The Decline of Moral Values Values and the Generation Gap In today's society we are more relaxed about many things. And that is what seems to cause the biggest difference between generations. Today Today the people of the younger generations speak what on their minds, unlike 20 !0 years . The decline of moral "alues is another big issue when it comes to generation gaps. It seem that in today's world in the a"erage family both parents must work to pay the bills, thus lea"ing the ir children to learn a lot for themsel"es. #hich in my mind has the children learning from the world's morals and "alues and lets face it the y are not that great. $any young youn g people feel that in order to %fit in% they must lower their standards of right and wrong. And that may be why it so easy for a kid to go kill &0 of his classmates and not care. ecline in moral "alues is a global phenomenon. In the glamorous world of consumerism, the race for unlimited accumulation is formidable( hence moral "alues are generally gi"en a short shrift. )nds alone matter most and means are freeforall. The neglect of purity and morality in the means adopted ine"itably leads to further fall in moral inhibitions. $oral and ethical "alues are linked with purity. *umanistic "alues upheld by an indi"idual are a co mbination of moral, ethical and spiritual +ualities ac+uired. The rise of "iolence is phenomenal in these days of economic and material de"elopment. )conomic interests that lurk behind policies and perceptions lead to military actions against nations resulting in misery to children, mothers, elders and e"eryone. )ducation is not the only sector that can take responsibility of the ill do o f the youth, but it can take tak e maor share of the responsibility. $ost of the policy formulations take only a partial "iew of economic and materialistic de"elopment which is considered synonymous with progress. -uch a stance encourages "iolent beha"ior. The realiation that "iolence must be checked by all means seems to ha"e dawned upon educational policy makers globally. #e are often coming across the terminology /peace education used by international agencies. 1reparing children to internalie the strength of non "iolence is now no w on the agenda of schools and institutions of higher learning globally. #ho are the icons of the youth you th today The men of character were the icons of the past generation. These icons suffered for the human race. The icons of the youth today are film stars and sports persons. The way we present Indian history, heritage, and culture to our youth lea"es much to be refined, modified and updated. The great contribution made to the growth of world ci"iliation by ancient India is yet to be explored fully and proected onto those who deliberately attempt to ignore and distort these facts. -uch efforts must begin from the institutions that train teachers and must extend to schools and colleges through inser"ice and specific orientation programmes at the earliest. The young of India must internalie internalie a sense of pride in their ancestors.
According to world standards the middle class Indians are n ot leading an en"iable life. 3emember the fact that !04 of the Indian population is under the po"erty line. 5nly a few people come in the rich category. This means that "ast maority of Indians are middle class. The middle class Indians aspire for the life of rich Indians. -o if you study the middle class Indians, you will get a crosssection of India. *ere we are interested in the moral decline in the middle class families. The current generation of middle class families "aries much from the per"ious generations of middle class families. There ha"e been many changes in the moral "alues of the current generation. 6et us ha"e a look. There are changes in the food, dress, culture, education, ob and family relations in the middle class society. The middle class Indians ha"e become idle in the present generation when compared to the alert minded pre"ious generations. The technological ad"ancements ha"e made them laier. Time is money in this modern world. $iddle class people are running after meeting physical needs of today. 7o one has time for spiritual enlightenment when compared to the spirituality of the pre"ious generations of middle class people. In the current generation of middle class people, education gi"en to the youth is not of good character, indepth knowledge and positi"e intelligence. -o the current gen eration of middle class Indians lacks the +uality education. -o the current education system fails to elicit the best from the youth. The current generation of middle class young people are hopeless that they are a failure in fulfilling responsibilities and keeping words. They are lacking the +ualities like lo"e and care. The pre"ious generations of middle class were empathetic and compassionate. 8oung people are not good in helping others. The middle class people learn lack of respect, egoism and selfishness "ery +uickly these days. $iddle class peoples aspirations are high disproportionate to their income. The pre"ious generations of middle class were happy with what they had. $iddle class Indians ha"e become intolerant and we can see it in the form of rise in the rate of suicides and di"orce. -exual and financial exploitation of middle class young girls is on the rise. The system is a failure in pre"enting these. The icons of middle class Indian girls are mo"ie stars and sports persons. They are fascinated by the glamorous world these icons are li"ing. 8ou can see this in their dresses, make up and mannerisms. The middle class young people lack the will power which the pre"ious generations of middle class had. -ince most of the middle class Indians are doing some sort of ob now, the older people in the middle class are looked after in nursing homes away from families or the parents are being looked after poorly by sons and daughters in the place where parents were looked after by their children well in the pre"ious generations.
There is communication gap between two generations and young people are poor in udging the older generation. *abits of the young middle class people are changing. $ost of them are ha"ing unk and fast food instead of traditional healthy foods used by the pre"ious generations. 8oung middle class boys and middle class girls from metros are attracted by binge drinking. 9inge drinking is a serious problem among youngsters in the #estern countries. This can lead to serious harm to their health in future. -tress and mental diseases are more in the middle class people when compared to its incidence in the pre"ious generation. 7ow a days, middle class youngsters are not empathetic and you cannot see a youngster in"ol"ed in selfless social ser"ice. :heating and fraud are not uncommon among middle class in the modern times. )go, en"y, greed, temptation and sadism can be seen in the youth. $aterialism and consumerism tempt the middle class of this generation. 1eople are not timid to hurt others in this generation of middle class when compassion and empathy pre"ailed in the pre"ious generations. 8ou can see middle class Indians in"ol"ed in prostitution and gambling not because of financial problems in the family but for fun. #e ha"e not seen this among the middle class people in the pre"ious generations. #hen we consider the +ualities and emotions, anger is more pre"alent among youth. Truth and non "iolence died out with the pre"ious generations of middle class. The problem on the part of go"ernment, that a lot of middleclass Indians are n ot getting ade+uate education because of high cost of education and they are depri"ed of ob opportunities. There is huge human resources wastage as well. ;uite a few of educated middle class Indians find out lucrati"e ob offers from abroad and brain drain happens. 1romiscuity and adultery is not uncommon among middle class youth and the incidence of -Ts is on the rise. 3eligious intolerance is more common now among youth and is the root cause of terrorism in the modern world. 7ew generation of middle class youth is not good in getting ad"ices from the older generations. 8oung generation of middle class is not being ashamed of doing wrong things what their pre"ious generation would not do. :rime and drug addiction is wide spread in the current generation of youth in the middle class. *omosexuality and abortion are being legalied against the morality of :atholic :hurch. #e can see that an o"ersexed society is e"ol"ing with proliferation of pornography, misuse of mass media and internet. And in the media, celebrity gossip is getting more attention than real issues of the society. )ducation must foster the freedom of mind, the hu manity of the heart and the integrity of the indi"idual. )"en from our nurseries, we must train human beings by unconscious influence and conscious effort to lo"e truth, beauty and goodness.
1eople were willing to belie"e that a world free from distinctions of caste, color, creed, culture, language and such other di"ides was emerging fast.
Conclusion
In short, the moral "alues in the society is on the decline. 7o matter, whether it is low class, middle class or upper class. #e are gi"ing more attention to middle class because it is more ob"ious among middle class and they form the maority in most of the societies. $iddle class is being blamed for loss of morality rather than low class and upper class. It is the need of the hour to teach our children moral "alues to bring back the lost morality and to groom a new generation with good moral "alues
