NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Growing up, children are guided by what their parents teach them to be moral or ethical. According to Webster's Dictionary online, ethics is defined as "a set of moral principle or values. " It is also correct to say then, that these children are the future of America. However it is apparent that our society is faced with many moral issues that make it difficult to raise a well-rounded child. For quite some time there has been gradual slippage of society's integrity as shown in Stephen L. Carters Rules about the Rules. Mark Clayton expands on this idea about integrity with society's cheating problem in A Whole Lot of Cheating Going On.
In addition to these issues, Anthony Brandt discusses the importance of raising a child with religion in his essay, Do Kids Need Religion? Another pressing issue today deals with dating. In The Future of Modesty, author Wendy Shalit discusses the changes in modesty over time and its effect on gender roles. With the stake of the country's future at hand, it is important that these issues are addressed because it is obvious American culture is dealing fast in ethics, especially in education, dating, and religion.
The first example deals with the decline in todays educational system. There is so much pressure for a student to be the best, get the highest grades, receive the most awards, and get accepted into the best college. Although these things are very important and are placed high in the sense that it is ones opportunity for a career and future, one shouldnt have to cheat to get them at that level. Carter tells in his essay, Browsing recently in my local bookstore, I came across a book that boldly proclaimed, on its cover, that it contained instructions how to cheat... (158) This is an excellent example how basic moral values and ethics are being lost in the daily shuffle of life and society's new fascination with being the best. However, it is not only the students. Teachers are allowing students to cheat.
They fully know what is going on but ignore it because its easier to pretend like they dont know anything... Teachers have debased this essential part of job and professional school applications because they are unwilling to deal with students honestly. (J. R. 157) It seems as if it is integrity our society is lacking Indeed, one reason to focus on integrity as perhaps the first among the virtues that make for good character is that it is in some sense prior to everything else: the rest of what we think matters very little if we lack essential integrity, the courage of our convictions, the willingness to act and speak in behalf of what we know to be right. In an era when the American people are crying out for open discussion of morality-of right and wrong-the ideal of integrity seems a good place to begin. (Carter 161) That, in a nutshell, is Americas integrity dilemma: we are all full of fine talk about how desperately our society needs it, but, when push comes to shove, we would just as soon be on the winning side. (Carter 158) Children look up to their teachers and are taught by example. So in order to ethically fix the problem, it seems teachers and parents need to informed cheating and teach integrity. In addition, society has taken a step back in the ethics of dating as well.
The most common complaint I hear from women my age is that there is no longer any dating scene. Young people go out in packs, they drink, they hook up, and the next day life returns to normal. (Shalit 218) The whole idea of love and dating seems to be completely warped. If all there is to consider is hooking up, what will marriages be based on in the future? What will bring families together because there will be no real sense of love, only the first idea of sex. Women especially have always had a lot of pressure placed on them about the dating issue, more than ever within the last decade or so. It seems as though a woman is looked at as an object rather than a partner, thus placing most emphasis on looks and what not.
Specific rules about modesty change with the styles. (Francis Benton 215) Fifty years ago, women did not have to worry about the way they dressed, or being raped, they were only worried about simple things such as being talked about. Shalt best states it by saying, You can fear being talked about and still feel safe, where as if you fear rape and stalking, without being sodomized, you cannot feel safe. (215) It is sad to think that in todays world, a woman cannot feel safe in her environment. This once harmless world has been serialized, even the most harmless sphere becomes poisoned. (Shalit 217) The important factors of a relationship must be brought back. If not, this vicious cycle of rape and love affiliated crimes will continue to be a problem. The true ethics of dating need to be addressed once again, and that love should be based on who they are on the inside rather than their appearance or status. Another example of ethical decline deals with religion.
As Richard Brandt put it Religion no longer stands at the center of our culture as it did a hundred or so years ago. Rather we are a thoroughly secularized society. (192) This does not go to say that everyone has to believe in the same God or bible, but Brandt eloquently finishes by saying The miracles we marvel at are the miracles of technology. For the answers to our questions about the meaning of things, we look not to the elders of a church, but to science. (192) It is a shame to think that the very reason of ones existence has been forgotten and something as trivial as computers has taken over. Without some sort of higher being, there would be no existence. It is okay if everyone does not believe in the same religion, but to simply ignore it is ridiculous.
How does a small child find answers to their question about life, or death, or creation at all? Just because the parents may not believe in religion, does not mean the child should be deprived of it. Children may not need a religious upbringing, says Erik Erikson in Brandt's essay, but they do need a sense of basic trust, a feeling not only that their fundamental bodily needs will be met and that their parents love them and will take care of them, but also that they have not been abandoned to the empty haphazardness of existence. (194) For the sake of the future of society, it is important childrens religious needs are met in the struggle for the right ethical choice. With the decline of such important ethical issues, it is apparent the concern for the future. If society does become in control of such downfall now, it is scary to think what certain morals and values will be like in another 10 years. The children of today are the adults of the future.
They must be taught at a young age so in turn they can pass on these lessons. Society needs to bring back the real meaning of love, education, and religion. Works cited Brandt, Anthony. Do Kids Need Religion? The Presence of Others. Ed.
Andrea A. Lundsford, et al. Boston; Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 191 - 199 Carter, Stephen L. The Rules about the Rules. The Presence of Others.
Ed. Andrea A. Lundsford, et al. Boston; Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 157 - 168 Clayton, Mark. A Whole Lot of Creating Going On.
The Presence of Others. Ed. Andrea A. Lundsford, et al. Boston; Bedford/St.
Martins, 2000. 185 - 190. Shalit, Wendy. The Future of Modesty. The Presence of Others. Ed.
Andrea A. Lundsford, et al. Boston; Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 214 - 221
Free research essays on topics related to: martins 2000, feel safe, years ago, boston bedford st, integrity
Research essay sample on A Decline Of Ethics In Modern American Society
