Valley
Springs High School
Valley Springs, Arkansas
Teacher: Lavina Grandon
The Roles of Personal Responsibility in our Communities
By Melissa Berry
Grade 12, Age 18
What is my role as an individual? How can we improve our communities and how can personal respons-ibility improve the quality of life in our communities? “The influence of a single adult teaching a youngster at the right moment can not be underestimated," says N’Gai Groal. This is one example of personal responsibility in our communities. As Groal realized, improving the quality of life in communities will happen one person at a time. Each individual and community member has a responsibility. He or she has a responsibility to the family and to the community in which they live.
The first responsibility is to the family. Starting a family plays an important role in society. "Getting used to be a prerequisite," says Patt Wingert of Newsweek. Since times are changing, many couples start families without legally binding together. One-parent families have also become one of society's traditions. One example one-parent families is a teen-age pregnancy. This is a constant strain on society because of the simple fact that it is difficult for a single parent to care for a child. Most single parents are financially unstable and have to rely on some outside funding such as welfare, which drains the society of money. Therefore, if a couple gets married, they can plan or make sure to have enough money to provide for a child.
When children are brought into this world, the job of parenting also plays an important role in society. Raising children is a huge responsibility and it should not be neglected. “Any effort to help the next generation… must include mentoring” in order for society to function properly. If children grow up without the proper guidance and discipline, what will become of society as we know it today?
It is our job and responsibility as individuals of the community to raise our children to be able to read and write and to communicate with the outside world. How can we improve these skills? Most new parents want the best for their children but are unsure how to achieve it. In today’s society, programs are available in which each child has a mentor, be it a parent or a stranger. Although these programs happen approximately once a month, one study shows that, “Children who are mentored are less than half as likely to abuse drugs or alcohol." The more mentoring we give our children the better leaders our communities will have, and this is our responsibility in society.
Marriage and children are not the only responsibilities of a family in today’s society. Supporting a family on a low income is a major issue among working individuals. It is hard enough for a two working parents to support a family of three, yet somehow a single parent can support a family of four. The simple fact is government money helps supply extra for those who need it. This government money comes from taxpayers, such as two working parents, and in turn that money goes to a single working parent on welfare. Some people on the welfare system take it for granted. One example of this is not trying to find a job. How does this affect our society? Working individuals support this government program through taxes; and as more and more people become unemployed, the harder each employed individual will have to work in order to keep a balance in society. All this applies to our responsibility in society in that we have to have jobs in order to supply the funding necessary to build new highways and other repairs to different communities. If this responsibility is neglected, the money that is paid to government is taken out and given to those who are too lazy to work and therefore leaves little funds to improve needy communities.
The final responsibility is to the community. How can we improve our communities? Many people do not realize the difference one person can make. A single person doing his/her part by putting trash in its proper place is one instance of making a difference. Recycling plays a tremendous role in the community.
“Economic growth…could be expected to increase pollution…” says Richard Eckersley of The Futurist. With this problem on the rise, individuals need to become more responsible in their actions, such as keeping trash picked up or even getting together in groups and cleaning up other communities.
Another responsibility to improving the quality of
life in communities is providing different programs and activities of after-school
students of working parents. Organized youth
centers provide well-structured activities of children of all ages. Children can be brought to the facility, which
provides the supervision they would normally not have at home. Without supervision while parents are at work,
children are more likely to get involved in situations such as hanging out with their
friends on street corners. This behavior can
lead young minds into drugs and alcohol, which is not healthy for a good community.
Furthermore, communication is responsibility that each and every person must accomplish. Communication between two neighbors strengthens a community more than people realize. With verbal and nonverbal gestures, each person can help one another, such as helping shovel snow in bad weather. Communication is also important between parents and teachers. If a parent gets more involved with a student’s schooling, the student is more than likely to succeed in life. This also gives a parent the opportunity to explore different aspects in society, which is their responsibility in improving a community.
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References
Barry, W.J. (1999). Doing good by eating chicken. Philanthropy, 3(96), 5.
Eckersley, R. (1999). Is life really getting better? The Futurist. (January).
