Good news...Bobie Walker DID do her entry for chapter 3...but when she sent it to me, she accidentally left the "c" out of csufresno in my e-mail addie, so didn't realize it hadn't arrived on my virtual doorstep when it was supposed to! But, all that has been resolved, and you can now be as impressed as I am with her entry on chapter 3 -- this is really the LAST one on chapter 3!
Here it is:
Standardized Test or Knowledge?
Chapter 3 caught my interest as a parent, for it deals with hurrying the child within the school setting. As a new parent I am already thinking ahead to school years although my kids are two years old and six months old. School is a stressful time for kids today, but should it be? I think schools today expect too much from our children and force them to be little adults rather than children.
I like the heading Elkind used: “Assembly-line learning.”Assuming that all kids learn alike and should be taught alike is a huge mistake in schools today. Standardized tests, which were introduced to schools to provide means for finding students that do not perform at the level of a “normal” student, have become the basis for curriculum today. I believe that far too many schools are teaching to the test, and focusing on overall scores. Teachers and administrators are pressured to produce high scores and transfer that pressure and stress on to their students. A very impactful quote from the book states, “Children discover very quickly that passing tests, rather than meaningful learning, is what school is all about” (p. 56). That statement cut me deep, because it is so true! I feel that my generation was subjected to this way of schooling, and still today I find myself seeking to pass classes rather than truly learn from them. I don’t want my kids to grow up hoping to pass and please, I want them to expand their minds and enjoy learning, in hopes for a more fulfilling life for their future.
The materials kids are expected to learn, as well as the responsibilities they take on, are very stressful. Add on trying to perform at high levels for their teachers, administrators and states, and you have huge stress that is detrimental to kids today. When I was younger and got my test scores back, I remember thinking they were very important, and I felt overwhelmed when my scores were lower than my friends. Today I know that those test scores are no big deal, however those test scores played a role in my life as both confidence builders and lowering my self-esteem. I don’t want my children to feel bad based on the score of a test. I don’t want them to be compared to other kids, because all kids learn at a different pace and excel in different ways. Kids should feel good and seek to better themselves through education. I want my kids to want to learn, and tests and stress will not encourage learning. Kids will be so scared to fail, that they won’t even try. That is a big fear I have for my children.
Kids are judged at an early age. Elkind talked about promotion to first grade for a diverse group of kids, with different early educational backgrounds. I agree with him when he talked about the important issue, that kids at this early age are exposed to very different lifestyles and subject matter based on their family life. It is not fair to hold kids back who don’t know subject matter they have never had the opportunity to obtain. It is important to judge kids on their ability to learn rather than what they have already learned.
This chapter was informational for me and revealed the background of why the school setting is so focused on testing. Testing should be used as a tool to help guide children’s learning, and guide teachers. Good test scores should not be the focus of teachers and administrators; their focus should be on keeping students interested in learning and helping reach healthy, realistic educational goals. Tests can’t measure potential!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Our Final Chapter 3 Entry
Here is our second and final entry on chapter 3 -- Mallory did a great job writing it, and I think you'll find it thought-provoking.
Here it is:
Chapter three of Elkind, regarding how schools hurry children, was particularly interesting to me as I hope to one day be a teacher in our public school system. I think all of us, being Child Development majors, have some sort of passion for enhancing the lives of children and providing them with knowledge. I myself hope to inspire children and teach them as much as I can while making them passionate about life.
In our school systems today, I think this hope and goal is relatively hard to achieve with schools being so industrialized and standardized. I personally went to private school from the time I was in preschool through eighth grade, so our standards and requirements were different than those in public schools; however, I was no stranger to standardized testing and meeting number goals to keep up with comparable schools.
I agree completely with Elkind in that these standardized tests not only limit the creativity and room to grow as children, but also limit the teachers. Teachers sync curriculum with each other, all use the same textbooks, give their students the same tests and are expected to produce children who learn that the ultimate goal is to score well on a test.
One huge problem I think there is with this is that, as we’ve learned in our classes, not all children think and learn the same. According to Elkind, one way this standardized system hurries children is that it ignores that children have individual learning styles and learn at different rates. Not all children learn at a specific level all at the same time, nor do standardized tests measure for all kinds of intelligence.
