Paper Summary:

The paper explains Elliot Currie's belief, as conveyed in his work "The Road to Whatever", that society is abandoning its social responsibility and accountability towards raising kids, and it is this lack of guidance that is perpetuating the wayward existence of youth. The paper emphasizes the book's message that America must attend to its youth, and stop blaming them for making mistakes. The paper points out that while the book seems psychological and intellectual at times, it is also in large part concerned with understanding and identifying the environmental threats that the youth of today are faced with.

From the Paper:

"This book is about what the author calls a new culture of Darwinism in our society, as far as social attitudes towards kids are concerned. Darwinism originally referred to survival of the fittest. So what is the new Darwinism? For the author Elliot Currie, the new Darwinism is a certain cold and dispassionate attitude towards children. The new Darwinism which the author identifies is a laissez faire attitude towards children--an attitude of "whatever happens, happens"--which amounts to letting the kids get what they deserve. The author believes that society is abandoning its social responsibility and accountability towards raising kids, because kids need guidance, not "their just desserts." Kids deserve and need proper guidance to avoid making errors that can hurt both themselves and others."

Visitors who viewed this Book Review also liked these:

• Book Review # 116914 : "Delinquency in the White Middle Class"
• Book Review # 104606 : "Toni Morrison's "Beloved"
• Research Paper # 29836 : "Michael Eisner"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: