A few days ago while I was zapping through the TV channels here in the US, I came across a performance by George Carlin, the famous American stand-up comedian. I liked most –not all - his black humor on many taboo subjects, but what caught my attention as a teacher was his comments on children’s education and their upbringing. He made me look back at my childhood and compare it to that of my kids. I see today’s children as a new lost generation. They are so spoiled-rotten, and overprotected that they are almost unable to function by themselves in a world full of challenges. Our childhood was full of rich experiences of the real world but theirs is a four-wall ife.
Some people would argue that it’s safer and healthier for the kids to be protected from the dangers of the world outside. However, too much care produces kids whose maturity is delayed and who are emotionally and physically unhealthy.
Today’s kids are not given a chance to develop self-reliance. Everything in their lives is structured, planned, and organized by parents and tutors and kids are only pawns that follow directions. They are driven to school, taken to the soccer club or gym club or whatever, supervised by coaches, tutored by tutors and never given the opportunity to rely on themselves, to take the initiative, to take the risk, to take the bull by the horns as we used to do. The result we come up with at the end is crippled soft kids.
Also, most of today’s children grow up in small nuclear families, in big houses shock full of gadgets to occupy them. This is because selfish or busy - or both - parents have other fish to fry. They don’t have time to give their kids to talk with them, to share with them, and to love them. So, children are forced to stay at home and suffer the dictatorship of technology. TV, the internet, Ipods, and video games take care of the children. They teach them how to be violent, immoral, and dependent. They show them pornographic obscenities and steal their innocence. They erode their morals and values. These new surrogate mothers do nothing but undermine our children’s lives.
Besides, our kids are getting heavier and fatter because of the decrease in physical exercise and increase in caloric intake. Very few of today’s young girls and boys know how to play hopscotch, hide-and-seek, kick-the-can, and all the outdoor old games. These games not only made us sweat but also made us gain immunity and develop many physical skills.
Moreover, children growing up today are pressured to succeed. We stress good grades and high test scores. We keep hammering them with such words as “success,” “a good job,” “money,” and “future” until they become terrified, sick, tense, and hostile. We pressure the teachers who pressure the students with homework, assignments, and tutoring until the kids become pressure cookers ready to explode. And they do explode sometimes.
Last but not least, today’s children miss out on the beautiful life in the country. Many of them cannot even imagine life there. Many kids have never touched a calf, a pony, a lamb, or a chick. Many have never ridden a horse, or a donkey, or a mule… Many cannot tell the difference between marjoram and mint… An American Peace Corps volunteer friend of mine in Morocco once asked me for the meaning of the English proverb, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” I sympathize with her because she was born and grew up in a city that never sleeps, New York.
I am not following on George Carlin’s or Lenny Bruce’s, or Richard Pryor’s footsteps – and I can’t - and I am not being cynical about kids but I feel sorry for them. We think we do them a service by boxing them in by rules and regulations and by locking them in and flooding them with toys and gadgets. Even books cannot help them if they lack experience of the real world because “Books can expand our knowledge but cannot create it from scratch.” They need to take risks to grow into mature, responsible and independent adults.
Some people would argue that it’s safer and healthier for the kids to be protected from the dangers of the world outside. However, too much care produces kids whose maturity is delayed and who are emotionally and physically unhealthy.
Today’s kids are not given a chance to develop self-reliance. Everything in their lives is structured, planned, and organized by parents and tutors and kids are only pawns that follow directions. They are driven to school, taken to the soccer club or gym club or whatever, supervised by coaches, tutored by tutors and never given the opportunity to rely on themselves, to take the initiative, to take the risk, to take the bull by the horns as we used to do. The result we come up with at the end is crippled soft kids.
Also, most of today’s children grow up in small nuclear families, in big houses shock full of gadgets to occupy them. This is because selfish or busy - or both - parents have other fish to fry. They don’t have time to give their kids to talk with them, to share with them, and to love them. So, children are forced to stay at home and suffer the dictatorship of technology. TV, the internet, Ipods, and video games take care of the children. They teach them how to be violent, immoral, and dependent. They show them pornographic obscenities and steal their innocence. They erode their morals and values. These new surrogate mothers do nothing but undermine our children’s lives.
Besides, our kids are getting heavier and fatter because of the decrease in physical exercise and increase in caloric intake. Very few of today’s young girls and boys know how to play hopscotch, hide-and-seek, kick-the-can, and all the outdoor old games. These games not only made us sweat but also made us gain immunity and develop many physical skills.
Moreover, children growing up today are pressured to succeed. We stress good grades and high test scores. We keep hammering them with such words as “success,” “a good job,” “money,” and “future” until they become terrified, sick, tense, and hostile. We pressure the teachers who pressure the students with homework, assignments, and tutoring until the kids become pressure cookers ready to explode. And they do explode sometimes.
Last but not least, today’s children miss out on the beautiful life in the country. Many of them cannot even imagine life there. Many kids have never touched a calf, a pony, a lamb, or a chick. Many have never ridden a horse, or a donkey, or a mule… Many cannot tell the difference between marjoram and mint… An American Peace Corps volunteer friend of mine in Morocco once asked me for the meaning of the English proverb, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.” I sympathize with her because she was born and grew up in a city that never sleeps, New York.
I am not following on George Carlin’s or Lenny Bruce’s, or Richard Pryor’s footsteps – and I can’t - and I am not being cynical about kids but I feel sorry for them. We think we do them a service by boxing them in by rules and regulations and by locking them in and flooding them with toys and gadgets. Even books cannot help them if they lack experience of the real world because “Books can expand our knowledge but cannot create it from scratch.” They need to take risks to grow into mature, responsible and independent adults.