Not only has this “reform” of schools brought all these different types of standardized tests, but it has also added more homework, less recess, and longer school days and years have even been proposed. When I was in elementary school, I of course thought I had a ridiculous amount of homework every day, but it is nothing like the load children carry today. I was a nanny for a family for two years and was amazed at the amount of homework the two girls had every day. They would literally work on it from the moment they walked in the door until they went to bed, with a small break for an hour-long sports practice and to eat dinner. They never had time to play with their friends on weekdays or even just to have downtime to relax from the day that they spent at school doing even more schoolwork.
I agree with Elkind that tests are a stressful thing for people at any age. I still get some level of stress every time I have to take a test, and I’m in college. Putting this sort of stress on young children is not healthy. Not only do they stress about whatever number grade they get and how it compares with their peers, but they quickly learn that retaining knowledge is not what’s important: it is passing or not passing the test that truly matters in the end. My mom is a kindergarten aide at the private school I went to and I sat in on one of her classes for an observation assignment I had. I was blown away by how drastically different my memory of kindergarten was from what I observed. The funny part is that my observation was in the same room with the same teacher as when I was there in 1990, but things were completely different. My memories from that classroom included the phone booth, the dolls and dress-up clothes, sitting in a circle singing, coloring, and all things that I think are important for kids that age. However, the day I was in there, I observed children lined up on the ground, cross-legged, with bean bag lapboards to write on, taking a standardized test. I saw stress on so many five-year-olds’ faces that it made me leave so sad and discouraged in our school system. These children would get so upset, even cry if they didn’t know the answers to these questions. After all, to them, that’s what determines whether or not they are as smart as the rest of the kids in their class, right?
Children don’t need these types of pressures, nor should they be given standards to meet that may be beyond their level, or may be impossible to measure for their learning style. In general, we should not hurry our children into tasks for which they are not ready.
Here it is:
Chapter three of Elkind, regarding how schools hurry children, was particularly interesting to me as I hope to one day be a teacher in our public school system. I think all of us, being Child Development majors, have some sort of passion for enhancing the lives of children and providing them with knowledge. I myself hope to inspire children and teach them as much as I can while making them passionate about life.
In our school systems today, I think this hope and goal is relatively hard to achieve with schools being so industrialized and standardized. I personally went to private school from the time I was in preschool through eighth grade, so our standards and requirements were different than those in public schools; however, I was no stranger to standardized testing and meeting number goals to keep up with comparable schools.
I agree completely with Elkind in that these standardized tests not only limit the creativity and room to grow as children, but also limit the teachers. Teachers sync curriculum with each other, all use the same textbooks, give their students the same tests and are expected to produce children who learn that the ultimate goal is to score well on a test.
One huge problem I think there is with this is that, as we’ve learned in our classes, not all children think and learn the same. According to Elkind, one way this standardized system hurries children is that it ignores that children have individual learning styles and learn at different rates. Not all children learn at a specific level all at the same time, nor do standardized tests measure for all kinds of intelligence.
Not only has this “reform” of schools brought all these different types of standardized tests, but it has also added more homework, less recess, and longer school days and years have even been proposed. When I was in elementary school, I of course thought I had a ridiculous amount of homework every day, but it is nothing like the load children carry today. I was a nanny for a family for two years and was amazed at the amount of homework the two girls had every day. They would literally work on it from the moment they walked in the door until they went to bed, with a small break for an hour-long sports practice and to eat dinner. They never had time to play with their friends on weekdays or even just to have downtime to relax from the day that they spent at school doing even more schoolwork.
