Let me go over some of the things that have been said here today: Today’s youth are different. They want money. They’re interested in new and fancy things and want to get their hands on them. They are rude. They do not respect their elders. They are sometimes ungrateful. Being a youth myself, I agree that some of these statements are true, I will not even for a moment say that they are not. But some of these statements are mere generalizations drawn from from a short sighted observation of only a small number of incidents.
Do we want money? Yes, we do. Is it wrong to do so? No it certainly isn’t. Money is what makes the world go round. You can never have enough of it. And besides, rich people today are not in any way hated or condemned, in fact they are admired and respected. Money is given as reward for worthy achievements. The Nobel Prizes carry a hefty monetary prize. We worship money. True. There’s no point in denying it. But do we worship only money? I don’t think so. Any teenager or young adult today has his icons and role models whom he tries to emulate. Call it hero worship if you will or whatever else you like. The truth remains, we have the same feeling and reverence for our role models, or rather their achievements that we do for simple money. We want to be respected and well known and have accomplishments to our name in the same way that we want to be rich. If it is wrong to be rich, it is wrong to want to be respected and accomplished. Money is simply the yardstick by which we measure our success.
It is indeed a common mistake to equate wanting to be rich and prosperous with greed, immorality and unethical, unscrupulous conduct. Many people still believe that money is, quite simply, the root of all evil. The problem with this opinion, as is the problem with most opinions, is that it is terribly short-sighted. We’ve already seen that money is not necessarily a bad thing and that people who have it are not bad people. However today’s topic seems to make the conclusion that todays youth are immoral (a fact I do not accept) simply because they want money. Though that is not what the topic explicitly states, that is the essence. The topic is therefore terribly rash and short-sighted at best and completely and grossly wrong at worst.
Of course, it is essential that we examine not only the essence, but the fine print of the topic as well. The topic says very clearly that today’s youth have “no morals” and “no ethics”. Now, the common complaints against youngsters are that they are rowdy, rude, disrespectful and sometimes selfish and opportunistic. But in a very unbiased manner let us consider whether all this is the same as being “immoral” or “unethical”. Is shouting in class or arguing with the teacher the same as killing people for no justifiable cause? Is being highly competitive the same as being willing to kill your brother or father because you don’t like them? Genghis Khan was immoral, Hitler was unethical and unscrupulous. If you’re willing to kill thousands of peasants or millions of Jews just to see them suffer, you are immoral. But if you want to get a promotion over colleague, that simply means that you’re a competitive person. Immorality and lack of ethics are not accusations to be taken lightly. Before making them, we must judge the evidence strictly and in this case, the evidence certainly fails the test. (Examples maybe Maths-integration/continuity)
So what are our conclusion till now? It is not wrong to be rich. Youth today worship their role models, and use money as a yardstick to measure their own accomplishments. Youth today are sometimes rude and rebellious. But indiscipline cannot be equated with immorality. What may be produced as evidence in support of the topic, holds true only in a few isolated and unique incidences. It would not be proper to draw generalizations from them. Thus todays topic reduces to a few rash and hasty statements which do not stand up to scrutiny.