Teacher: Barbara Downey

AG00097_.gif (3761 bytes)

Role Of Personal Responsibility

By Robert M. Tomich

Grade 12

The role of personal responsibility has slowly declined over the past few years. Children and teenagers have not had the same work ethic or duties older generations have. Many problems such as drug and alcohol abuse, and a higher crime rate among teenagers contribute to the decline. Also, child abuse and the overall role of parenting take part for the older generations. If both generations work together, we can solve the problems which create the lack in personal responsibility in our communities.

One of the key problems among teenagers is drug and alcohol abuse. The increase in the number of homicides is staggering, and most of it is drug related. Alcohol is one of the most abused drugs and is one of the major causes of death among teenagers. Many stronger drugs such as marijuana and cocaine are becoming very common in schools. The dropout rate is increasing. Why should kids be responsible and stay in school when they can get rich dealing drugs?

The crime rate is another major concern with teens today. Guns and knives are beginning to be seen more among teenagers. There is a chance that a teen could get shot for his/her possessions. All of this violence is beginning to spread throughout schools and even churches. It is youth’s responsibility to do what is right. Unfortunately, teenagers do not seem to be taking the right path. Children who watch television are influenced by violence everyday and it continually gets worse.

Third, and most important, the idea of work ethic is commonly misunderstood among teenagers. The younger generations seemed to find the lazy route around things. Even I find myself driving down the wrong route. Why should teenagers do things the long hard way, when there is a short way that will help them breeze right by? Teens seem to find plenty of time to do the fun things, while hesitating to do everything else. The future depends on youth to run the works. This is why teenagers need to be taught the same their elders were, or at least better than they are now. They work most of their high school careers to buy material things, not for their future education. They need to be taught how to finance and invest in what is needed.

It is not just the younger generations with problems; the older generations need change too. Elders need to set good examples for the younger generations. Child abuse is one of the key things that drive kids into taking the wrong path. I read in the paper about a woman who purposely drove her car, with her three children, straight into a lake and committed suicide. I know that parents are scared about what their teenagers will become, but it gives them no excuse to abuse them when they do something wrong. Most teens learn from their mistakes. Why teach your children to resort to abuse or violence to solve their problems? It is hard when parents are showing the wrong example. For instance, how can you tell your child that smoking is bad if you do it yourself? It is the parents’ job to teach right from wrong. It is the child’s job to listen.

For our communities to be responsible it takes both generations to work together. School counseling is a great way for teenagers to take control of violence. Mentoring, such as the Big Brother Big Sister Foundation, would allow teens to receive moral support and to have a type of role model. Community classes are ideal examples of how communities can reform one step at a time. For instance, if a town committee met once a month to work on any local problems.

Parents need to support their children and children need to support their parents. If we allow this idea to take shape, the role of responsibility will slowly rise among our communities and personally. We will have a better environment for future generations to grow and prosper.

Essay Questions

1. The United States of America truly does not invest much in their marriages except for time and effort. However, the people in Manus invest financially through their relatives.

2. I interviewed an variety of couples to find that most said the same thing. The first couple I interviewed who had been married for twenty five years said always to trust in each other and to communicate. Another couple, married eleven years, believed in open communication, honesty, and to always have fun. A couple, married nine years, said to always keep your faith in God. I found that all of these are good qualities and good keys to an enjoyable marriage.

3. Our collective goal should be to dematerialize society without reducing the quality of life.

4. If the community would work more as one unit, everything would be more organized, we would all be a part of a better environment, and things would flow together. The key is to share.

5. People need technology; otherwise they will drop out of society, or so they think. Future generations will be based around material things. Society will learn to rely on objects instead of themselves. I have noticed this starting to happen even around where I live, and it just gets worse.

6. According to Kathleen Sullivan, she states that it creates a form of public responsibility and accountability that would not happen in an untrammeled democracy.

7. I would prefer that claims of bad practices would be changed by punitive damages rather than a lot of regulations. Punitive damages "makes the company absorb the real cost of the activity" or what they have done wrong. Hopefully the punishment will make them realize they need to out-think their customers in issues of safety or product use. A lot of regulations would contain many rules which would be required to be looked up, because they were forgotten.

8. Retiring baby boomers are noted to be educated and wealthy. Due to this fact they will have the time to share this with Generation X-ers. They will have the desire to start their own businesses in which will be highly competitive because of the baby boomers experience. Baby boomers will require services and assistance as they get older which will provide jobs for Generation X-ers in the future.

9. Clinton’s idea of an anti-poverty program is not likely to make much of an impact, it is too new and not likely to catch on very quickly. This is the first time the government has tried to encourage quality investments in poor areas. Also, there is a very little chance that they will be much help for the CDFI.

10. The three things shown to be in common between Truett Cathy and Tom Lewis is that they are both concerned for today’s youth, they fight for what they believe in, and they do what they think is right.