Where is it all headed

Milothedog
Milothedog Forum Participant Posts: 1,433
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edited May 2017 in General Chat #1

Just sharing my thoughts here with you all .

I watched a TV program earlier this week about the Gang & Drugs issues among the younger generations now, I watch another program last night about Deb't. (can't pay, we'll take it away)

I know this is old news but where is this country heading, younger generations with no moral's or respect for the law, people up to their eye's in deb't and living beyond their means and just burying their heads in the sand or lying about it when it catches up with them. 

I'm 59 this year and seen a fair bit of life, I worked extremely hard , made a professional career for myself which enabled me to retire at 53, My Wife did pretty much the same thing. Our Son is following the same path and now runs a successful, expanding business working 12 - 14 hour days to make it happen. 

Where has the ethos that we live by gone ? how far can it all go be before something terrible happens?

Like I said just my thoughts just lately. Hope you don't mind me sharing them but  I expect I'm not the only one with these concerns.

Ian.

Comments

  • tigerfish
    tigerfish Forum Participant Posts: 1,362
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    edited May 2017 #2

    Milo,  I have similar concerns for this Country and have witnessed many examples to make your point.

    But not all of the younger generation are like that. My three children all had a loving but strict upbringing, where good leadership, respect and responsibility were key lessons for them

    My son joined the RAF as NCO Aircrew, but later took a commission and is now a Sqd Ldr.  Eldest Daughter is now a bank manager, and youngest daughter has her own successful business.

    With correct upbringing, the setting of targets and limits, and above all love.  All is not lost.  There are loads of young people out there who also want to succeed and with the proper support, will do so.

    Sadly, there is the other side who grow up in a family with no ambition and no respect for the law or standards.

    Soon after leaving school, two of my children joined the Air Training Corps (ATC). I thank that organisation greatly. The ATC was responsible for putting the final polish on them in order to prepare them for the challenges of life.  Imagine our pride when my wife & I visited Buckingham Palace to see our son receiving the Duke of Edinborough's Gold Award from a member of the Royal family.

    In the end it must come down to education. And by education I mean that in its widest field. Education for life has to start at home. Standards have to  be set at home. respect for others must start at home.  Its no good just leaving it all to the teachers at school!  Yes the good ones will help, but in the end its parenting that counts.

    TF

  • groovy cleaner
    groovy cleaner Forum Participant Posts: 208
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    edited May 2017 #3

    please may I add something as well ,some of the ones on benefits are lazy and won't work I saw a programme years ago where a lass said she wouldn't clean toilets ,couldn't tell her son she was a cleaner I have 3 jobs cleaning toilets ,until recently had to get up at 3 am to go do a cleaning job ,one of the places I've worked for 3.5 years we had one lass that her hubby wouldn't work cos if he did they would have to pay full rent ,now I'm doing less hours in a week so I don't pay income tax for those that wont work !!

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,138 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2017 #4

    There have been times in my life when I've been unable to work and I've been extremely glad of those benefits. 

    However, isn't what's described all part of evolution of our way of life? I think each generation makes similar statements along the lines of "Where will it end?" or "It wasn't like this in my day" as they age. I can certainly recall my parents saying such things 40-50 years ago.

    Perhaps having realised that life as we know it hasn't ended and the world is still turning has helped me accept that it's simply another step along the path of the development of our civilisation. Accepting it as such helps encourage tolerance and certainly makes for a less stressful life. I feel it opens our minds to the ways of others and helps us see life from their point of view and also plays a part in us older folk moving with the times instead of becoming stuck in the past.

  • tigerfish
    tigerfish Forum Participant Posts: 1,362
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    edited May 2017 #5

    Well said TW.  I  agree with those very wise sentiments.

    TF

  • Rocky 2 buckets
    Rocky 2 buckets Forum Participant Posts: 7,101
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    edited May 2017 #6

    I was a teenager in the 70/80's skinheads, the worst football based inter club/town rivalry & violence in my memory. Before that was the Teddy boy era of gang related violence. I'd say it was less of an issue in modern times to be honest. I am not one of the 'rose tinted glasses' wearers, I knew what my youth was like I never forget the good & bad of the times. I have no concerns for life now, I'm glad we have a safety net for the sufferers of low incomes & bad times & im glad to have paid & continue to pay into the pot that helps.

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited May 2017 #7

    I do not think the "world" is as bad as the Headlines in all the Media would like us to believe,and a lot of the Sensational Headlines are just there to make news, because the majority of the time when something "New" is headlines,  the earlier news,  when dissected, is normally no where near what was first "Reported"and with news programmes/papers scrambling to "broadcast"anything they think will give them a March on any rivals before checking properly the facts,

    Also with an ever higher population any perceived problem with one group will be higher as there will be more of that "group" so it will be in some eyes a bigger problem than "in my day"

    Ramble oversurprised

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited May 2017 #8

    I would also add...switch off the TV programmes that manipulate your views of the world downwards and watch something positive. wink

  • Milothedog
    Milothedog Forum Participant Posts: 1,433
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    edited May 2017 #9

    I don't think I'm stuck in the past by any means, my point was the situation where you have gangs that see themselves as above the law on almost every housing estate,  and others that see nothing wrong in running up debt and trying to walk away from it. at some point someone has to pay it and that will be through higher prices in the future, I think there is something very wrong where someone can choose not to work and pay their way because they can live of the tax payers who do. Yes we need the system to help the genuine cases but in my view its not working and still open to abuse.

