Kentucky Kernel -- January 31, 1997

<BODY BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF LINK=#0066ff ALINK=#0066ff VLINK=#660000> <BLOCKQUOTE>    <CENTER> <FONT SIZE=6> <B>Responsibility needs to be reintroduced to our children</B><P> </FONT> </CENTER> <FONT SIZE=4><B>Darrin Murrineris</B><BR></FONT>Contributing Columnist <HR> Recently I've noticed a rising number of 7th and 8th graders who carry beepers and cellular phones.<P> I realize we are in an age of rapidly changing technology, in which most people don't want to be left behind. But is the expense really necessary in order for little Billy to keep in touch with his friends? <P> The parents and children will say it provides a much more efficient means of keeping in touch with one another. <P> But who in their right minds wants their parents to be able to keep in touch with them 24-7? <P> As a matter of fact I've seen people go to lengths never before imagined just to avoid this very scenario. <P> In reality, that's just a poor excuse to obtain another status symbol and make themselves look important. <P> Have you also noticed the rising number of high school sophomores driving high-priced cars (BMW and Lexus), not to mention that they each come equipped with vanity plates, tinted windows and a radar detector? <P> This would lead some to conjure impressions of drug pushing and thuggery, but the parents will tell you it's because they want their children to have a dependable ride. <P> This is a noble sentiment in its own right, but once again, something much more sinister is at hand. <P> In the baby-boom generation's apparent need to stay ahead - in a society that places high value on status symbols instead of things such as a creed of ethics, morals or religion - their children are lost in the shuffle. <P> Sure, they may have the nicest car in high school, or be able to communicate with friends in virtually any location, but they're being raised without a sense of right and wrong or a work ethic. <P> Instead, they are being shackled with the chains of dependency. <P> Without the responsibility of working with a budget and an authority figure to answer to, this generation must depend on parents. <P> Parents who have already mortgaged the home and small business two times, or worse yet the government, whose ever expanding social security rolls push the country deeper and deeper in debt. <P> Parents, take the $50 you spend on cellular communications, the $250 a month you spend on car payments (not to mention the added cost of insurance, gas and repairs) and invest in your child's future. Either through an education fund or some type of high-yield investment plan. <P> This may seem like a small thing compared to the BMW, and I realize that parents want the best for their children. <P> But teenagers and young adults need to be taught that sometimes it isn't possible to have the best and that sometimes life can throw a curve and be quite cruel. <P> Perhaps their lack of this knowledge is a factor in statistics that put suicide in the top 10 causes of death in the United States. <P> And since the '50s, the greatest increase in suicides has come at the expense of teenagers and young adults, with some statistics showing that suicides have tripled in a 20-year period. <P> Compton's Encyclopedia blames the rise in teenage suicides on an "element of romantic fantasy," and Encyclopedia Americana gives the general theory behind suicide as "a result of failure to adjust to life's stresses and strains." <P> All of which seems to suggest that we're giving kids a false view of life. <P> And if taught responsibility this generation would be better able to cope with bumps or potholes in the road ahead. <P> If taught responsibility, they would be able to handle the pressure of those exams, instead of having to turn to alcohol or drugs as a way to escape. <P> Parents who do not teach their children responsibility shift the burden to a weakened educational system, which is ill-trained at providing the kind of direction needed. <P> Unless we start realizing what is more important, tangible or intangible, the bridge to the 21st century will continue to look like a dark, crumbling mess that begs to be reformed. <P> <P> <CENTER><I>Contributing Columnist Darrin Murrineris is a business freshman; his views do not necessarily represent those of the Kentucky Kernel.</I></CENTER> <P>    <HR> <P> <CENTER> <FONT SIZE=5> [ <A HREF="welcome.html">Contents</A> | <a href="http://www.kykernel.com">Home</A> | <A HREF="/archive.html">Archives</A> | <A HREF="/feed.html">Feedback</A> ]<BR> </FONT> <P> <B>© Copyright 1997, Kernel Press Inc. All Rights Reserved</B><BR>  </BLOCKQUOTE> </BODY>