I am not a professional teacher, instead a grandparent, and father of three successful daughters. I think a lot of the trouble that I see with today's children is that too many "excuses" for failure are available. Today, some districts don't even give a child a report card or if they do, the "F" or any level of grading is eliminated. This teaches that nothing is worth something and that failure is not only acceptable, but is allowed by the system.

I see the child psychologists try to explain away the miscreant behavior of some teens and try to blame others for the reactionary behavior of malcontents and misfits like the Columbine duo or the Bowling Green episode, but the truth is that kids will behave and act in a responsible manner, if there is not any other choice. I harken back to my childhood when children were perhaps emotionally abused in the name of discipline, but none was permanently damaged by the strict requirements of correct acceptable behavior. I caught two 13 years old boys tresspassing on my property, "snooping" around. I known it was only a matter of time and opportunity before they stole something simply due to impulse and anonymity. I grabbed them up and took them to the local police station where their parents were called. The first thing out of one of the boy's mother was to accuse me of "kidnapping" her son and wanted me arrested.

In my day, if a neighbor had brought me home to my parents, then all manner of hell would have broken loose, not against the neighbor, as he was believed, but against me the offender. Today, the kids are never at fault, the parents too quick to blame the messenger instead of the message which they obviously don't like. Yes, most of the incidents which have been widely reported, from teen-agers murdering their parents, to fellow classmates, to even the college age mass-murderers like at Virginia Tech, the evidence was plainly visible that the child was trouble waiting for a place to happen. Most parents, either too selfish to do a really good job at parenting or too busy trying to provide a secure, coddled, "good" life for their kids don't care. Too many expensive sneakers, game boxes and other "necessary" items of a child's existence are part of the problem. Children need to be hungry in their souls and should be made to work to find a way to satisfy that hunger. I mean, there needs to be a fire in the belly of kids, a parent cannot put one there if every want, not need, is satisfied and the child is over indulged as apparently this 13 year-old scofflaw I apprehended is.

I don't accept the current notion that kid's brains are immature, therefore, they are deliquent. Hell, Mozart was just four when he started concertizing, and Joan of Arc was merely 13 when she led an army to recapture France. There is a lot about growing up that the human body experiences. Even as adults, the body continues to evolve and change due to the aging process. So what if the brain is still evolving, so are the sex organs and the muscles and everything else about the kid. Why should we cut him slack simply because the selfish little over-indulged brat wants to misbehave. The same as we train the kids to learn math, then we train them to obey the rules. We make it too easy for kids to find cover for their behavior. It is about time for the "woodshed" to reappear.

I am glad that you have highlighted the problem that todays kids seem to be having. They are so complacent about what they have that they are insensitive to the real problems of the world around them. The true meaning of work is not known by them. One wonders if they will ever realize that without the fire in the belly nothing happens.

Being a high school educator, I feel that this article hits the nail on the head. In today's world, children have access to anything at the click of a button, and as teachers we need to recognize this. If students are not interested in something, or sometimes even if they are, they won't last very long. So through my years of teaching I have come to realize that I need to change up my lessons all the time. We move from lecture, to individual actives, to readings, to group activities and so on all in the course of one 55 minute class period. I have found that this is the only way to keep the majority of kids on task and interested in what I am teaching. I am glad that more "regular" people are becoming aware of this rather than just us educators.

As an educator of middle school students, a teacher definitely has to be a good manager of time distribution and a student's attention span. This is not learned immediately but through trial and error and experience. I think that middle students are being pictured as not being able to focus longer than twenty minutes, but it all depends on how the material is being presented that determines the attention of the students

I agree wholeheartedly with anonymous about too many excuses for failure! I taught in a private school, where parents paid tuition; there was so much parental support for behavioral and educational issues. When I moved to public school systems, suddenly every issue with a student was my fault. Students and parents don't value education today and feel it's their right to get a good grade regardless of learning and mastery of skills. Parents are more concerned about "self esteem" and providing every new gadget that comes on the market. That's their way of parenting, rather than setting limits and expectations for the child.
The best a teacher can do is continue to learn new strategies for engaging students and set an example as a life-long learner. There are still many of us out there that spend our time and money trying to be the best we can be to improve our students chances of being successful.

Thank you very much. As a middle school teacher, I experience the 'over-coddled' child on a daily basis. Poor grades, missing assignments and lack of paying attention is never the students fault. The fault is blamed on the teacher. Parents need to compensate for the lack of quality time that is spent with their child and this is done in a very materialistic form - buying them everything their little hearts desire and letting them do whatever they want, go with whomever they want and talk back because, after all, the child is in control. Classrooms today lack respect, lack the inner driver to do well, and many times, the lack of the students wanting to think on their own.

Please bear in mind, this is not ALL students. But, unfortunately the number is growing and it is having a negative effect on the rest of the students who want to do well and achieve. Parents need to let the teachers and the schools do their jobs and realize that there is a reason that we have teachers and a reason why we have students in all of our classrooms. Kudos to the parents who entrust their children to the teachers and hold their children accountable for their actions. 'Shame on you' to the parents who think their child is always right.

