First day of school! Wake up! Come on. First day of school.
~Finding Nemo
Children usually start school excitedly. They might even think they’re superheroes!
But it doesn’t take long before their belief in themselves is challenged. Much has been done to public education in the name of college and career readiness. It’s difficult to understand how students continue to like learning.
Corporate reformers bemoan that children don’t learn fast enough for jobs they will face when they finish school. What jobs? We’re told no one knows. But students must start young to prepare for X jobs so America’s economy won’t suffer.
They must be tested often and early so they prove they’re on the right track. If they aren’t tested with standardized tests, they will be tested by nonstop online testing. Data will track student progress for those “whatever” jobs.
Meanwhile, we continue to hear that young people are more stressed than ever. From JAMA Pediatrics:
In the United States, suicide is a major public health concern and the second leading cause of death among youths age 10 to 18 years, persisting into early adulthood.
Many want to blame social media, and that’s certainly a concern. But what about how students are pushed to be college and career ready? From kindergarten to grade twelve students face never-ending hype that they need to work hard to get those unknown jobs of the future.
In The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, authors Lukianoff and Haidt look at the “iGen” or “internet Generation” children born around 1995. They describe overprotective parents who micromanage their children’s time.
But they also tell about schools that ignore the importance of play in critical early years, and which focus obsessively on test-taking.
One of the takeaways from the book (there are many) is that children have no time to be children. They grow into young adults (Democrats and Republicans) often raised without socializing (think about the loss of recess). They’re stressed and intolerant of other views. The authors see this as a threat to democracy.
The following myths have become policy changes perpetuated by school reformers. They have likely led to an angry, stressed-out generation forced to learn too fast.
- Preschoolers aren’t ready for kindergarten and they must be closely monitored and tracked.
- Kindergartners (the new first graders) don’t read early enough and must forfeit play to work nonstop with few, if any, breaks.
- Elementary students must skip recess, practice and pass standardized tests, and pass or be retained in third grade.
- Middle schoolers must work hard and start planning their careers.
- High school students must take as many college AP classes as possible, get classes on how to be entrepreneurs, focus on multiple pathways (because no one knows the future), be set up with outside work apprenticeships, and be college and career ready.
- College students must focus on finishing as fast as possible while incurring massive debt.
For thirty years the reforms put in place have been about making public schools more difficult, beyond what is developmentally appropriate. The claim is that students must be college and career ready.
It’s time to give our public schools back to the parents and teachers who are closest to the students. It’s time to reinvest our faith and funding in those schools, and reject the harmful policies that replace the superhero hopes and dreams of children with corporate goals and manipulation.
Resource
Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up A Generation For Failure. (New York: Penguin Press, 2018), 186-189.
Excellent as always.
Thank you.
Over he last 5+ years teachers have seen a tectonic shift in student affect. Bored, uninterested, uninspired, unimaginative, incurious, and disinterested. I blame it on the confluence of over-testing, data driven policies, constrained K to 8 curricula, USDOE/state pressure including use of VAM/SLOs, and addiction to cell phones/social media. What we are observing in the majority of students should be setting off alarm bells. The testing culture and the social distractions of the silicon age have combined to produce students who are nowhere near college and career ready. A reform fail that is ruining a generation of children with no undo button.
I’m afraid it is only going to get worse. Thanks, Rick.
As ever the marketisation paradigm is hurting our children and destroying the joy of learning. We have been suffering the same here in England.. See this article in The Guardian Newspaper.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/31/calls-for-action-over-uks-intolerable-child-mental-health-crisis
Thanks, Roger. Interesting article. If I asked someone from the social conservative branch of American thought to reflect on this, they would suggest that it is evidence of the result of a society without a spiritual guide. Society deserted God, so it is bearing the effects of such desertion. If I asked a liberitarian individualist, they would say that we have become soft because we are coddling our children.
Thank you Roger and Roy. On one hand they say children are being coddled, especially at home. But at school they are pushed to learn difficult material earlier with a focus on how they do on standardized tests and eventually mostly tech. Something’s missing.
ahh yes we just have bring in the reformers and everything will be fine, no we should end public schools, instead we will keep trying to make them better, so sad
I am a little confused by your statement. Maybe you could clarify. Thanks.
Most of these reforms have been initiated by democrats. On average a four year degree takes over five years.
Which reforms? I would argue that both parties are responsible for the problems we see in public schools. Both also push privatization. Thanks.
If I asked a libertarian individualist, they would say that we have become soft because we are coddling our children.
The authors of The Coddling of the American Mind claim to be Democrats, although most of what they describe points to problematic ideas affecting our young people that are derived by both parties. The book if I could sum it up points to “fragility” in our young people due to many factors and their unwillingness to listen to others. I don’t think they are using the word “coddling” the way you describe.
I was just talking to my wife about this the other night.
I’ve been teaching in Out-of-school-time programs for about 30 years now. One shift that really bothers me… is kids’ attitude toward school. It really hit me when I say “It’s time to head to school” and I get boo-d and have to listen to whining and complaints… from KINDERGARTENERS.
Really, I didn’t start disliking school until I hit adolescence. To hear the youngest respond this way just kills me. And it tells me we’re doing things very wrong.
I would like to elaborate on your comment regarding the shrinking recess times in school. According to the School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS), in schools that offer recess, the percentage of classes having recess after meal times went from 42.3% in 2000 to 26.2% in 2014. More frighteningly, in 2006, 96.8% of elementary schools offered recess to at least one grade level. In 2014, that figure dropped to 82.8%. These drops in recess times coincide with the NCLB and the accountability movement related to standardized testing.
Ramstetter, C., & Murray, R. (2017). Time to Play: Recognizing the Benefits of Recess. American Educator, 41(1), 17.
Thank you for this, Maya. Pretty frightening indeed. I agree that that NCLB was a major culprit in the loss of recess. Now, few school districts will return it to what it was.
I’m glad that you mentioned the loss of recess as a means of contributing to the lives of stress and isolation that today’s younger generation arguably grows up to experience at some point during (if not for the entirety of) their lifetimes. A 2009 article from the Illinois State Board of Education that was written by Barbara Pytel brings up an important point; that work breaks – even in adulthood – are needed. It was these perceptions that likely resulted in the introduction of HB2670 in Illinois in 2013, a proposal meant to amend the school code to include mandatory recess for all school children kindergarten to fifth grade. Although this particular bill was marked sine die in 2014, it’s worth noting that because most employers offer short breaks during the workday, breaks should also be expected for children in school. Children are expected to meet increasingly rigorous academic requirements (e.g. college/career readiness, standardize testing) as early as kindergarten, and in teaching them that rigorous work and high-stress environments are the ‘norm’ from young ages, they are truly being set up for stressful, irritable, and overall unhappy lives.
I appreciate your breakdown of myths-to-policy changes to illustrate why today’s younger generations are growing up frustrated and anxious. As a full-time student and employee, I can’t imagine not having short breaks throughout the day to regather thoughts. It’s amazing to me that we can expect this from children, who are still developing mentally and emotionally.
Pytel, B. (2009, December 20). Pros and cons of recess time in schools: Is recess a mere tradition or a vital piece in education? Illinois State Board of Education.
Retrieved from https://www.isbe.net/Documents/recess_pros_cons.pdf.