I agree with Elkind that tests are a stressful thing for people at any age. I still get some level of stress every time I have to take a test, and I’m in college. Putting this sort of stress on young children is not healthy. Not only do they stress about whatever number grade they get and how it compares with their peers, but they quickly learn that retaining knowledge is not what’s important: it is passing or not passing the test that truly matters in the end. My mom is a kindergarten aide at the private school I went to and I sat in on one of her classes for an observation assignment I had. I was blown away by how drastically different my memory of kindergarten was from what I observed. The funny part is that my observation was in the same room with the same teacher as when I was there in 1990, but things were completely different. My memories from that classroom included the phone booth, the dolls and dress-up clothes, sitting in a circle singing, coloring, and all things that I think are important for kids that age. However, the day I was in there, I observed children lined up on the ground, cross-legged, with bean bag lapboards to write on, taking a standardized test. I saw stress on so many five-year-olds’ faces that it made me leave so sad and discouraged in our school system. These children would get so upset, even cry if they didn’t know the answers to these questions. After all, to them, that’s what determines whether or not they are as smart as the rest of the kids in their class, right?
Children don’t need these types of pressures, nor should they be given standards to meet that may be beyond their level, or may be impossible to measure for their learning style. In general, we should not hurry our children into tasks for which they are not ready.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Ch. 3 - The Dynamics of Hurrying: Schools
Our newest blog entry was written by Jessica Dean, and here is what she had to say about chapter 3:
In this chapter, Elkind discussed how children are being hurried along in school by such things as standardized testing, sexual education, and developmentally inappropriate curriculum. As I was reading this chapter, I realized how school can cause children to be hurried. There were many parts in this chapter where I agreed with Elkind, and I learned many things as well. I agreed with Elkind that our schools today put a lot of pressure and stress on children to attain high academic achievements. One of the ways that they test the academic achievements of students is through standardized testing. I feel this can burden children with stress and cause them to be uneasy. For this reason, I do not agree with standardized testing due to the fact that it may not give an accurate score or reflection of what a child has learned or allow them to demonstrate what they know. For many children, they’re not able to perform well on most of the tests given. They feel burdened with a lot of stresses from their teachers and parents to do well and score high. Children may also feel test anxiety which causes them to freeze in these types of situations.
One type of standardized testing that I feel puts a lot of stress on children is the Exit exam. This test is taken only by seniors in high school. The seniors have to take this exam before they can graduate. If the students do not pass the test, they do not receive their high school diploma. I feel that this test should not keep them from graduating high school. I believe that their GPA should be the reason they do not receive a diploma. One way the Exit exam could be beneficial is by showing the schools where the students are struggling and where the students are excelling. With these types of results, they can better the students’ education. For example, in the area where children had a harder time understanding, the schools could evaluate their curriculum and make adjustments or add new programs to jump start their understanding. When I took this exam in high school, I felt a lot of pressure and anxiety while preparing and finally taking the exam. My teachers spent two weeks preparing for this exam by doing practice tests and giving us advice on how we should take the exam. I felt that if I did not pass the test, I would let down my parents and teachers, and I would be embarrassed. I agree with Elkind that the information on these standardized tests is narrow. They only test children on a few areas rather than all the forms of intelligence.
One part that caught my attention in this chapter was the section that discussed how children are required to know all the numbers and letters in kindergarten before they are able to advance to the first grade. I do not agree with this since all children are in different developmental stages. In the book, it discussed how the younger children tend to have a harder time than the older children since they do not have the same mental capacity. I agree with Elkind that social skills are more important than academic skills when it comes to being successful in the first grade.
The chapter also discussed how parents put a lot of pressure on their children to do well academically. I have been in classrooms and have talked with many children, and I have noticed that this has caused stress for many children. They feel that if they do not get an A on a test, they have failed. I feel that it is not appropriate for parents to put this pressure on the children. To me, it feels like they damage their children’s confidence level instead of helping them. For example, one day I picked up my boss’s daughter from school and she told me that she was having a hard time in math. As we arrived back at the preschool, I noticed the pressure my boss put on her daughter to do better in math. I noticed the stress it left on my boss’s daughter because of her facial expressions and the way she carried herself. I think that parents need to realize that children develop differently and that all children have their strengths and weaknesses. They should realize when children have a weakness in a certain area in academics. Parents should be empathetic towards their child’s needs.
