Whats on the mind of youth

[Ordie]

Interesting read.
It makes one wonder what should be our priorities. It is interesting that those who advocate "Right to Life" and "Family Values" do very little in dealing with the high divorce rate and effects it may have on future generations.

Perhaps our society should consider a mandatory six month 'marriage counseling' sessions as a means to obtain a Marriage License. Perhaps couples would take a critical look at themselves and may or may not decide that getting hitch is a good idea.

After all, we require manatory classes and testing for drivers, barbers, doctors, lawyers, engineers etc...

Why not couples seeking marriage.




http://www.sfgate.com/templates/brands/chronicle/images/chronicle_logo.gif (http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/)

WHAT'S ON THE MINDS OF YOUTH


Ilene Lelchuk, Amr Emam, Chronicle Staff Writers (ilelchuk@sfchronicle.com)
Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Family disintegration and neighborhood violence are more distressing to California's teens and young adults than global warming or war, according to a new poll that aimed to take the pulse of Generation Next.
The survey of 600 California residents ages 16 to 22 commissioned by New America Media is one of the first to track down youths -- notoriously difficult survey targets -- solely by cell phone. It found that they are inwardly focused -- on their future marriages, parenthood, homeownership, education and communities. Asked what they consider the most pressing issue facing their generation, 24 percent of those surveyed last fall said "family breakdown," 22 percent cited neighborhood violence, 17 percent named poverty and 14 percent named global warming. Just 3 percent cited war and violence throughout the world.
More:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/25/MNGELPF0E71.DTL&hw=youth&sn=004&sc=816

[2Sheds_Jackson]

Interesting read.
It makes one wonder what should be our priorities. It is interesting that those who advocate "Right to Life" and "Family Values" do very little in dealing with the high divorce rate and effects it may have on future generations.

Perhaps our society should consider a mandatory six month 'marriage counseling' sessions as a means to obtain a Marriage License. Perhaps couples would take a critical look at themselves and may or may not decide that getting hitch is a good idea.

After all, we require manatory classes and testing for drivers, barbers, doctors, lawyers, engineers etc...

Why not couples seeking marriage.

Well - I both agree and disagree with you. I agree that family breakup is a problem, I disagree with the causal factors. Seems to me that the "family values" crowd do quite a bit to get marriages to work...it's just that those values are constantly derided by a popular culture devoted to impulsiveness, consumption and consequence-free living. Unpopular "family values" are necessary to make a marriage work- "having it all" is a myth.

In fact, many denominations do require a sort of training class to be taken before they'll marry you in the church (Catholics are an example). The traditional purpose of an engagement was to determine the suitability of the two parties for a marriage - now it just seems to be to have somebody to hump while feeling slightly better about it.

The problem is our society that has made people disposable, and put a premium on instant gratification. Why is our divorce rate so high? Our DNA didn't change - it's just that we now value "personal fulfillment" (i.e. being happy at all times, damn the consequences) over the perpetuation of the family unit. Lets face it - as romantic as finding "the one" sounds, if you keep looking, you're gonna find several more "the one"s even after you're married.

Personally, I don't think it matters unless there are kids involved. I do think that people have a solemn obligation to suck it up and maintain at least until the kids are raised. It's possible to make yourself happy enough to stick with it, or miserable enough to fight constantly and make the marriage fall apart. It's no wonder these kids want to put family first - their parents put them second...and that's a pain that will never go away.

[hughdotoh]

It is interesting that those who advocate "Right to Life" and "Family Values" do very little in dealing with the high divorce rate and effects it may have on future generations.

The Right-to-Lifers and Family Values crowd have a formula: Don't ask for too much and work with what has been given you. It sounds mushy, but if you treat your gene pool like the greatest gift ever given to you on any Christmas day or birthday, then you're made for life. People get overly selfish, is why there's abortion and divorce.

[AgentX]

The problem is our society that has made people disposable, and put a premium on instant gratification. Why is our divorce rate so high? Our DNA didn't change - it's just that we now value "personal fulfillment" (i.e. being happy at all times, damn the consequences) over the perpetuation of the family unit. Lets face it - as romantic as finding "the one" sounds, if you keep looking, you're gonna find several more "the one"s even after you're married.
QFT! Blame it on individualism and the Brave New Hedonistic Dystopian World, both fabricated entirely by the corporate sector to sell happiness.

[2Sheds_Jackson]

QFT! Blame it on individualism and the Brave New Hedonistic Dystopian World, both fabricated entirely by the corporate sector to sell happiness.

You have used too many multisyllabic words in rapid succession - I began to think about a rabbit cutting it's own hair before your sentence was over.

heh heh I kid - no but you're right - it's as if all one has to do is literally take about 3 steps back, look around 360° - take an inventory of all the corporate logos you see, how many corporations are using *** to sell, telling us that happiness is just a function of owning the right things - it's really kind of scary. Our lives - especially children's lives are just wreckage left in the wake of acquiring a BMW better than the neighbors or that vacation house that now sits empty since the kids live somewhere else. Where the hell did we leave the road?

[Ordie]

Excellent points overall!!

I think parents today tend to go extreme in terms of involvement.

Either they are absent or too involved with the kids activities.

How many parents do we know hover over thier kids during little league practice and games keeping track of RBIs or number of hits, yelling at the coach, signing up for baseball camp and calling college scouts for kids who are 12 years old?

or

Drop off the kid at practice as a form of daycare and never show up at games.