Are you the product of a social experiment?

Essentially anything new and different in a culture can be deemed a "Social Experiment", because we really don't know the outcome until the damage has been done.  Take for example the "Free Love" movement experiment, or for that matter the "Public school" experiment.

What are the results of the first experiment?  What has society gained by accepting and embracing a culture of instant gratification rather than one of delayed gratification?  By my estimations it has encouraged selfishness over one of compassion for those around us.  What we want is all important, at whatever cost.  Free love wasn't just about sex, it was an ideology based on personal gratification through any means one deemed appropriate.  This included sex, drugs, and anything else that made you feel good.  With unrestricted intercourse the results became evident quickly, as is wont to happen when the product only takes 9 months.  Yes I'm talking about unexpected/unwanted pregnancies. Of course in a society where the individual's desires are paramount, this creates an situation where it is no longer fun or pleasurable so something must be done to control this as well.  This creates yet another result, abortion.  A direct result of personal desire overriding the well being of another person is abortion, the blatant wanton murder of the most innocent and vulnerable of society.  Murdering children so that the individual could abdicate responsibility for their actions.

I believe the drug portion of the "Free love" 60's social experiment goes without saying, as it is abundantly obvious with the number of shows on TV dedicated to rehabilitation from substance abuse. 

So what about the experiment I referred to as "Public School"?  And why did I call it a social experiment?  What we tend to forget is that learning is passed down, and before public education it was a natural part of parental responsibility. Now not that I believe that there isn't a place for public education, because I believe it gives us a chance to learn outside the confines of our own experiences.  However I do have a problem with massing groups of hormonal, vulnerable, impressionable children together for enormous lengths of time.  Anyone who has read "Lord of the flies" can tell you that this is the attitude and behaviour carried out (albeit in smaller, less lethal manners) in the schoolyards of public institutions.  Although there is a staggering trend towards lethality that has been taking hold, and should we not find a solution to the mentalities that develop within a (public education) society the trend will only increase.  For as much as we hope that all of our children will be treated equally, this just isn't the reality of the public education system. Not only that, but with so few adults to influence children in proper behavioral patterns, the children learn and feed of each other and develop in a more "wild" manner. 

I started this post after reading a social experiment being conducted by a set of parents called "Gender Neutrality". Read the article here.  Obviously this is going to create issues in the future, but what are they? What ramifications will this (thankfully limited) social experiment have on children that are not taught how to be a man or a women?  I believe that the way we are raised, and the events that occur in our lives are what dictate the person we will become. Already one of the children is confused, and has asked for a note to be written telling leaders at a nature center that he was a boy.

What I think people tend to forget is that these social experiments can reproduce exponentially when we introduce offspring into the equation through the subjects.  I think it's time to step back and look at what we are doing and question if it is the best thing for society, or are we indulging our base instincts for that instant self gratification.

Bob