On Dictionary.com the word Affluenza is defined as, "The negative psychological or behavioral effects of having or pursuing wealth, as irresponsible acts and feeling of self-doubt or guilt."
This word was one I had never heard of until I was watching TV this past week. The show was covering a case of a 16 year old boy, named Ethan Couch, who killed 4 people while drinking and driving and only got probation with no jail time. The reason he got off with such a minimal sentence? The judge claimed the boy had Affluenza. At the time of the accident Ethan was living on his own in a large house while his parents living in a multimillion dollar house elsewhere. What the defendants case was and what the judge ultimately agreed with was that because Ethan could make whatever choices he wanted to and he was never punished for doing anything wrong this made him think that the world had no consequences and because of this he cannot be blamed for this accident. Basically saying that because of his privileged life, Ethan could not have known better. When watching this show I was so confused on how someone could get off killing four people with probation. This brings up so many questions to me personally such as, can we blame a child for doing something wrong when their parents never told them it was wrong? Could the parents take the blame instead? And also how much “common sense” is taught in school and is absorbed by the students? We all know that parents are children’s first teacher. Our parents teach us our first language(s), how to walk, how to use the bathroom etc, then we go to school and we learn subjects but schools also integrate common sense and normal behavior into the subject matter. Although there aren't lessons in school revolved around basic knowledge such as knowing that killing someone is wrong, or that you can’t smack someone, or that to make friends you have to be a nice person; this is something that children just learn going through school. Being surrounded by other children who parents tell them that killing someone is bad or not to steal from stores, most kids around them will pick up on the common sense behind it. For example, my whole life my parents taught me life lessons, but I also always remember hearing those life lessons repeated at school. I never had to only hear those rules at school because my parents did their job as making me a good person. But that leads me to the question about Ethan. If he only heard not to drink and drive at school and from ads on Tv or from other friends, how come that did not resinate with him. How much of parents reinforcing these rules at home important? An article on psychologytoday.com called “Stop enabling your overly dependent adult child,” explains how enabling a child interferes with their ability to learn punishments and responsibility. The article also explained how as early as 9 years old if a parent fixes a child’s mistakes for them they can learn and believe that their parents will always fix their mistakes for them. This can then make them an adult who believes that they can get away with anything and someone will always get them through their hard times. So many of my questions about this case remain unanswered even through my long google and library data base search. From what I did search and read, I do think Ethan Couch had Affluenza. It is clear that Ethan’s Affluenza came from his parents who had it as well. Ethan had Affluenza but he also had his own brain and he was in public school so he had to have heard somewhere and sometime in his life that drinking and driving is wrong. In my personal opinion Ethan and his parents should have served time. Ethan, to finally teach him some type of punishment. And his parents for extreme neglect. The final questions and my answer to them are: Is Affluenza real? Yes. Is Affluenza an excuse to drink and drive and kill four people. My answer is no.
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AuthorStudent/aspiring kindergarten teacher interested in children's psychological growth Archives
December 2016
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