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Post by JustMyOpinion on Nov 4, 2009 15:36:45 GMT -5
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Post by The Big Dog on Nov 4, 2009 16:17:24 GMT -5
Physically unfit, yep.... and a lot of them are tempermentally unfit as well.
Which may actually be worse.
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Post by JustMyOpinion on Nov 4, 2009 16:40:04 GMT -5
My poor son tried to enlist, and as you may have guessed he was rejected. He obviously fits into the latter of your descriptions...Sadly, he is a misfit in almost every aspect of life.
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Post by subdjoe on Nov 4, 2009 17:16:22 GMT -5
I would chalk this up to several things:
1.) The paranoia and Cult of Victimhood our soceity has fostered. "Oh, we can't let our kids do/go (name activity or place) because someone might grab them, or molest them, or they might get hurt!" The chances of them being abducted/molested by a stranger are pretty damned low. We may hear about it more because the raw number of incidents is up, but I doubt the rate has really changed much in the past 40 years or so (other than by greater reporting). And part of growing up IS getting banged up some, and learning how to not do it again.
2.) Throw in the no competiton/feel good movement over the past 40 years or so, and the idea pushed in the schools that any aggressive behaviour is automatically bad.
3.) Add in then the feminization and emaculation of our society - males are expected to be good mothers and play with Barbie, not GI Joe, or play war and build forts with their friends. And gawd forbid that they should throw dirt clods at each other.
4.) Taking daily phys ed out of schools. But always have time for ESL, and revisionist history. And the required cultural diversity classes.
That covers a lot of the mental and physical ascpects. I think many of the moral aspcets come from teaching that wants and whims are needs and rights. And that there is no personal responsibility.
The physical training I think could be taken care of by extending basic for about two weeks - most are not all THAT short of the requirements. All that at the start with lots of PT and conditioning. Then the remaining 9 (?) weeks could be pretty much as it is now.
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mrbose
Senior Member
Posts: 898
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Post by mrbose on Nov 4, 2009 18:19:31 GMT -5
It starts at the top, just look at our leader
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Post by JustMyOpinion on Nov 4, 2009 20:06:36 GMT -5
subdjoe, I agree with most of your points, I think one of the biggest problems with a portion of our youth is kids are left unattended to play video games for HOURS and HOURS, some of which are really violent instead of riding bikes, playing sports, building things, scouts etc. while parents are out of the home working. Kids need direction and they often aren't getting it, not at school, or home.
AND, as I've said like a million times before a kid that needs extra help, or guidance is NOT getting it and so here we are. I don't see it getting any better.
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Post by subdjoe on Nov 4, 2009 20:46:14 GMT -5
subdjoe, I agree with most of your points, I think one of the biggest problems with a portion of our youth is kids are left unattended to play video games for HOURS and HOURS, some of which are really violent instead of riding bikes, playing sports, building things, scouts etc. while parents are out of the home working. Kids need direction and they often aren't getting it, not at school, or home. AND, as I've said like a million times before a kid that needs extra help, or guidance is NOT getting it and so here we are. I don't see it getting any better. LOL, my friends and I were unsupervised for hours and hours. We rode bikes - jousting on them, no pads and bamboo lances. Had BB gun wars (never put out anyones eye), with dirt clod grenades. Making our own fire crackers, and pipe guns to shoot marbles. Then there was the calcium carbide.... |
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Post by JustMyOpinion on Nov 4, 2009 23:13:00 GMT -5
subdjoe, chuckle all you want, but the difference is kids of today don't have the basic entertainment we had growing up. Kids today instead park their duffs in front of the TV and play games that take them into a world of false existence rather than learning how to cope with real life situations like we had. Think about it! Times are WAY different!
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Post by subdjoe on Nov 5, 2009 11:00:49 GMT -5
subdjoe, chuckle all you want, but the difference is kids of today don't have the basic entertainment we had growing up. Kids today instead park their duffs in front of the TV and play games that take them into a world of false existence rather than learning how to cope with real life situations like we had. Think about it! Times are WAY different! And that all goes back to the first point I made in this thread - the paranoia, media driven paranoia, that saturates our society. Since the late 70s we have been told that everything is too dangerous for kids. Throw in CPS getting involved, or potentially getting involved, if someone brings a kid in with a broken arm or a bump on the head, and you have a no win situation. When my step-kids were in school, we could count on two or three letters a week warning about some (mostly imaginary) threat. I think perceptions have changed more than reality has changed. Which, naturally, has changed reality. |
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