Like this:

I am one who is passionate about influencing the lives of our youths. The thing that catches my attention is the rising delinquency rates in Singapore. I believe that one of the ways we have to look at this social problem is to start with the family which is the basic unit of society. How is it that although there is such a thing as ‘moral’ education in school but this problem still exists? I think this goes to show that we definitely need more than the schools to educate them. We need the family.

Very unfortunately, because of the rising living standards in Singapore, parents have to work even harder to support their children’s education. More families have both parents working as a result in order to save up for their children. Consequently, the care of the children is left to the maid or grandparents or childcare centres or even left on their own. I feel that nothing compares to having parents take care of their children because he or she is their own flesh and blood.

At a certain point in our lives, we would come to realise that we have this unspoken need in all of us – this need to belong to a group or gang or clique, whatever you may call it. More than that, we have a need to be in a place where we feel accepted and appreciated, sort of like a vacuum to be filled in all of us. This is what makes us try to get into cliques wherever we are. The very first place where we seek to find this is in the family. Generally speaking, when a child is young, he or she would try ways and means to try and please his or her parents. Basically, a child would want to hear praises and encouragement from the parents so as to feel loved by them. I do not mean to say that I do not condone dual-income families but what I am saying is that moral education has to start in the family. Usually, the tendency in dual-income families is that the children may be neglected. The reverse is also true. If there is a parent to stay at home to look after the children, the chances of the children being neglected is much lesser.

Because of this, teenagers, or even pre-teens, nowadays are more vulnerable in the sense that they are more open to any group that offers to ‘satisfy’ this need. This is where they could possibly end up in the ‘bad company’ and thus leading to delinquency. They become trapped in a world where they are coerced to do things which are actually against their conscience but because of the ‘reward’ of being accepted into the group, they do it. As this is allowed to perpetuate, it will eventually turn into a situation whereby the child will not be sensitive anymore in the sense that, for example, stealing would be a normal thing to do.

Another thought that came to my mind during the lecture was with regards to the government’s dealing with criminals and our inherent nature. We know of cases whereby violence is inhumanely meted out on another human being, just like in the case of MS13, so as to get people to follow their way or basically to give in to them. In other words, violence is a form of deterrence – to deter people from going against them. However, if we look at the punishments of the government like, for example, caning, isn’t it also a form of violence? And because of this, there is an ‘incentive’ to be good. Do people follow the law because we are good-natured or is it because of fear of the punishment? Another case in point would be the example of a newborn child. Do we have to teach the child good things or bad things? Somehow, naturally, the child will know how to do the bad things. My point is that we are born naturally bad and how bad we become is determined by what are the opportunities that allow that ‘badness’ to manifest.

Advertisement