CHILDREN ARE being inundated daily with programmes that offer very little by way of development, causing a serious breakdown of values and attitudes throughout the society, a number of high school students have charged.
The students, representing schools in Kingston and St. Andrew, Clarendon, St. Catherine and St. Mary, told a Gleaner Editors' Forum yesterday that the breakdown was so severe that the nation was now faced with what they described as a major identity crisis.
"Everybody wants a big house, everybody wants a car...nobody wants to be poor," explained Porcsha Jackson, a student of Dinthill Technical High School. "The problem, though, is that nobody wants to work very hard for it."
She added: "If you see a way where you can get what you want easily... for some people it doesn't matter... it's all about getting what you want."
The students were also in no mood to spare their adult counterparts, chastising them for instilling the 'get rich quick mentality' in the lives of many youngsters.
"Many of our youths simply aspire for the easy way out to achieve their goals," said Anna-Kay Nelson, a final-year student at the University of Technology, in summing up the point.
