http://www.mckenzie-pediatrics.com/shop/images/BobWelch.pdf
Just out of curiosity one day I typed into a google search--"What's wrong with parents today?" I am sure you all know what kind of day I had had that day and I think a this simple google search was better than many of the alternatives at the time! But I digress, I found the above article and it came to mind again today as we were ending our time in this course having spent what seems like so much (even though it has been so little) time dicussing the new generation 0f students and what that means to our classrooms. What about the new generation of parents? Have they changed as well? I know I think so, and my collegues seem to think so but does anyone else?
In the above article a pediatrician is discussing parents today and that some of his happiest patients come from his low-income families. Why you might wonder? Because they keep it simple, not neccesarily by choice as much as by necessity but still it is a simple life they tend to lead. The parental units whatever makeup they may be are not generally tied to their laptop and blackberries and pda's at every waking second. The kids aren't lost in their bedrooms on their playing Wii while downloading new tunes to there ipod, while talking to six friends on facebook. They are talking to each other, they are out in the yard/front street/whatever it may be playing ball, or tag, or something. They keep it simple.
Another point he made was about parents today going to the internet, the morning news, the daily talk shows, and any myriad of places for the latest greatest parenting advice, when in the past parents looked back to their parents. Previous generations were more closely knit and reliant on older generations for parenting advice, and support in some cases. Often times kids went off to college and then moved closer to home to be near family for these reasons. Today this doesn't happen as often, although it seems to be shifting back a bit. Low income families and their children may not have had these opportunities to move far away and make a new life, therefore these bonds of family and of the generation working together to parent children still exists. They are keeping it simple.
I guess my point is this--it is easy to say what is wrong with parents today, but aren't we to some extent making the same choices in our classrooms? Are we furthering the dependence on technology, and independant solitary stimulation? Are we furthering our students bad behavior that may have been created by all of the modern convenience technology offers when back to the basics and the basic way of doing things may be better? Or is this just one more obstacle we need to overcome? Are the low income students another group to be brought up while we work to push the already better off students even higher? Does class have nothing to do with any of this and I am reading to much in to a simple article?
I had a very hard time trying to decide what to write about this week, and then I went to my "being a better teacher/humor file"-- I know it seems strange that they share a folder but it is what it is--and found the article. Up until rereading it I was gungho my classroom is going to be technology central, and we will blog and twitter, and students will lead more of their learning, and, and, and...and wait a minute--now I am doing what I said earlier today was a bad plan. I cannot throw the baby out with the bath water and start over, but I don't think staying in the same place I have been is good either. I do not think all modern parents are bad, nor do I have a huge problem with families who have the income to afford some of these things. I just feel like I am caught in limbo--we all are. We want what's best for our classrooms and our students but I am not sure we have decided what that is. Are parents really any different? They get the same mixed messages we do.
So I am going to keep it simple, I will bring about change in my classroom in measurable increments that hopefully benefit my students and myself--but while I am doing that I plan on keeping on eye on the past to see if there is a way this can all work together--hey maybe if it goes well it will be me on the morning news spouting my ground breaking new idea. Or better yet, me 20ish years from now god willing talking to my kids about how I did things to help them be the adults I hope they grow into.
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Maria,
ReplyDeleteGreat idea for a blog. Somebody has finally played devil’s advocate. Technology will never replace a caring, passionate, knowledgeable teacher. Life is about balance. We need to even out work and play. The same goes for the classroom. We need to balance our learning modalities. Teacher-dominated lessons should be interspersed with student-led activities. Technology should support, not dominate, coursework. The Socratic method still works. 2,000 year old Greek idea still work today. We cannot neglect past principles that are still effective.
I am a big fan of the KISS principle. One of my coaches taught it to us and it has stuck by me every since. Money sure doesn’t buy happiness. Look at the wealthy people in therapy. Or, at the supposed lottery curse. Not that I wouldn’t want to be a guinea pig for that phenomenon.
. I have a younger brother much younger than me. I am 29 and he is 17. I can count on one hand how many times I remember him outside with his friends. I grew up playing sandlot football, basketball, and baseball. My friends were always outside playing something, ditch, or shooting the bb gun. You don’t see adults outside as much either. I moved into a house a year ago and have only met one neighbor. I am young yet, but I wish there were more people sitting in screen porches or on the stoop. Its tough to get somebody to wave to you driving down the street.
Gen Xers are now the parents. They were the latchkey kids. Left to fend for themselves after school because both parents were working. Their Boomer parents were workaholics either by choice or necessity. Women’s lib and the inflation of the 1970s and 1980s led to more women in the workplace. I am not a male chauvinist pig. I think women belong in the same positions that men do. However, there has to be more pressure on women to balance work and family. Men, too, can be much more active fathers in their children’s lives. Nonetheless, we forget that the Baby Boomers were almost always around at least one parent. They also grew up with more siblings. As a result, they grew up very independent, but also skeptical. Careers and frequent moves dislocated them from their immediate family. Xers want to figure out things for themselves.
I don’t have kids. I do agree wholeheartedly with you though. We should rely much more on family and tradition when it comes to raising and educating our youth. Anyway, that’s a social studies teachers take on your ideas. Very interesting thoughts!
Maria,
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to think about the drawbacks with technology integration in education. It can be hard to see the bad when we are excited and engaged in the process. But there is. I love technology and am in the same generation as most of our students. But I also know how to play outside in the dirt or create maps with my nieces and nephews and go on real adventures, not just virtual ones. My nieces and nephews totally prefer the real adventures. We can go home and do our virtual learning but it is just as exciting to read real books and go on walks. So I think making the conscious decision that we can provide both. Give the technology so our students, and children, can engage and succeed in education and society but also give the real opportunities for play and imagination and outdoors will provide the most balanced lives possible. Our imaginations should be strong and technology can be used to support or feed these imaginations but not be a substitute for them. Interesting ideas to keep in mind.
Maria,
ReplyDeleteWhen one gets thinking about positives technology has and all the neat things we as teachers can do with it, it is easy to lose focus of how it can also be detrimental to our society. People are becoming more and more dependent on what technology has to offer and are losing sight of what previous generations did for entertainment and information. I see my son being much more solitary than I was at his age. He likes to play online games where his friends also play, but each sitting in their own house on the computer. I was outside running around and riding my bike. As a parent, I need to start doing more to encourage him to get outside and be more social.
Arek-I too miss people sitting on the front step in the evening. We moved into our house last November and while we have met a few neighbors, the social aspect of the neighborhood is less than what I expected.
I really liked your comment about the parents looking to all types of media trying to find the newest way to raise thier child. It is very frustrating to me that people are so quick to buy into the new, improved, better way of doing things without even researching the past a little bit more. This is not just about parenting either. It absolutly drives me crazy that every year or so something comes along in education that makes what we have been doing all along look like a horrible thing. I would like to think that the teachers that taught me did a few things right. Are we still using those tactics today or have those been thrown out as well? The idea of keeping things simple is a great one. We don't always need to be seaching out the newest and most expensive ways of doing things when there are resourses available now that are so worth while. I am not talking about technology, but I just as well could be. We are advancing at such a rapid rate that it worries me that we are doing things a mile wide and an inch deep. I think we need to find some moderation in all aspects of our lives.
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