Groal, N. (1998). Mentoring makes a difference. Newsweek, 133(19), 20.
The pocket of poverty world tour. (1999, July 10). 23.
Wingert, P. (1998). I do, I do maybe. Newsweek, 133(19), 58.
Answers To Questions Regarding The Required Reading
Q1-How does society invest in marriage in the USA and in Manus?
Society in the USA invest in marriages through factories or export companies. Society in Manus invest in marriages through exchanges of personal items.
Q2-Interview 10 married people. (No names.) State the length and number of each one’s marriages and a line or two of advice from each on how to maintain a long, happy relationship.
The first couple has been married five years. One said, “to over look the little things that may cause an argument.” The other said, “I agree.”
The second couple has been married two years. One said, “to keep your spouse happy.” The other said, “try not to argue.”
The third couple has been married eight years. One said, “not to worry about how you’ll make it financially. Material things are not that important.” The other said he/she agreed.
The fourth couple has been married seven years. One said, “If children are involved, share the responsibility of disciplining them.” The other said, “communication.”
The fifth couple has been married one year. One said, “to wait for the right person, and don’t jump into marriage too soon.” The other said, “abstinence.”
The sixth couple has been married six years. One said, “try to keep your partner happy.” The other said, “over look bad habits.”
The seventh couple has been married five years. One said, “to marry someone with the same interests.” The other said he/she agreed.
The eighth couple has been married fifteen years. One said, “to live one day at a time.” The other said, “Don’t worry about buying expensive items to please one other.”
The ninth couple has been married ten years. One said, “to share responsibility around the house.” The other said, “Try to keep one other happy.”
The tenth couple has been married six months. One said, “I really don’t know.” The other said, “You have to be in love with that person and never stop loving them.”
Q3-According to Richard Eckersley, what should our collective goal be?
Our collective goal should be about what matters most in our lives and plan for our future.
Q4-Write a worthy goal for your local community.
Try to get along with everyone and help each other in the time of need. Also, realize it takes everyone to make a stable community, not a hand full a people.
“A doll designed to remind them of their mothers,” suggests that parents are to busy trying to have everything and not spending enough time with their children. With the growing population of different races, people are growing farther apart. This is true because of racism. If this continues, “civil society” will decline and therefore the future of America will diminish.
Q6-How does the fact the USA is a democracy make lawyers particularly helpful, according to Kathleen Sullivan? How does our diversity, wealth and size make lawyers particularly helpful?
Americans are mistrustful of centralized government and therefore relay on lawyers to help solve problems the national government is reluctant to do. Lawyers are helpful with our diversity by solving conflict about social customs. They help with our wealth by distributing money to the less fortunate through Medicare and Medicaid. Lawyers, also, help in our size by helping is save money through setting up certain processes, procedures, and rules.
Q7-Ms. Sullivan claims bad practices are changed either be regulations or punitive damages. Which do you prefer and why? Can you think of another alternative?
I prefer punitive damages. If everything was regulated by laws, there would be too many laws for us to follow. No.
Q8-Briefly describe three ways society would benefit from the coming retirement of baby boomers, according to the required reading.
Three ways society would benefit from the retirement of the baby boomers is providing jobs for “Generation X’ers” who will be having families, hiring more intelligent workers, and provide opportunities for teenage entrepreneurs.
Q9-Evaluate the likelihood of President Clinton’s anti-poverty program making a real impact. Give at least three reasons to back up your conclusion.
The likelihood of President Clinton’s anti-poverty program making a real impact is slim. First of all, the money has to come from somewhere. It would come from higher taxes of hard working individuals trying to support themselves and their families. Second, from higher taxes, it would cause those working individuals to fall into poverty themselves. This would happen because they would fall behind in their bills trying to provide for other people. Finally, people would take advantage of this program. Some people on welfare are capable of working but choose not to, and therefore take advantage of this program.
Q10-Name three things that Truett Cathy and Tom Lewis have in common.
They both became active in community schools, sets up scholarship funds for students, and set up some type of activities for unfortunate children.