Years ago the 19th century western philosophers (Willam James, Nietzsche, and Emerson to name a few) formalized this type of expectation in human behavior; primarily as a realization of the rational man to no longer be bound by the constructs of formal religious institutions. The byproduct of this apparent collapse of formal religions now leaves the individual responsible for ability to differentiate value in the world, morally right vs morally wrong.

Unfortunately no public institutional civic education systems were developed. Now with the normality of dual working parents and reduction of the nuclear family, a child’s moral direction can be swayed by the malicious media or a simple passerby.