When we look at America today, we see a country that no longer operates around the values our country was once built upon. In the past few decades, there’s been a decline in traditional American values such as the importance of having a strong work ethic, the emphasis on the family unit, and remaining a grounded person with a moral compass. This is because of three main reasons:
In this generation, children and teenagers are not being taught that they must work hard to achieve their goals and the things they want. This is because it is common in our society for teenagers to need the new and latest electronics and clothes once they hit the stores. They learn about all the government programs such as welfare and Medicaid that can take care of their needs for them. Many teenagers are not expected to work or are even thinking about working when they reach working age, like they were in the past decades. They do not think twice about the price of something because they are not spending money they have earned themselves. They are not being taught the value of a dollar. The common American idea that people rise and fall based on how hard they work is becoming less prominent because we are expecting things to be given to us instead of earning them ourselves.
Also, the emphasis on having a strong close-knit family is rapidly deteriorating. Equal opportunity has allowed women to join the work force, even in fields that were predominantly composed of men. The increasing percentage of women joining the workforce has transposed the traditional American family entirely. As more parents focus on advancing their careers, the importance of family becomes insignificant, and child-rearing is left to daycare centers and other means of child care. This raises concern because the bond between the child and parents, specifically the mother, is not as strong as it had once been.