Dear
Readers,
These columns began on my area of America Online, called: Judaism
Today: Where Do I Fit? People anonymously
sent me E-Mail, and I began to choose one for a public response
in my Jewish E-Mail of the Week column. The column has become
quite popular and is now syndicated internationally in many
Jewish papers and websites. I hope you find they help you
as you think about the Ethics, Spirituality and Peoplehood
components of the Jewish way of Life. I welcome your
comments... see the end of the column.
Gil
PS
Teachers and others, feel free to copy my columns and forward
them or use them as you see fit. Please see the friendly
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ARE
JEWISH TEENS IMMORAL TODAY? PART II
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In my
last column, I featured an email from a 9th grade
Sunday School teacher who teaches an Ethics class. He
described several true ethical situations from the
news that he had presented to his students. One case
involved a murder of a 7 year old where a witness
stood by idly as a friend committed the gruesome
crime.
In the
words of the teacher "What troubled me about [my]
students' responses ... is the lack of any sense of
moral obligation, any sense that there might be
standards that transcend what is legal. According to
German law at the time, what the Nazis did was
perfectly legal. No one today, however, would argue
that it was right. The same is true for slavery in
America 135 years ago."
In
response to his comments, I asked for reactions from
you, my readers. Specifically, I asked: Are Jewish
teens immoral today? Below, are four edited responses
from readers.
#1
[When I was a teen] society was much more
conservative. Pregnant teens were often isolated from
their peers; it was morally unacceptable to do certain
things in public. I went to a private girls high
school. There were 40 in my graduating class, six were
Jewish. I heard a rumor many years after graduation
that most of the class had had sexual relationships
before they graduated. My personal opinion is (and I
don't know for sure) that the six of us Jewish girls
were probably still virgins. Anyway, it certainly was
not out in the open who had sex and who didn't. There
was much less teen violence in the news. Drugs were
not an issue. Teen discussions often centered around
what was right and wrong. Schools demanded respect and
dress codes.
#2 As
a 22 year veteran teacher in the public high schools
in California, I'm afraid that I have to agree that
kids today are sadly lacking in morals. The few Jewish
kids I encounter in my school do seem to have higher
standards, but perhaps this is wishful thinking on my
part - I have no proof. The kids at my synagogue
definitely have higher standards! In our weekly
classroom discussions of ethics and morals (I teach
English and music, but always work these topics in!),
I find that most students feel that if one doesn't get
caught, one has done nothing wrong! Yet, I receive at
least one private note every week from one student or
another who agrees with the ethical position I have
taken, but who felt uncomfortable dissenting with the
majority in class.
#3 As
the mother of two teenage boys I can't begin to tell
you how many arguments I've had with both of them, a
19 and a 16 year old, on good vs evil and all the
shades of gray in between...We ourselves must be
willing to be examples of what we teach. That's where
the real learning exists.
#4 My
son lost his whole group of friends last year because
of drug usage (he refuses). He is slowly rebuilding a
network of friends. My daughter, we recently found
out, experimented with drugs in high school for a
short time. Thankfully she discontinued this, although
she does go out with friends to bars and has one or
two drinks. The problem? All their friends think they
are weird -- too straight. I have tried to teach them
that to achieve any success in this lifetime they need
to be in control of themselves and work hard. These
concepts appear to be archaic in their generation.
Many parents today have not taken the time to talk to
their children about rules and respect. How do you
expect the children to think and act otherwise if they
do not have strong parental role models? Ethical
behavior is developed only when one learns how to
respect other people and their property.
My (this
is Gil writing again) reaction to all of these
comments is frankly that I just don't know if teens or
Jewish teens are more or less moral today than they
used to be. On the one hand, I suspect they are less
moral -- and I base that purely on the diet of
violence and distain for the value of human life that
today is a standard part of "entertainment"
(movies, TV, computer games, etc.) This bombardment
can't be good for society or moral development.
I think
many would agree with the following: "Children
today are tyrants -- they contradict their parents,
gobble their food and tyrannize their teachers."
Sound like a good description of teens today? Well,
guess what? Those words are thousands of years old,
from Socrates! So, on the other hand, I am not
convinced that teens are more or less immoral today
than they ever were.
The one
thing I do feel confident saying is that kids and
teens are influenced by what they see their parents do
morally and immorally. Clearly, I also believe that
Judaism can and should help guide moral decision
making for modern adults, teens and kids living in a
modern world. For more on that and other aspects of
Judaism, I hope you will continue visiting this
column. Thanks to all who wrote!
Gil
A FRIENDLY COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© Copyright Gil Mann
These columns can be found at www.beingjewish.org. Not
only do I give you permissions to copy these Jewish Email
columns...I HOPE YOU WILL and that you share them with others!
All I ask is that you never charge anyone for them and that you
also include this little copyright notice. Thank You!
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