Shining Thru

I’m not sure where the younger generation is headed, but it doesn’t look good.  Legislators keep trying to increase the curriculum and make everything look good on paper, but what it’s actually doing is forcing kids to give up.  No child left behind is plowing students over by trying to make them keep up with some made up standards by politicians that have never been inside a classroom, other than as a student.  I saw in the news that another student brought another gun to school….I think that it is so sad that we have to worry about such things.  As always the comments on the article were much more interesting that the article itself…people say all sorts of things from where are the parents, to that school is for the trash of the district anyway…Even if it is an alternative school how can we possible call children trash….Schools have a lot of issues these days and it scares me to think that these are the people of the generation that are suppose to be running things in the future.  If we don’t get it together and start worrying about the right issues I don’t understand how we expect improvements. What good are nice looking standardized test scores in the records office if children are running around on the streets or bringing the streets to the schools.  I don’t think that we realize all of the time what kind of issues are in the homes for the young people today, but I also don’t think that we should be making excuses for anyone, I think that the first step to having any real improvement is to hold people responsible for their own actions.

What are we teaching the younger generation when you can see a 15 year old throw a full out temper tantrum with stopping feet and slamming of doors?  What have we done to make that seem like it is ok past the age of 2.  We should be breaking our kids of that habit when they are 2 not when they are 20 and get fired from numerous jobs and end up on welfare because they can’t deal with things that happen in their work place, or when they don’t agree with their boss.  What are we teaching younger kids for them to think that if they stomp around, yell, or be rude and think that it will help them in any sort of way.  A teenager is way too old to be acting childish and not communicating like a young adult.  And yet it seems like more and more young adults are not maturing like they once did.  It seems like they are interested in things that are way beyond what they are ready for and try to be too much of an adult while still acting childish in their behaviors.  I know that the teenage years are hard for most people, but there comes a point when we need to realize that as a society we are failing to raise these young people in a way that will make them responsible and mature adults.  It’s the “gimme” generation.  Too many of our young people think that they are entitled to things that they have not earned and if they are not given what they want then they have the right to complain, yell, stomp, and be rude as if they had something to be offended over.  If parents don’t begin to raise their kids the way they need to as a parent instead of as a friend, they these problems will continue to grow.

I think our society is creating a lazy generation in the younger generation, both physically and mentally….but how has this happened?  Who’s “fault” is it that our kids complain about having to walk up stairs and aren’t able to take the elevator, or have to pick up their own mess, or be responsible for their own things and keeping track of them.  It also amazes me how the younger generation cannot seem to retain information, or carry it over from one class period to another….but who do we blame…is it any one’s fault? 

Why does there seem to be a whole category of reality TV shows that are devoted to showing how parents have screwed up their children?  Things like “World’s Strictest Parents” or “Supper Nanny” or “Nanny 911″  Seem to be making a killing in the world of reality TV shows…..when did parents stop parenting, when did parents decide that they needed to be more of a friend instead of a parent?  When did it become OK to disrespect your parents or take advantage of the things that your parents provide for you?  When did it become OK to not be grateful but always wanting more and whining about everything?

Was it when both parents had to start working in our economy?  Was it when technology became available to enough families that it replaced family time and babysitters?  What makes some of these people think that they owe their kids the right to be disrespectful, rude, selfish and lazy?  What is wrong with kids having to do chores or earn what they get?  Instead it seems like the younger generation as a whole seems to think that they are entitled to things and seem to expect things that they haven’t earned or even attempted to earn. 

I’m not sure when working hard became a bad thing and now everyone just expects things and seem to think that the things will just appear instead of someone having to work for them….I wonder how many teenagers today understand how much their parents pay for their cell phone, cable, Internet, etc…..

How can we change our kids back to the values of hard work and feeling proud that they worked hard for what they have instead of teaching them to look for the quick and easy way?  I really think that our society is slipping quickly downhill and this laziness and expectancy is only going to transfer into adult hood, if not with this generation, then with their kids when the kids today are raising their kids the way that they were taught by their parents.  I think that our society needs to be careful before we dig ourselves a hole that we cannot get out of….eventually there will not be anybody left that knows how to work hard to provide for all of these expectant people.

I think that we have sold the younger generation short by telling them that they can do anything and become anyone that they want to be.  We make them feel like they are entitled to whatever they want, which is only limited by their imaginations.  there is nothing wrong with wanting our kids to be more successful than us, but to make that happen.  I think we need to introduce them to reality instead of only letting them dream.  Dreams are not bad things, but if the youth of today has never had to work hard for anything and don’t know how to make a plan to achieve a goal, if they simply expect things to happen then those dreams will never be reality.  No matter how hard they wish for and blame the world for their problems, if they were never taught responsibility and hard work, they will end up with nothing. 

I don’t think it’s fair that we are teaching all kids that everyone should go to college, no matter if they are inclined to academics or not.  I don’t think it’s fair that we are not encouraging our youth to follow the trades that they have a passion for and insisting that “No Child is Left Behind” and that everyone should go to college.  Maybe not everyone wants to go to college….but what is more important is that we are not preparing our youth for college because we are lowering the standards to the lowest common denominator so that No child will be left behind.  It is impossible to think that every child will always learn at the same pace as all of the others in their age group, across the country and across cultures….the only thing we are doing is setting them up for failure as a whole generation.  I’m afraid that except for the few kids who are going to work hard to get what they want despite society getting in their way, the rest of the rising generation is going to end up with nothing but empty dreams.

What has happened to the classics in our society?  Movies, books, stories……the younger generation seems to have absolutely NO appreciation for the classics.  If the movie or book, or story does not relate directly to them or is from another generation, or is in black and white, or is even hard to understand with larger vocabulary or words that are not used often in today’s slang and texting world; kids today don’t want anything to do with it.  IF an idea is challenging and you have to look for a deeper meaning or appreciation for the craft of a creative work…the kids don’t want anythign to do with it….the “Give Me” generation is catching up with our society in most things.  Kids today what things directly handed to them, no working for it, no trying to figure it out…just handed to them.  Not only are we no longer teaching our children to earn what they get, or that hard work results in something, or that there can be great satisfaction in figuring things out for yourself and solving a great problem that you have been working on for days….great satisfication in figuring out the deeper meaning of the story, and working hard and earning what you get.  We are also not providing the younger generation with the chance to feel that satisfaction of really accomplishing something.  I also feel that we are doing them a great disservice by not exposing them to the classics and letting them continue on with the brainless things that have become the “cool” things.  These kids will not be ready for college, they do not have realistic goals….There are high schoolers that want to be doctors and lawyers but refuse to do their high school classwork and some never do any homework….these kids have got to be taught that not everything is handed to them in life…they are not entitled to anything.  These kids are going to have a hard time when they enter the world beyond their parents’ house…if they ever get to that point.