Parents As The Teachers Of Morals example essay topic

Justin Apresa a sixteen year-old boy remembers how he first came to learn about sex and the treatment of the opposite sex. "It wasn't like my parents talked to me about sex and girls", Justin commented. He learned about it through his cousin who, at the time was merely seventeen years old. Justin remembers how his cousin told him that the more women he slept with, the more "Macho" he would become, meaning more of a "Man" in English terms.

He was also told that women liked to be treated like sexual objects, if a women refused to have sex with him, it did not matter because he was a "Man". Justin explained that he grew up with the misconception that sex was a gift given to him from God. "I remember thinking how awesome it would be to sleep with as many women as I pleased", Justin would say. Who is to blame why this adolescent became misguided? It is easy to hold the video games, television and the school system responsible, but the real problem is parents. The parents are no longer teaching children morals; they have become dependent on other sources to teach their children life's values.

Video games are replacing parents as the teachers of morals. "Video games are becoming more and more violent", comments twenty-two-year old Felipe Herrera, "they depict too much brutal and sadistic behavior". Graphic video games, such as Mortal Kombat, can desensitize children and give them the wrong morals by showing graphic images of people killing each other. Children can get the mistaken idea of taking another person's life; by thinking it is all right. The problem is that parents do not sit down with their children and talk to them about the wrong ideas video games present.

They should clarify mortality to them and explain why killing is wrong and not natural. They ought to check the games their children play for excessive violence and not let those games teach the wrong ideas to their kids. Aside from Video Games teaching the children morals, television has become one of the number one sources for young children to learn life's values. Reality Shows such as The Bachelor, Married by America and Paradise Hotel are deteriorating what little is left of moral values. "I could not believe my eyes when I saw Married by America, the viewers were left to choose two strangers and marry them within a few months", Twenty-nine-year old Joseph Apresa commented. These shows may seem entertaining but what is not being taken into account are the children that are watching these Reality Shows.

Joseph explained, "parents don't monitor what there children watch on TV, therefore these children are growing up thinking what they watch is the way life should be handled". Since parents are no longer supervising these programs, the television is raising the children of today with flawed morals. Kids have been left with no other choice because they lack their parent's guidance. Parents have also become to dependent on schools to do the guidance. Parents expect teachers to do the parenting job, what parents don't realize is that questions that kids have about sex and drugs should be answer by the parents. A teacher's job is to teach English, arithmetic and history.

The parents should handle personal matters concerning their children. Joseph Apresa remembers learning sex education from his fifth grade teacher. "The experience was awkward", he recalls. "Everyone would laugh at the graphic pictures being displayed on the overhead. No one took it seriously". Sex is a matter to be taken seriously; the sad thing is that parents leave such an important task to the fifth and sixth grade teachers.

Felipe Herrera believes kids are becoming less and less moral because parents have stopped doing their job of talking to kids about sex and drugs. He said", I don't remember my mom ever talking to me about drugs". Felipe remembers learning about the subject by Deputy Harris, a cop that would come to talk about narcotics and the effect it had on young kids. Felipe remembers thinking", Deputy Harris is a joke, and he's not a real cop, why should I listen to him". So what did he really get from the talks, sure he was given a lot of information about different types of drugs and the effects they caused.

Felipe was shown a few unhealthy lungs in a bag, a long with a cigarette. The problem is that Felipe did not respect Deputy Harris and therefore did not make use of any of the important lessons he taught. What he did not receive was a real serious talk about the dangers of drugs by his parents, the most important figures of authority that children should be able to count on. Felipe said", Deputy Harris was a stranger, I knew I would never see him again, my parents on the other hand I respected. If the Drug talk would have came from then I would have been afraid to even try them". This shows that if parents took time to have a talk with their children, it would help push kids in the right direction.

Parents should step up to the plate and stop blaming others for the immoral youth. They are in many cases to blame because they have become indolent when it comes to teaching their children morals. If parents were to spend more time with their children, take a day off and talk to them about sex and drugs and day-to-day interaction with their peers, deterioration of a moral youth would be a thing of the past.