Post by Meriah Rose on Aug 8, 2011 17:17:03 GMT -5
“We used to think that children were shaped by God, or by dark oedipal impulses, but as the twenty-first century dawns, we know better.” Author Brooks states in his article Organization Kid. Society does know better. We know that a child’s family, schooling, and life experiences are what shape who the child will become. The way a child is raised directly reflects on the type of person they will become. More and more children are being raised with thoughts that education, discipline, and success are the most important things. Values like friendship, fun, and laughter are not emphasized as heavily as they should be, especially with the youth of America. The children of modern day are expected to do what’s right every time, the first time; which leaves no room for chances or failure. We are piling too much onto the shoulders of children. Between classwork, homework, chores, sports, and academic extracurricular events there’s hardly time left over for sleep. And as these young children advance to high school jobs and college planning are added to the long list of tasks. There just isn’t enough time in one day.
In order to accomplish each goal for the day young adults have had to plan for every moment of their day. More students are walking around with agenda books, dictating what they are doing, when they are doing it, and where they are going to be. "I just had an appointment with my best friend at seven this morning," one woman said in the article, and frankly, that is what it’s coming to with today’s youth. Children are losing their free time to simply be, well, children. The youth are growing up too fast and there’s too much emphasis on adult responsibilities. Fifth graders shouldn’t be worrying about college yet; they shouldn’t have to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. When asked what my fifth grade class wanted to be when we grow up, there were answers like accountant, lawyer, doctor, and engineer. Elementary school should be filled with future princesses, fire fighters, and veterinarians. There were kids in my class involved in the academic team, student technology leadership, tutoring, and soccer. That is all in addition to the rising rate of homework assigned each night. When these same kids went on to middle school there were even more groups and teams for them to join, in addition to even more homework from all seven of their classes. How anyone had friends is a mystery to me.
“An activity—whether it is studying, hitting the treadmill, drama group, community service, or one of the student groups they found and join in great numbers—is rarely an end in itself. It is a means for self-improvement, résumé-building, and enrichment. College is just one step on the continual stairway of advancement, and they are always aware that they must get to the next step (law school, medical school, whatever) so that they can progress up the steps after that.” States Brooks in his essay. And that’s honestly where the students in my school are. Each of us is competing against each other. We strive to be involved in everything, and to be the best at everything all in hopes of building the best application or résumé we can. We push ourselves harder and harder every day, even to the point where we overschedule ourselves. Sleep and friends are disregarded while homework and sports consume our lives. The life students are taught to pursue is followed and we’ll stop at nothing to achieve our goals.
In order to accomplish each goal for the day young adults have had to plan for every moment of their day. More students are walking around with agenda books, dictating what they are doing, when they are doing it, and where they are going to be. "I just had an appointment with my best friend at seven this morning," one woman said in the article, and frankly, that is what it’s coming to with today’s youth. Children are losing their free time to simply be, well, children. The youth are growing up too fast and there’s too much emphasis on adult responsibilities. Fifth graders shouldn’t be worrying about college yet; they shouldn’t have to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives. When asked what my fifth grade class wanted to be when we grow up, there were answers like accountant, lawyer, doctor, and engineer. Elementary school should be filled with future princesses, fire fighters, and veterinarians. There were kids in my class involved in the academic team, student technology leadership, tutoring, and soccer. That is all in addition to the rising rate of homework assigned each night. When these same kids went on to middle school there were even more groups and teams for them to join, in addition to even more homework from all seven of their classes. How anyone had friends is a mystery to me.
“An activity—whether it is studying, hitting the treadmill, drama group, community service, or one of the student groups they found and join in great numbers—is rarely an end in itself. It is a means for self-improvement, résumé-building, and enrichment. College is just one step on the continual stairway of advancement, and they are always aware that they must get to the next step (law school, medical school, whatever) so that they can progress up the steps after that.” States Brooks in his essay. And that’s honestly where the students in my school are. Each of us is competing against each other. We strive to be involved in everything, and to be the best at everything all in hopes of building the best application or résumé we can. We push ourselves harder and harder every day, even to the point where we overschedule ourselves. Sleep and friends are disregarded while homework and sports consume our lives. The life students are taught to pursue is followed and we’ll stop at nothing to achieve our goals.