Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 1, 2008 - 05:21.
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.
Engaging 'Tweens and Teens: Dealing with Teenage Learning Fatigu
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 1, 2008 - 05:21.
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.