The most notable difference between then and now is the focus of kids. What I focused on as a child is nothing near what today's child focuses on. In fact, it's flat-out scary!
When I was growing up, my parents preached how important my education was. I got grounded when I didn't get good grades and praised when I did. I had the ability to be an "A" student, but most of the time I only gave a "C" effort. I didn't realize how what I did in school would affect me later as I approached adulthood.
Today's kids have a different mindset. They don't want to give much of an effort at all. What for? They're not focused on school because they think learning is dumb. It's more important to them to be cool than it is to be successful. It's all about image in schools now and parents rarely do anything to prevent that mindset.
"You're being lame when you try to be smart."
Seriously?
Too many "role models" have not really embraced education and that has trickled down to the children. Athletes, musicians, and celebrities only display life in the fast lane while rarely discussing how they got there. Parents don't make it any better by explaining how much hard work goes into being successful regardless of the career. From a stockbrocker to a stripper, if you don't work hard then you will struggle with being successful.
Kids may not know that their favorite rapper is a college grad. They don't know that an athlete is fluent in two languages and very familiar with a couple of others. They haven't a clue about a child actress being home schooled. It's up to parents to reveal that to the kids and keep their focus on the importance of school.
Kids tent to only pay attention to the glitz and glamour and that is continuing to dumb down this country. It's going to catch up with us as a nation. I guarantee you. And it won't take too many more years for it to do so.
What can be done to help kids focus on schoolwork instead of their image?
It’s true. Parents nowadays have to work a lot harder to keep their children focused but, ultimately, they may be the only ones left who can do it. Celebrities – their primary role models – don’t really seem to care. Not when you have some of them doing things like tweeting to their fans about how education enslaves them and they don’t need it. And don’t get me started on the media.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Jaden Smith talked about how school brainwashes kids. Even if the statement makes sense, it can still easily be taken out of context and cause problems. There are a lot of college educated celebs who never take the opportunity to stress the importance of school. People just enjoy the fame now and ignore the hard work. Even those that didn't finish college had to work hard.
DeleteI absolutely love learning. I talk to my kids about the importance of not only getting a good education but to continue learning throughout their lives. Learning and growing is the key to a successful life. Learning doesn't stop with a degree. And it's up to everyone to educate kids. Parents, teachers, administrators, church, community. Everyone has lessons to teach children. Children need to know basic home skills like cooking, and cleaning, to balancing a checkbook just as much as they need Science and Language Arts.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100%. Excellent comment.
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