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In the wake of the alarming rate of juvenile delinquency and the accumulating cases of teenage suicide since the mid 90 's, it's not surprising to see that the majority started to accuse young people as a source of social problem. Nowadays, some may even consider young people as a group of easily-agitated gangsters equipped with the potential ability and the desire to disrupt the present social order. However, is it justified to point the finger of blame on our teenagers for the social problems? Is it really a fact that the pillars of our future society could no longer be relied on?
As a youth myself, instead of considering young people as a social problem, I would regard young people as a mirror reflecting our social problems. We all share the responsibility of the social problems created by the young people. Juveniles are not "born criminals" who deliberately disrupt the social order for their own pleasure. There should be reason behind their action of juvenile delinquency, drug abuse and teenage suicide. With reference to the latest statistics provided to the authorities, an overwhelming majority of juvenile delinquents claimed that peer pressure and loneliness are the main reasons for their offence. Most teenagers who engaged with drug abuse or teenage suicide were troubled youth who have been suffering from unresolved emotional disturbances.
It has clearly been shown that the lack of parental care, the influence of the peers and the influx of unresolved emotional disturbances but not the juveniles themselves, contributed to the rise of juvenile problems. Due to the lack of parental care caused by the heavy workload of the parents, young people do not have the chance to learn from or communicate with their parents. Parents also do not have the chance to acknowledge their children's need. As this vicious cycle continues, a sense of mutual mistrust developed and the gap between the parent and the child is thus widened.
Conflicts could then be easily breed and this therefore may contribute to the repression of the youth against the grown-ups. Such oppression may occur either in a static form or in a dynamic way. In a static form, youth may suffer from psychological problems like lacking incentive to study or even the incentive to survive, therefore indirectly contributing to the social problem of teenage suicide, drug abuse or other related issues. Dynamically, teenagers would "revolt" against the social order created by them. Youth then emerged as a social problem on breaking the school regulations, committing petty crimes and even involving in triad activities. The unresolved emotional disturbances of the teenagers also play a part in the youth problem.
Accentuated by the lack of parental care just mentioned, the youth are more prone to emotional problems. Though emotional problem itself may not continue social problems, this issue would be dangerous if it is not identified and tackled immediately. Unfortunately, because of the demanding syllabus of our educational system, the unusually high teacher-student ratio and the lack of social workers lead to a lack of sufficient time for the teachers and the social workers to acknowledge the emotional problems of the youth. The peer pressure exerted by the teenagers themselves as well contributes to the emergence of "youth as a social problem." In search for the security and conformity that the teenagers could neither found at home or at school, the youth themselves gather together as peer groups. Sure, peer group itself is positive if it is used as a device to provide mutual emotional and academic support to one another.
However, some peer groups had been infiltrated by misbehaved youth that used the peer pressure to push the youth to engage in triad activities or to take drugs. From the analysis of the underlying reasons of the youth problems, it is reasonable to deduce the implication that the family sector, the school and the social sector, as well as the youth themselves collectively contribute to the social problems these days. Based on the implication above, it is obvious that we have no choice but to improve the communication between the youth and the parent, as weel as the youth and the teachers, in order to tackle the social problems created by the teenagers. For the families, parents could try to strike a balance between work and family life and establish better relationships with their children. This could be done through simple means like watching TV with the youth or just by buying a snake for their children when they are studying. For society, it is advised to lower the teacher-students ration and to reduce the workload of the teachers so that the teachers would have more time to know their students instead of just spoon-feed the students with knowledge.
The training of independent critical thinking skills should be regarded as of paramount importance to safeguard the teenagers from negative peer pressure. It is also recommended that more resources should be allocated on the training of social workers so as to upgrade the efficiency of law enforcement to curb juvenile delinquency or to stop the innocent teenagers to be manipulated by the triad. The youths should strive to cultivate independent critical thinking and try to make some compromise with their parents whenever possible. They are reminded not to resort to violence. suicide or drugs when they encounter emotional problems. In order to uphold the pillars of our future, the concerted effort of the family, society and the juvenile is needed.
Let's cooperate and strive to make young people our social pride instead of accusing them as a social problem!
Free research essays on topics related to: social problems, juvenile delinquency, drug abuse, peer pressure, teenage suicide
Research essay sample on Young People As A Social Problem
