’s American students lack. Many US citizens question the reason behind this decline of morality within the educational system. Parents blame the teachers; teachers claim the students are unable to be taught and parents aren’t attempting to assist teachers in their quest to disperse their knowledge. As for the students, they just don’t care. Who exactly is to blame? Students? Teachers? Parents? More importantly, how this be fixed? Government programs like the recent “No Child Left Behind” Act aren’t as effective as they claim, and bribing the students with field trips and Coke float parties do not work. What is a nation, quickly filling with uneducated young adults, to do?

Many theories have been tested as to why students are becoming lazy and, for lack of a better word, stupid. Most fingers are pointed towards parental control. Commercials geared towards a drug-free America tell parents to ask questions: Who? What? Where? When? Most parents are too caught up in the drama of their own lives to wonder who their kids hang out with, and where and what they are doing with them. They are more concerned with Mr. Limon not paying them for overtime or why Clint and Robert got fired. Students are ignored and seldom rewarded for good behavior. However, when Mom and Dad get a call from the school when little Johnny was caught smoking marijuana