Is it odd that after years of the education system schooling our children with self-esteem pablum, we see children running amok and poorly dressed while they are at it? It is not odd at all. The school of thought that pushed teaching children that whatever they did was okay, even if it was wrong, in order to make them feel better about themselves, has produced its all too predictable consequences.
To look at many of today’s youth, you would think they had no self-esteem at all. Many of the boys wear clothing so oversized it literally falls off their bodies, while they sport backwards baseball caps. They think they look fashionable, but for many adults looking at them, they look dangerous or seriously disturbed. Why anyone would want to look that way when they leave the house is a mystery, but it is not a mystery that people do not take them seriously. They may be “employee of the month” material, but dressed that way, who would hire them?
The girls are no better. While the boys wear oversized clothes, the girls wear tops and pants two sizes too small. A new term was coined to describe the literal fallout from the undersized clothes – “muffin tops.” Why do girls want to look like the aftermath of a Pillsbury Crescent Roll can explosion? Again, the girls who wear these outfits might think they look fabulous, but other people look at them as either bad dressers or sex objects. Neither choice bodes well for success in the real world.
The myriad examples of poor wardrobe choices can be found on those who now think “flash mobs” are an entitlement and a good form of entertainment. Across the nation, roving gangs of teens and young adults target stores – usually owned by small business owners – for mass robbery. The perpetrators communicate via text messages or social networking sites expressly to overwhelm the store, start grabbing merchandise by the armload and then casually walk out. There is no remorse; they have no moral compass to guide them. They just see something they want, think they deserve it and take it.
When schools decided teaching right and wrong was too judgmental, too passé, they started the ball rolling, and now we all are reaping the consequences. Real self-esteem is found in earning something or doing the right thing. Self-destruction and moral bankruptcy are found in the pseudo-self-esteem nonsense doled out to today’s youth.