Manners

I admit I have my critics, who think that things like manners and good citizenship completely miss the point and won't solve many of the problems we have today. To them I say, you're absolutely right. When looking at the big picture, in the grand scheme of things, good manners and good citizenship seem relatively insignificant. You also know, however, that looks can be deceiving.

Jaywalking and littering are relatively insignificant crimes. But statistically speaking, doesn't breaking insignificant laws make it easier to decide in favor of breaking more significant laws? Jaywalking and littering aren't just crimes, they're also bad manners.

There is a link between crime and bad manners. Unfortunately, history has proven that rehabiliting criminals is a lot harder than we thought it would be. Prisons really aren't an effective place to teach good manners. Elementary schools, on the other hand, stand a decent chance of making a difference.

People with good manners make good citizens. Good citizens don't commit crimes. To have a better country, we have to have better citizens. If you don't believe this is true, then take a look around at other governments around the world whose employees are more corrupt than ours are.

The future leaders of our country are going to come from among the citizens we are educating now. Our future bankers, our future teachers, our future scientists, our future doctors, are all going to come from the citizens we are educating now.

Since the 1960's our manners have consistently deteriorated. Did the cost of the Vietnam War include our nations collective self-respect?

I know that as a country, we have a lot of serious problems to solve. We have a lot of decisions to make and a lot of options to choose from. Some of our goals need to be short term and others need to be long term. I am simply putting manners out there as a viable option to solving some of the problems.

It is the philosophy of this blog, that our current situation proves The Department of Education needs to do some serious work on our school curriculums. Manners and Citizenship do need to be taught in elementary schools across this country. Classes on credit need to be taught in junior highs and middle schools. High school dropouts need to know they have a FICO score before they trash it.

Copyright © 2009 Annette Fortunato

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