Page 2678 - Week 09 - Thursday, 9 August 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Where is the information that is needed on how to rehabilitate and recover young people who have a problem? Where do they talk about building self-esteem? If young children have no self-esteem they will never do well in society. They will always have problems. What about training in living and employment skills? These things are vital but are not effectively addressed at all. What about giving people a positive approach to life, teaching them things like why there are laws and why we need to have respect for authority. This is all too lacking in a young person's education.
I would like to briefly have a look at some of the causes for homeless children, because this is what the report was all about. Basically, homeless children come from broken homes. Perhaps over 90 per cent come from homes where there are broken families. Mrs Nolan looks a little bit puzzled. I have chatted with some people - I have particularly had a look at John Jones, who is the executive director of the Jesus Care Refuge in Sydney. He has been involved for many, many years. And in other things I have looked at as well I find that you have got broken marriages, obviously families that are not working. In families that do work you do not have a significant problem with homeless youths at all. I think that is taken for granted. If a family life is working you do not have the problem - it occurs when the family is not working.
Let us have a look at why the families do not work. Majorly, it is because of economic pressures placed on the parents. One of the major problems that has been occurring over the last few decades is that many mothers have been forced into the workplace. It is all very well if a mum wants to go and work, but often they are forced into the workplace by economic pressures. Once upon a time it was possible in this country for a man to support his wife and children without the woman having to go to work. That is increasingly not often the case.
The other problem is if children have no respect for their parents they will then have no respect for authority. Both come together. There is a tremendous rebellion in young children. There is pressure from peers. Unfortunately, there is an incitement by the education systems in certain areas to suggest to children that it is okay to divorce their parents. Someone told me not so long ago that they disciplined their daughter over something and she suggested she was going to divorce them because of it. To suggest this as a general idea for children is not a good idea in our society. Children should be taught to respect their parents and to respect authority, not to rebel against the parents and authority.
Let us look at why children have low self-esteem. If children do not do well in an education system they will inevitably feel that they do not necessarily have a place in society. In my own case I did not do particularly well at school. I had just about nil motivation for being
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .