DEBRA E. JAMES,
Sir, - Peter Brown (June 9th) deplored the failure of some families to help "develop the skills to deal with the challenges" children will face in life.
The nihilistic, sometimes suicidal behaviour of so many young people may be a consequence of conflict between what they are told in church and school and what they learn to be true from their own experience of the world.
Because most schools follow a curriculum imbued with dogma, the prevailing ethos is one of "obedience" rather than of "thinking for oneself". The strong emphasis on compliance with doctrine, on belief, means that the development of critical, analytical and deductive faculties is often neglected.
Unfortunately, the lack of these tools is taking its toll on Irish young people. They have not been adequately prepared to analyse the scientifically verifiable information that they are now able to obtain. They seek continual distraction, entertainment, excitement, so that they won't feel empty or angry, or have to reflect on things too much. For when there is stillness and quiet, reflection can allow the free association of ideas and experiences - associations that may lead to the formation of new concepts, which in turn may lead on to new conclusions - conclusions that might not agree with beliefs. This conflict is uncomfortable, therefore undesirable.
The failure of Irish society to value thoughtfulness and the ability to exercise critical thinking and deductive reasoning - "thinking for oneself" - has resulted in a generation of young people who have learned instead to value economic status, looks, and "getting away with it".- Yours, etc.,
DEBRA E. JAMES,
Cummerduff,
Gorey,
Co Wexford.
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Sir, - Peter Brown (June 10th) states that, when seeking an explanation for Ireland's rising suicide statistics, "blaming society is a cop-out". Instead he suggests that we should look at individual family histories. In the very next sentence there is evidence of Mr Brown's own cop-out on this issue when he refers to "young people".
Anyone with even a slight knowledge of Irish suicide in the past 20 years will know that it is not young Irish people who are killing themselves in increasing numbers, but Irish men, young and old. The main increase has, of course, been among young males.
It is not in family pathologies that the main determinants of Ireland's male suicide upsurge will be found, but in a society that renders these young men full of fear, self-loathing and isolation.
Is Mr Brown is suggesting that there is a family pathology rampant in Ireland that targets only boys?
I think a more realistic approach would be to examine what this society does to boys from the day they first step out into the world to be subtly denigrated by feminist schoolmarms and told by a culture that, by virtue of being male, they are problematic and disposable. - Yours, etc.,
PHIL MAC GIOLLA BHAIN,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.