Problems and Prevention

Jessie Woelbing

Grade 12, Age 17

Words 450

In a time when divorce, teen pregnancy, and suicide rates are at an all-time high, how can a community pull together as a whole and help each of its members? Problems in communities are affected by problems in our main social institutions such as the family. Each person needs to stand up and take responsibility for his or her actions in the community.

The first social institution that needs to be looked at closely, and the one that is often refered to as the primary social institution, is the family. The family is supposed to be the place where a child gets his primary socialization, but it is often neglected until something horrible happens. Its always then that fingers are pointed at the parents that either work a nine-to-five job, are divorced, or have something that is inappropriate for their children.

The latchkey-kid is one of the most widely spread issues that has been blamed for violence in adolecents including school shootings and suicide. A latchkey-kid is defined as a child, most often of school bound age that arrives home before his or her parents get there. Although most of these parents aren’t getting home until later is because they have to work a regular job to provide for their children. “One reason for this is the advent of broader career opportunities for women” (Popcorn, 1998, 58). Its those same children that they are blamed for neglecting. Some people argue that by neglecting these children, they are leaving them to be raised by video games or the television which often promotes violence. “We have so many latchkey children in search of a human connection” (Popcorn, 1998, 58). As a latchkey-kid myself , I believe that by working regular jobs, my parents have instilled a good work ethic that could never have been done otherwise. We need to stop pointing fingers at these parents that are actually trying and pull together to help them.

Another problem with the modern family is that divorce rates and the number unmarried parents is at an all time high. It is now estimated that 50% of all marriages will end in divorce. As if thats not bad enough, “sociologists now estimate that the percentage of Americans who never marry will grow from 5% to 10% of the population” (Winget, 1998, 58). Cohabitation is said to be on the rise “because the social taboos against it have weakened” (Wingert, 1998, 58) Although these numbers are extremely terrifying, everyone agrees that “marriage will survive-and the best proof may be the fact that Americans do it so often” (Wingert, 1998, 58)

Each of these things are factors in the decline of communities across the nation. And although improving each of these things…