As a nation are we ruining our kids nowadays?

Question

I am 22. The world I knew ten years ago is a lot different than the one I see for twelve-year-olds today and it makes me sad.

--20% of schools have cancelled recess...yet then complain about "ADD"...does anyone consider that humans aren't meant to have 100% structure 100% of the time? No outlet=excess energy.

--4 year olds are being prescribed ADD drugs...4 YEAR OLDS. Psychaitrists say that'll cause medical and mental problems in the future...but the teachers say it's okay, so it must be!

--Schools are replacing tag, football, running, dodgeball and other games with "safer" things like "cup stacking" yet parents are complaining about obesity and no socilization skills.

--Every time a kid gets a scraped knee someone sues...then complain of schools lacking funds.

--Silent lunches have replaced silent reading. WHAT???

--Art? What art? We only have time for *real* classes! (as an artist, that one insults me greatly.)

What do you think? Add to this list please :)

Answer 1

As a kid yes, yes Internet almost ruined me, now I'm smarter, I focus in school because I realize life earlier than most kids. I see that kids are damaged by Internet, music. Now s*x is different, that started with Internet and music. I'd blame music for one thing, these kids are bowing down to these nobodys.

Answer 2

I wish I could give your question a thumbs up and vote it Best Question.

My additions to your incisive comments are:

Accelerating academics.  Children are pushed to know more, sooner, than ever before.  By the sixth grade, schools are deciding whether a child is college material.  If that decision had been made for me in sixth grade, I would not be a college graduate today.

Homework.  Five and six year olds are walking around with backpacks, hauling homework back and forth.

Finally - TESTING!  How many hours and ours of precious learning time is wasted teaching to the test, taking practice tests, and being tested? (That's where the art time goes, BTW.)  I believe this testing will be the great shame of our generation.

Answer 3

No recess really I can't believe that.. recess also teaches social skills.. they are taught by playing... and to get energy out... you can keep a young child cooped up all day they will be claimed to have "add" because they can't sit still that is crazy

Answer 4

I think there is WAY too much s*x, violence and cussing on tv.  Its very sad that nine and ten year olds know as much about s*x as I do and some even talk about doing it.  Im so scared to let my daughter watch tv. and its not just tv, its everywhere! Music, magazines, movies! Hopefully they realise what they are doing to our children and put a stop to it.

Answer 5

everything u sed is exactly right.  Children would be different without all the negativity that goes with beeing a kid/teen nowdays.

Answer 6

Our public school district has cut library, no reading library books in elementary school, and schools wonder why the reading scores are so low, I mean where is the accountability?

Answer 7

Thats why I have decide to homeschool my 15 year old son

Answer 8

I agree with you 100% it makes me sick.  My kids complain all the time about one recess and they use lunch learning for punishment for stupid things like talking in the lunch room or talking in the hall way or for not turning in a home work assignment.  and well you only go to gym class twice a week.

My daughter was litterally denied recess for a month straight because she had a hard time memorizing her times tables in the fourth grade.  kids who finished the timed test got to go to recess,  but kids who did not finish with 100% were denied recess privlages how stupid is that.  

our school does have art classes but it is like once a week.  the same art teacher goes through 3 schools.  and honestly,  they really dont do much except for draw pictures  I mean what happened to making paper beads and working with clay?  paper mache?  making christmas ornaments or building picture frames from popcicle sticks?  

You are right about people wanting to sue the school to,  My son was involved in a before school basketball program that was free he broke his arm and every one including the  hospital was like the school should help pay the bill.  excuse me?  it cost me $6,000.00  how do you take 6 grand from your kids school?  

The thing that burns me up the most, is teachers who deny children the right to use the restroom.  I mean really two bathroom breaks a day get real. especially when you tell the kids to bring a water bottle to school so they don't have to waist time going to the drinking fountain.  drink water all day and only go to the restroom twice.   And if they have to go at recess forget it  they have to hold it  poor kids.

Another complaint I have with the school system, is the fact that they push kids to fast.  My son was in fourth grade and litterally went through multiplication, fractions, division, working with decimals, and into simple algebra.  how in the heck can they think he had a solid base in any of it?

And they don't do anything at all to teach comprehention, Until a kid reaches the fourth grade?  And believe it or not my state actually fined a K- 3 school  for teaching spelling hello.

And we wonder why our children can't spell?