As a high school teacher faced with 110 minutes of instruction, I can see that moving between various activities designed to suport the overall message of the lesson might be productive for teens; however, this creates a handicap for students when it comes to required testing, because testing sessions are usually double that time, at least. For example, my district has , I think, 18 external tests for high school sophomores--these are tests outside the classroom lesson. Our first test, called a Benchmark, will be given next week--the second week of classes. It is a ninety minute test. There is also a Bnechmark in December and in the spring. Unfortunately, may students cannot pay attention for that long, they score poorly, and are punished--if one sees remediation as punishment, as do many teens.
In addition to Benchmark, our district has created a series of tests that begin at the beginning of the year and are administered every few weeks until the state and national No Child Left Behind test in late winter. This series of tests are called Frequent Calendar Assessments, and are usurp class lessons--in that the teacher is supposed to teach to the test schedule, and teach what is being tested next. The tests are not organized in any sensible way, they are organized by which sections of the state test showed lowest scores from the previous year--or that's what teachers are told.
In addition to those tests, there are two semester exams--one in December, and a two part end of year exam in spring. Plus, there are four instituted times for essays on demand with writing prompts designed external to the classroom. This last type of test--the essay exam, most closely emulates the essay exam for a college composition course, and the essay exam for teacher certification in this state.
All of these tests have a designated time. The Frequent Calendar is an hour. The NCLB test is four hours divided into forty minute sessions. The tests take up a whole class period, no matter what they are--except the NCLB test which calls for a different schedule during those days and a suspension of regular classes.
Teens who cannot concentrate for these periods of time do not score well on these tests. Their diploma is held hostage until they do score well. There's a nebulous system of assessing teachers by the test scores of their students, but some teachers teach the advanced classes, and teachers do not hand-pick their class roles: we teach who we are assigned to teach.
Yeah, so it's great for someone to get their continuing education credits with a new modification of the wheel on classroom lesson planning, but it's unrealistic when applied to the overwhelming external pressure applied on teachers and teens.

In response to Anonymous: While I generally agree with the notion of holding kids accountable for their actions and requiring them to take responsibility along with freedom of choice, the kids of today are facing a different world than the world of Anonymous and myself, also a grandparent and a 40 years plus educator. Let's consider some facts:
- The world of today is considerably more crowded than the world of 50 years ago. In 1960, we had a world population of about 3 billion; in 1974 we reached 4 billion; in 1987 we reached 5 billion; in 1999 we reached 6 billion and sometime in 2010, we will eclipse 7 billion, over double what it was in 1960. Granted, much of this growth is in the lesser developed countries, but we are seeing growth here in the U.S., particularly in our urban areas. The resulting crowding is putting pressure on everyone in terms of traffic, services, availability of work, access to quality education, etc.
- The world of today is technology rich in ways that Anonymous and I could not have even dreamed. Consider the computer and the sweeping revolution it has brought to all aspects of our lives; the advent of the cellular phone that dominates and dictates communication; the insertion of television into all of our lives through high quality viewing and listening pleasure (realizing that some including myself would question the term high quality for many of the broadcasts - but it is prevalent and entertaining and high quality for many of the broadcasts); and this move towards technological advances will continue at ever increasing rates (Google "Shift Happens" if you have not seen it).
- The world of today is media rich with instantaneous news of good and bad as it is happening. We are more aware of the dangers that lurk in our society and threaten our kids. In the mid-20th century, in most parts of the country, kids could play outdoors from dawn to way past dusk without a lot of supervision. Today, a responsible parent cannot afford to let their children range that far afield. We know that there were monsters then as there are today, but we were not as aware of the dangers and it seemed to be a safer time.

The point of all of this is to say that the world of today is vastly different than the world of yesteryear and we need to seek new ways of dealing with the issues that are relevant to the lives of todays kids. This does not mean that we don't hold them responsible for their actions, but it does mean that we approach the teaching of these kids in ways that are relevant to today, not yesteryear.

Anonymous II

"I see the child psychologists try to explain away the miscreant behavior of some teens"

Despite the lack of corporal punishment, I don't see that kids and teen behavior has changed much since I was in junior and senior high school over thirty years ago. As a teen I hated public junior high. It was too much of a zoo. I was fortunate enough to go to a private high school on scholarship, where I saw a positive change in attitude. My classmates actually wanted to learn. I chalked it up at the time to parental influence, as in "the parents are paying so much money for this school, they are expecting their kids to learn". I have recently reconnected with some of my former classmates, and in hindsight a realize that they were just interesting people and like myself they were self-motivated to learn. Since we had to test to get in it was a pre-selected group.

"Most parents, either too selfish to do a really good job at parenting or too busy trying to provide a secure, coddled, "good" life for their kids don't care. Too many expensive sneakers, game boxes and other "necessary" items of a child's existence are part of the problem."

The change I have noticed is the increasing lack of parental involvement. We as a society don't value children or family. Both parents work, sometimes more than one job. Commute times are long. We are sent messages that work and a fun lifestyle are more important. Ever notice how many people have children on TV or in the movies. We substitute material goods for emotional contact. Parents don't need to beat their children, just spend time with them.

"Mozart was just four when he started concertizing"
Mozart was a home-schooled prodigy.

"Joan of Arc was merely 13 when she led an army to recapture France"
Also not a good analogy. She was a self-motivated prodigy, who didn't follow the rules (occurring to the ecclesiastical court) and burned at the stake for being a heretic.

There are so many techniques to keep kids' brain in gear, focused and learning. One of my favorite websites, Teachley's Amazing Talking Brain, encapsulates many of these classroom techniques with short tips and advice. I've referred to Donna Sawyer's site frequently to ensure I'm incorporating as many of these practices as I can during the lesson.