W3573Y (Edison) ‘Wussification’ of America

In a general sense, it seems as though our society has become increasingly feeble with the way that we raise our kids.  It seems that most parents nowadays are so fearful of their child losing a fingertip or not fitting in, that they are willing to propose more rules and regulations in order to hinder the advancement of others.  Consider the fact that only a couple of generations ago nearly every high school and even most middle schools had a shop class of some sort.  Nowadays, the only opportunity an adolescent has at learning how to use tools and shop equipment is if they drop out of school and attend a ‘vocational school’, which are typically viewed as drop out schools and have lower general education requirements.  It seems as if our culture has gone from one of advancement in all areas of the educational spectrum to practically only general education for those aiming to go college.  The reality is, not everyone is willing to go to a post secondary school, not everyone is apt to being a doctor or lawyer; these individuals need a place to learn a trade.  Not only is this a pertinent situation but also the fact that it makes sense for even those aiming for college to have the common knowledge of basic tooling and shop skills.  This issue is not completely the fault of the general population but is an effect of insurance hikes and certain individuals in the society looking for a reason to sue.  Let’s face it, schools are already on tight budgets and the local and state governments cannot afford the insurance associated with having a shop class on their campus.  The consequence of this situation is that certain individuals may not be introduced to a skill or trade they may consider an occupation in the future.  Nowadays, with the average lifespan increasing tremendously since the early 20^th century (from about 30-40 year to about 70 years in the United States), families have less children and are therefore more focused on keeping them ‘safe’.  Destroying the industrial social structure is not the answer though, as education and precautions in shop and tooling are the best measure to keeping one safe and healthy.  This can be easily related to the sex education scenario, where if young people are not educated on the matter they are more likely to have accidents than if they are informed, experienced and take proper precautions.      

This entry was posted on 12. June 2009 at 02:52 and is filed under Introduction to Sociology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.