Who are our role models? Who is setting the tone for our families, communities and society? Have we, as a country, lost our way?

I ask these questions as my wife and I are on the cusp of bringing a child into the world. As I look around, I see too many people on individualistic paths pursuing wealth, fame, power and material things. Not that these are terrible, but at what cost will we continue down these paths and what is lost along the way? Are we losing our humanity and self-respect and if so, what are our children learning from us?

In saying “us”, I do not limit learning to only occurring in schools with time, textbooks and teachers. Learning is a lifelong process that takes place during all 8,736 hours in a calendar year. The average middle and high-school student spends around 1,076 of those hours in school, or about 12 percent. With that in mind, what are our children learning in the other 7,660 hours of the year?

That is not to suggest we increase the amount of time that children spend in school, but that we do a better job with the other 88 percent of the year. Schools have been the scapegoat for too long.

Are we placing too great a responsibility on our children to have them supervise themselves? Good or bad, parents are the first role models for children, and as the saying goes, apples don’t fall far from the tree.

Todd Mogul, Lewiston