    Maybe living in South London I see more of this than those of you living elsewhere? 

    Not watching it or reading it in the media isn't going to make go away, there is a very big social problem bubbling away that needs addressing, 

    Not a rant or a moan and I respect everyone else has  a view on it smile

     

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited May 2017 #10

    Thats most out thenwink

  • ValDa
    ValDa Forum Participant Posts: 3,004
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    edited May 2017 #11

    We have four children, all in full employment, all own their own houses, none of them are in debt - and they manage to have holidays, have meals out, and bring up their own chidlren.  They were brought up with moral guidelines, fairness, and consistency and seem to have grown up into people with morality and a 'work ethic'.  They all brushed up against the 'drug culture' but none of them ended up being drawn into it.  They all saw what happened when my OH was made redundant several times over the years, and how we managed on a much reduced income.  They always encouraged to seek jobs, and starting working whilst still at school,, and fortunately are all now in stable employment. They were all educated at comprehensive schools (albeit named 'Grammar') but none of them came out of school without a decent bunch of GCSE's, and the two who went on to A level, with a decent bunch of A levels.  Two are in the 'professions' (teaching and academia) and two work with their hands.  One is a plant service manager, and the other has his own roofing company.

    In our area we don't see much evidence of gangs, there are no out of work youths hanging around on corners, and perhaps this is the world through rose-tinted glasses, but I suspect it's what the majority of us see, rather than what is portrayed on television.

    The programmes which show this side of life in Britain are the 'bottom extreme, and never feature the sort of livest lived by most of the population because a programme about someone getting up, going to work, coming home and playing with his children just isn't going to make good 'tabloid press' or downmarket television material!

  • volvoman9
    volvoman9 Forum Participant Posts: 1,053
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    edited May 2017 #12

    The UK is for me one of the finest countries in the world.We have democracy,law and order,good rates of employment and the freedom to do as we please most of the time.Compair that to some of the hellholes around the globe and i,ll take this country of ours everytime.Yes i wonder about the future but i dont have any real concerns for my children and grandchildren.What will be will be.

    v9

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,426 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2017 #13

    I remember my dad telling me 'the youth of today... no morals.... no idea of right and wrong...' and that over 40 years ago.  But then he'd say he remembered his dad saying the same thing. People say this every generation.

     

  • IanH
    IanH Forum Participant Posts: 4,708
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    edited May 2017 #14

    It was on the news this morning that teachers are getting increasingly frustrated that their attempts to discipline kids are being thwarted by the kids' parents (after receiving a pleading text message from their offspring) contact the school to say that their little darling could never have done anything wrong.......because he / she told them so.

    I can well imagine it.......

  • moulesy
    moulesy Forum Participant Posts: 9,402 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited May 2017 #15

    We used to get a lot of that 10 or so  years ago Ian. But my answer was simple - "get my retaliation in first" wink

    I'd phone the parents myself and explain the situation and ask them if they'd mind me keeping their little darling back after school for half an hours or so. Only once had a parent refuse - they said they couldn't get there to pick their daughter up that day - but if I'd like to make it the following day "you can keep her for an hour till I finish work"! smile

    My hairdresser still mentions to me the time he thought I was bluffing about phoning home - until he actually got home that evening. How we laugh about it now!

  • Oneputt
    Oneputt Club Member Posts: 9,144 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2017 #16

    Great post Valda.  The media are always trying to promote the lowest common denominator as the norm.  I see more good 'kids on the block' than bad.  

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,426 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2017 #17

    Yes it's always happened since I started teaching it's that just now they can phone or text, and the parents get the 'news' quicker. When I first started it was the following day, if you didn't phone home yourself as Mr M says.

    yes, two good rules, get in first and always, always, always, carry through on your threats.

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,426 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2017 #18

    Boys could be allowed to wear skirts at a north London private school if a plan for gender neutral uniforms comes in.

    Highgate School is considering mix-and-match outfits for pupils after head teachers said that growing numbers of children were questioning their gender.

    The school, which charges up to £6,790 a term, has also been encouraged to allow unisex toilets and open all sports to all pupils.

    Girls at the school can wear grey trousers, dark blue jackets and ties.

    But boys are not currently allowed to wear grey pleated skirts, although they would be under the new proposed dress code

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-39921309

    Ok discuss

    (I don't really care as long as they behave themselves and learn)