How materialistic our children have become never ceases to amaze me. Did you ever look at what our children want and desire and how much these things cost? Ed Hardy is making a killing marketing to our kids and so is Michael Jordan with his never ending barrage of new-release Air Jordans. How much is enough? What happened to the days of $2.95 Converses and $5 Levi Jeans? No wonder our country is in the mess it is.
Look. Prosperity is a great thing and to be sour grapes over not being able to buy your kids all the things they want is understandable. Ed Hardy and other marketers have every right in this great country to pursue success and happiness. The problem is that these products---$300 jeans, $200 sneakers, etc.---are being marketed in a way that makes our children believe they are necessities rather than superfluities. Sure, if you are in that upper one percent of wage earners who can afford all these niceties of clothing and other ornamental accessories, more power to you. But what about the struggling middle class family-if there is such a thing anymore as middle class-who cannot afford these things, but because of the intense social peer pressures, occasionally indulges their children with these things? For the most part, we are all guilty of this at one time or another.
Peer pressure. I know I feel it all the time. In one respect, this pressure pushes me to work harder to be able to provide such niceties; however, sometimes I wonder at how foolish I am to even think like this. "Must I add to this already vexing problem?" I ask myself.
Social morals are definitely declining and morals are at an all time low. One does not have to conduct a rigorous statistical study to evidence this. So is there any hope that we can reverse this trend? We need to educate our children better and at an ever earlier age as kids are already in possession of cell phones before the teen years. We need to get back to the basics and teach them such things as the "Guns and Butter Theory." Yes, guns are assets like stocks, bonds, real property, and precious metals. Let's teach them to invest some of their wants in the guns so that later on they can get as much butter as they want-which at such time, when they have hopefully become more sensible, they realize they do not need as much butter as previously thought.
By doing this, we teach our kids to invest and this in turn helps spur markets and other beneficial initiatives. Maybe then we can start repairing some of the multifarious problems that plague our once great nation. Otherwise, we may as well become content to die as part of the silent majority, who stands by and does nothing while injustices perpetrate our waning society. What a pity!
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Joe is a prolific writer of self-help and educational material and an award-winning former teacher of both college and high school mathematics. Under the penname, JC Page, Joe authored Arithmetic Magic, the little classic on the ABC's of arithmetic. Joe is also author of the charming self-help ebook, Making a Good Impression Every Time: The Secret to Instant Popularity; the original collection of poetry, Poems for the Mathematically Insecure, and the short but highly effective fraction troubleshooter Fractions for the Faint of Heart. The diverse genre of his writings (novel, short story, essay, script, and poetry)-particularly in regard to its educational flavor- continues to captivate readers and to earn him recognition.
Joe propagates his teaching philosophy through his articles and books and is dedicated to helping educate children living in impoverished countries. Toward this end, he donates a portion of the proceeds from the sale of every ebook. For more information go to http://www.mathbyjoe.com
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