So I read this article recently(Childhood's End: Growing Up Too Fast. http://www.edutopia.org/childhoods-end-accountability-forces-children-grow-up-too-fast), and had this to say.
Unfortunately an article like this has to be written in order to realize what's happening to our children. I teach high school students who come from tough neighborhoods and witness more than most people do by the age of 15. I remember the day my 17-20 year old students went crazy for some stickers as a prize. Or the day they enjoyed working on a Spanish color by number worksheet, even though most of them had seen someone get shot, or on drugs, and even sell drugs, they were kids. It is very sad to think that our children are feeling this pressure at the age of 5, an age that I was able to enjoy by playing outside or coloring, I was a kid. This disappearance of the traditional childhood is an injustice that our society is doing to our future, so lets make sure that as parents, future parents, or teachers, we remember that our children are KIDS.
What do you think?
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Totally agree, Hugo. I have the babies, first graders...and it's interesting how much their reactions compare to your high schoolers! They've seen so much at their young age that I never even knew existed when I was that age. It's unfortunate to hear/see this at all levels for our students in Baltimore city, but important to keep our expectations high for them to succeed as much as their peers in other neighborhoods.
ReplyDeleteI teach high school too and I see it every day how our students are torn between adulthood and childhood. They are treated as adults at home, taking care of themselves, their siblings and sometimes their own babies, and then they come to school and we treat them like children. They are living separate lives and it's no wonder so many of them have emotional disorders to anger issues. I would be a little crazy too if I lived in such a world where I was expected to be so many different things at once.
ReplyDeleteOn the flip side, teaching middle schoolers is interesting because they must act older than they are. Many are acting as parents for their younger siblings, or are the bread winners for their household even if it means selling drugs. For that very reason, it is so incredibly important to treat them like kids when they are at school (of course in a respectful way) because it is the only situation in which they are able to be kids.
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