Worth Reading

Schools Fail to Prepare Youngsters for Real World
-By mitchell on Education

I daresay you'll be hearing more about this from me. Schools, even very good
academic schools, fail, these days, to prepare our youngsters for the real
world. Today, let's just talk about the "self-control" issue.

Why is McDonald's being sued for selling portions of food which plaintiff's
consider "too large"? It's not because people are getting fat. It's because
people in the current generation have never been asked to exercise
self-control. This is due to over-regulation of American's lives in general
and specifically, to over-regulation of children's lives. The children,
today, are not only not encouraged to think for themselves or express
themselves, they are not even allowed to do so, at least not while on school
property.

Let me illustrate:

When my daughter was in middle school, kids wore what they wanted - cutoffs,
tank tops, tube tops, funky colors, T-shirts with expressive sayings or
promoting certain musical groups - you name it. 3 years later, by the time
she left middle school, she and her friends could no longer wear "offensive"
clothing. They couldn't wear clothes that espoused objectionable ideas or
violence.

Okay, so there is no community standard as to what constitutes
"objectionable ideas." Still, the schools were trying to bring harmony to
their little realms. Parents didn't object too strenuously. Freedom of
expression and freedom of choice were further eroded fairly quickly. Now,
with three siblings having already passed through middle school, my youngest
son is the only child yet to pass through this pubertal hell.

At an age when youngsters should be learning to trust themselves, to develop
their individuality, to learn to make decisions and live with the
consequences of those decisions - in other words, doing the work of growing
into intelligent, responsible adults ... all of his individuality,
independence, and decision-making responsibilities are being usurped and/or
quashed by the schools.

My son and his cohort are not allowed to wear expressive clothing. Children
are not allowed to wear sleeveless shirts, tank tops, or midriff-baring
shirts. They are not even allowed, as my daughter was, to paint the school
colors on their face for Spirit Week. My nephews - in public school, not
private, were eventually forced to wear uniforms. In the lunch lines, only
health foods are provided for the kids to choose from at school. The kids
may not get too excited nor run in the hallways to get to lunch. Ostensibly,
all of these measures are instituted to insure safety, equality, fairness.

But life isn't fair, it isn't always safe, some people will always be "more
equal" than others, and our children will have to learn to make choices -
good ones, hopefully, but choices - and learn to live with the consequences
of those choices. Middle school is the time to learn to make these choices.
As parents, it is our job, not to make choices for our children, but to
guide them - with a light hand, as much as possible - to help them learn to
make choices that will turn out well for them.

Big Brother will not always be there. Sometimes, our children - especially
when they grow up - will have to decide: do they really want the supersized
meal or do they want to watch their calories. Blaming others, in this case
via a lawsuit, for giving people a choice is foolishness. Don't teach our
kids to blame. Teach them to decide.

Enjoy
Chirag
:c )

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