Social norms

It's interesting to reflect on the changes in social norms. The older one gets the more extreme the behaviour of our youth seems to be but is there a danger of saying "it were always so". The loosening of respect and the apparent wish to run against all kind of structure within the society is very evident today. The things that society at large would, in the past have held an opinion on and have been willing to make that opinion known has nearly expired. Today people are far less likely to voice opinions for fear of stirring up socially conspired accusations  where only a few years ago, non existed.

 The interaction of youth with their peers and the adults they know, nowadays lacks the authority figure. No one is in charge. The park attendant, the bus conductor, even the parents position has been watered down so that youth has  a free hand, until something serious occurs and they face the police and the courts.This lack of a guiding hand has tremendous ramifications for the way society works and the way people respect other peoples boundaries. 

Learnt from the knee one accepts the messages of how to behave and if caught pushing that boundary bubble too far, there were aunts, neighbours, officials, who reminded you of what was expected.
Today the strictures of what is acceptable and not acceptable, even within the classroom, have been dismally absent. Education once a haven of discipline with strict rules and common objectives we now see a free-for-all in which the teacher has to contest for their space with the class. The assumption that the kids were there to learn has been turned over for a 'child centric' world where it is the teachers role to discover the needs and the interest of little Jimmy or Jemima and adapt her teaching to suit.
The damming epitaph, "that person was spoilt as a child" could now be in danger of being mass produced as we shy away from criticising the child when it does wrong.
Positive support rather than negative chastisement has a good ring to it but if life is full of distasteful events, many brought on by ourselves and we had better to see our part in them. An adolescence who centres around their needs and their needs only and excludes the needs of others, such as the parent and teacher, is bound to have to learn the hard way.
Is it any wonder that the selfish behaviour we see in society today has its roots in the 'exclusion of family' and an educational system which seems to fail in impressing the need for responsibility in everything we do.