David Elkind wrote a series of books about children who are being ushered into the grownup world far too quickly for their development abilities to cope. His books point out that parents today are providing experiences for their children that they themselves enjoyed at an older developmental stage in life. For instance--- girls wearing heels (once a growing up milestone enjoyed by teenagers is now marketed toward tweenies) 1st dates (once reserved for high school students, now starting as early as junior high) prom (once a uniquely high school experience, now also a junior high experience). I recall attending a homecoming game as an adult and seeing a Kindergartener with not one but two homecoming mums with ribbons trailing the ground. I was told one was from parents and one from grandparents. The point is if you are already doing this for your Kindergartener then what will be left for the teenage years?
And it is not just a society issue involving parents who seem to be in a race to grow their children up too quickly it is also occuring in education. If you doubt this, then just take a look at today's Kindergarten class who is expected to be reading by midterm. What are we in such a hurry for anyway? We rob kids of the chance to be successful by requiring that they accomplish things they are not developmentaly prepared for yet and take away the gift of time creating problems where there may not have existed but for hurried adults.
Donna
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Donna,
I absolutely agree with you that students have too much going on in their lives. Society wonders why students are not achieving as much or why scores are so low. The answer is right in front of our faces. Our expectations and curriculum standards are far larger than what they used to be. That means teachers and schools are required to cover twice as much, if not more, material than in the past. We are on a time crunch and we do nothing but pump the kids full of information with very little time to process. In addition, we are asking them to take part in service learning projects, technology projects, extracurricular activities, while at the same time study and be a normal child. All of this is too overwhelming for children. So, they shut down. Not much gets done, and teachers become frustrated that students know less and less as the years go by. Is there a solution?
Perhaps if legislatures examined the standards they have so quickly put in writing, they would notice the amount of work teachers must cover is absolutely ridiculous. By forcing more into the content area in 180 days, students are memorizing and purging which leads to lower test scores and no lasting learning. The hands of the schools are tied until the higher-ups take a moment to examine just how unrealistic their expectations are. These poor children cannot and are not keeping up with what everyone wants them to do.
Thanks for shedding some light on this much overlooked topic.
Jenn
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