America has gone soft. The once great nation into which I was born has slowly transformed itself into one of the softest countries on Earth and people take advantage of the country that I love. To some, America seems tough. I can promise you one thing, however. America now compared to America 40 years ago is a completely different nation.

God forbid you spank your child in the United States; you’ll get thrown in jail, and they throw away the key. We had a great counselor at my high school who got put in jail because he spanked his kid with a wooden spoon. A wooden spoon. I never thought I would see the day that a simple punishment like spanking would turn into “child abuse.”

I have never once come across someone who has done something more than once after their elders disciplined them. Today, if I were to disrupt or disrespect a high school teacher during a lecture, what happens? I’m sent to the counselor to talk about my feelings and if everything is all right at home. What happens after that? I get sent back into the classroom, with no repercussions and I do it again, knowing very well that I can get away with it.

According to a research done by Robert Larzelere, published in the Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review in 2005, when used correctly, spanking is safe and effective. He went on to say: “When used correctly, spanking leads to lower defiance and lower aggression than 10 or 13 other disciplinary alternatives with which it has been compared.”

Our generation has grown up in a time where if you scrape your knee, you go see the doctor. My grandparents were some of the toughest people I know. Now, if you cough once, not only can you get sent home from school, but you can get referred to the doctor.

Take the whooping cough outbreak. My brother had it and I was required to stay home for a week, simply because I was exposed to him. I’m not saying that if you have an actual illness not to go to the doctor, but come on. Just because your arm feels funny, doesn’t mean you need to go to the Emergency Room. This is just one of myriad examples of why our children are too soft.

In 2001, when the No Child Left Behind Act was signed, everything changed. How did it change? You no longer had to work for your diploma. Our current government is so focused on passing everyone, that when it comes time for kids to graduate, they don’t know even half of what they should. Since the act was signed, the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported in 2011 that nearly three out of four eighth- and 12th-grade students could not write proficiently. In fact, nearly two-thirds of eighth-graders scored below proficient in math.

Now don’t get me wrong, not all kids are like that. Some of them actually work for their grades (crazy concept, I know). However, like I said before, America has gotten soft. People get five, 10, maybe even 20 chances to get their high school diploma. That’s why that once huge accomplishment is now considered “just a piece of paper.” The value of working hard for a degree has depreciated. Why work hard all four years if you can just lie back, have fun and end up with the exact same qualifications as the person next to you who studies three hours a day?

So what needs to happen is quite simple, really. Get rid of the kids who don’t want to learn or don’t want to be there. Stop wasting time and resources for someone who doesn’t even bring a pencil to class. Why should my learning get in the way of someone who can’t put together a grammatically correct sentence?

Iowa law states that a kid must attend school until the age of 16. Get those kids who don’t want to be there into the workforce. There are many countries where kids are forced to work at an incredibly young age. An individual is not entitled to an education. They do not “deserve” one.

You should simply be grateful enough that we live in a country that provides us with an opportunity to learn. Don’t take advantage of it because I can promise you that some kid in Africa would be more than happy to have the chance to learn.

Something needs to change. If kids continue acting the way they do today, unchecked by parental discipline, America will slowly turn into the “sissy” country. Countries will no longer fear our once “Don’t tread on me” stance, but rather laugh in the face of our attempt of being fierce. America needs to change back to the real America, where the “land of the free, home of the brave” weren’t just some lyrics in a song, but rather a lifestyle and words to live by.

So I ask you, America, what can you do to get our young generation onto a path our Founding Fathers would be proud of today?