I've done some thinking on this subject since I first saw it and i think it can be summed up in one word - respect. Respect for your elders, your peers, and the next generation. There are a lot of people in my generation that were not raised to respect authority figures - either their parents, teachers, boss, themselves, others in general. That goes also for a lot in my parents generation - yes the Baby Boomers (ie Stick it to the Man and Question Authority) While there is a place for these ideas, there also has to be respect for authority - or else society will not function. If you don't respect the people around you, you won't see the need (have the responsibility) to stick around and clean up your messes - for the purpose of this thread, the children you create with some one else. If you don't show respect to the other person involved then the children created will not learn it either and the cycle repeates itself.
It has come to be too easy to leave your responsibilities behind (Children, relationships, marriage, debts, etc) and start anew in search of a better life - pick your own reason, and the mother ends up, normally, keeping the kids. Can't deny that maternal bond - she did have them growing inside her for a good part of a year after all.
And people wonder why our schools are so messed up (No respect for the teachers because the kids were not taught respect at home), and then why the kids are not ready for college, and then cannot find a good paying job, etc...
You could also call it a lack of committment...
That's my two cents worth...