I don't get it really I dont.  My fourth grader was exactly 2 weeks behind my 6th grader.   The  bad part about it, is that honestly most teachers feel the same way I do.   But they have to comply with state regulations.   I honestly don't know what to do.  I have thought about home schooling but reality is,  I think kids miss out on social skills like dealing with others learning about differences in ethnic groups and religeons,  and just dealing with different personality types in general.  I may be wrong I don't know ?  I honestly think that kids need to be on their own so to speak inordor to become an individual.  instead of a carbon copy of the parents.  just my views.  

I guess it wouldn't be so bad, if you actually had time to reinforce what the kids are learning durring the school year but my fourth grader litterally had 2 hours of home work every night to do.  So making him sit down and do multiplication or division for another hour after he sat all day in school and two hours after school  well  that dosn't work out real good.

now my daughter who is in sixth grade she only had gym for 6 wks out of the school year that made me mad.  We are so concerned with the obesity rate the schools send home notes about making sure kids get out and move but you have an hours worth of home work per class.  how do they have time to get out and move?   I am very frustrated.  

And there is really such a lack of supervision at this age group.  My daughter would come home and tell me about kids sneaking into unoccupied rooms to make out.  Kids getting caught smoking pot in the restrooms  It got to the point, where I was calling the school daily to let th principle in on what was going on.  and who and where to watch really is that my job?  I mean it is but they have cameras in the hall ways and all it would take is to actually view it to know what is going on.  what happened to hall monitors?  

It seemed like when I was in school I got caught looking cross eyed.  You didn't get by with nothing.  

And another new wave is to have two teachers split a class you have one in the morning and one in the afternoon so they don't have to pay a full time teacher or give them benefits that is a bunch or c**p if you ask me.  

And you know what all prescribed ADD drugs have it clearly written not for use in children.  but they sure will pass it out like candy and make you feel like a crappy parent if you don't give it to your kid.  They tried that with my kid  because he had trouble consentrating so they said, talked to the teacher the principle their counselor and the intermediate school district took him to the doctor  he was almost five said he had problems doing his work  and was struggeling  well they didn't know I had 2 neices  and a nephew in two different schools in the same school district in kindergarten.

So I got my hands on all their work they had broght home and looked at it.  brought it all in to the principle  and let me tell you the work was like night and day  mikes work was so much more advanced  then the other two schools  classes.  and asked her to explain.   well needless to say she couldn't.

I switched his school and there was no more hassel at all.

Think twice if not three times before listening to these so called specialist.  

Ok I have wrote a book sorry but boy when I get on the subject I find it very very hard to shutup.

Answer 9

I know how my kids are and they need to be active physically alot during the day or they end up going berserk in my house.  i know my kid gets gym class once a week.  i dont think thats enough i think it should be everyday.  i have no idea how many recesses he gets a day either.  i have never heard of silent lunches or even silent reading.  

i remember in high school this one gym teacher made us play murder ball... everyone was always getting hurt bad and going to the school nurse.  

im not so pessimistic about the kids' schools, im wondering what state you are from.  im from illinois where they dont allocate much money for schools, i think we are in last place or something.  

i do wish they had more music and art and gym though.

Answer 10

I agree 100% that our nation is slowly but surely setting children up for failure! Also this may not be right on topic but I have a few other things to add to the list

--Clothes designers are making S****y clothes for children 1-12 yrs of age(and up for that matter

--Parents complain about s*x Ed classes being too graphic in school so school cuts them out and then Parents complain because their teens end up pregnant or teen dads and wonder why this happened

--s*x is in everything anymore,anywhere you look its s*x appeal(thus the outcome above)

--fashion designers making clothes for little boys that purposely sag or shirts that look like they should be dresses

--I can not believe I even saw this but they now make baby high heels(aged 0-3 months to 1 yr old)

--Parents allowing their daughters to walk outside in outfits that show off what they have(or lack there of) and 20 lbs of makeup and look the other way about it

--Internet making sites where children can meet anonymous people and then later meet in person and god only knows what happens next...(and parents allow them to go on these sites and whatnot

--Parents taking pictures for their daughters that are half naked and think its there way of being "unique"

Thats about all I can think of right now

Answer 11

I agree this world sucks!!

My dad cant even put up a swing set in our apartment complex(hes the manager) because of others being sue happy, even if a neighbor kid comes in our yard without permision and gets hurt they can sue our building. Greatly sucks for my poor 5 year old son that has nothing to play on. because of others stupidity. teach your kid some manners stay out of others yards.

I know if my kid got hurt in a yard he had no permision to be in, id have to say "deal with it no ones fault but his" no need to sue.