Academically trained but morally uneducated

In my voluntary community service work, I have come across a worrying number of families in which the children were reportedly assaulting their parents verbally and in some cases, physically. As students, in particular the teenaged ones, are getting more academically and intellectually trained, they might not be necessarily well educated morally. It is a call for concern. There seems to be much deviation between the desired and the actual outcome of education. Many think and feel that it is a failure in the education system.

As people get more academically trained and acquire more knowledge through the explosive internet world of knowledge base that most of their parents might be categorically lacking in, some would tend to get impatient with and even despise their parents when it comes to disparity in thoughts and differing views of things. Some would call that a generation gap! I don't think so. Such behaviour when left unchecked would lead to disrespect for their parents, and eventually would lead to physical and verbal abuse and assault. There was a family where the 14 year-old son and his mother were in constant conflict and there were incidents when the son grabbed his mother by the neck and asked, "Is this what you want?". The police was called to the home on five different occasions, but no action was taken by the police because the mother was told those were so-called domestic or family problems! They have to resolve them on their own.

I do believe it takes two hands to clap. But, in such instances, even if the parents were in the wrong, I think the son should learn to accept the authority of the parents that is bestowed on them by default. There is no such a thing as "parents have to earn the children's respect"!!! Do you know that 18 year-old boys would learn and adjust quickly in the army camp when they are told by the officer, "it is an order"? They would just accept the instruction and the authority that comes with it without question or resistance.

Are the schools aware of such behaviour of their students? Yes, many of these challenging students have been put through the school counselling sessions. But, sad to say, most parents said that the school counselling did not seem to help much. Why? I guess that is for me to know and for the schools to find out.