I Don’t Agree That Our Children’s Values Have Been Messed Up.

A response to a recent claim from Tessa Schlesinger

Frank Parker

--

I am opinionated too! Own photo.

If, as Tessa Schlesinger claims, schools have been inculcating a sense of injustice and entitlement in their students, I can’t agree that this is a bad thing. Nor do I believe that it has had a detrimental effect on the beliefs and behaviors of younger generations than ours. Leaving aside the problem of squillionaire entrepreneurs, the reality I see is that we live, still, in a society that makes millionaires of sportsmen and entertainers whilst nurses and carers have to resort to food banks in order to make ends meet.

I make no apology for believing that is unjust. Before we extend this way of viewing reality to the situation in the Middle East, let’s examine the question of ‘rights’ and ‘entitlements’.

I’ll begin with a simple statement of belief: everyone who makes a positive contribution to the community in which they live ought to be entitled to receive in return a benefit roughly equivalent to that contribution.

That, however, is not a ‘right’, nor is it ‘inalienable’ or ‘God given’. It depends on the agreement of the members of the community to uphold it and behave accordingly. If this is what is being promulgated in educational establishments I applaud.

--

--

Frank Parker

Frank is a retired Engineer from England now living in Ireland. He is trying to learn and share the lessons of history.