In this chapter, Elkind discussed how children are being hurried along in school by such things as standardized testing, sexual education, and developmentally inappropriate curriculum. As I was reading this chapter, I realized how school can cause children to be hurried. There were many parts in this chapter where I agreed with Elkind, and I learned many things as well. I agreed with Elkind that our schools today put a lot of pressure and stress on children to attain high academic achievements. One of the ways that they test the academic achievements of students is through standardized testing. I feel this can burden children with stress and cause them to be uneasy. For this reason, I do not agree with standardized testing due to the fact that it may not give an accurate score or reflection of what a child has learned or allow them to demonstrate what they know. For many children, they’re not able to perform well on most of the tests given. They feel burdened with a lot of stresses from their teachers and parents to do well and score high. Children may also feel test anxiety which causes them to freeze in these types of situations.
One type of standardized testing that I feel puts a lot of stress on children is the Exit exam. This test is taken only by seniors in high school. The seniors have to take this exam before they can graduate. If the students do not pass the test, they do not receive their high school diploma. I feel that this test should not keep them from graduating high school. I believe that their GPA should be the reason they do not receive a diploma. One way the Exit exam could be beneficial is by showing the schools where the students are struggling and where the students are excelling. With these types of results, they can better the students’ education. For example, in the area where children had a harder time understanding, the schools could evaluate their curriculum and make adjustments or add new programs to jump start their understanding. When I took this exam in high school, I felt a lot of pressure and anxiety while preparing and finally taking the exam. My teachers spent two weeks preparing for this exam by doing practice tests and giving us advice on how we should take the exam. I felt that if I did not pass the test, I would let down my parents and teachers, and I would be embarrassed. I agree with Elkind that the information on these standardized tests is narrow. They only test children on a few areas rather than all the forms of intelligence.
One part that caught my attention in this chapter was the section that discussed how children are required to know all the numbers and letters in kindergarten before they are able to advance to the first grade. I do not agree with this since all children are in different developmental stages. In the book, it discussed how the younger children tend to have a harder time than the older children since they do not have the same mental capacity. I agree with Elkind that social skills are more important than academic skills when it comes to being successful in the first grade.
The chapter also discussed how parents put a lot of pressure on their children to do well academically. I have been in classrooms and have talked with many children, and I have noticed that this has caused stress for many children. They feel that if they do not get an A on a test, they have failed. I feel that it is not appropriate for parents to put this pressure on the children. To me, it feels like they damage their children’s confidence level instead of helping them. For example, one day I picked up my boss’s daughter from school and she told me that she was having a hard time in math. As we arrived back at the preschool, I noticed the pressure my boss put on her daughter to do better in math. I noticed the stress it left on my boss’s daughter because of her facial expressions and the way she carried herself. I think that parents need to realize that children develop differently and that all children have their strengths and weaknesses. They should realize when children have a weakness in a certain area in academics. Parents should be empathetic towards their child’s needs.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Some Snaps of Us
I'm guessing that all of our loyal readers would enjoy seeing what all of the authors of these great entries look like, so at our last class, I took small group pictures. I have assigned the students to small groups who work together each week in class, and I also required them to come up with a "super cool" name for their group. So here they are.
PURPLE PEOPLE EATERS
They wouldn't tell me why they named themselves this, but I'm keeping my eye on them!
Left to right: Veronica Lua, Bobie Walker, Brittany Slaven, and Shannon Nash
DESPERATE TO GRADUATE
This is an upper division class, and the majority of students are seniors who will graduate in May. This name speaks for itself, aye?!
Left to right: Erica Lucero, Ruth Tolmachoff, and Amber Martinez. Not Pictured: Melissa Sobrevilla
PRETTY-PRETTY PRINCESSES
I'm guessing that this group will be jealous to know that I'm going to Disneyland in March to help celebrate my niece's birthday -- Emma will be 4! And we'll undoubtedly run into some princesses.
Left to right: Rhiana Guardado, Lauren Burner, Sharon Vang, and Nicole Thiessen
THE BRUNETTES
No need to worry that this group isn't having fun -- there's plenty of chatter and laughing going on when they're working.
Left to right: Kasey Bigelow, Lal Koeum, Annette Cipolla, and Kristen Bergman
JAMB
This group created their name from the first letters in their first names. At this particular class, though, with two of them absent, they were "JA." Hope to see those other members back!
Left to Right: Aglaed Garcia and Jessica Nunez. Not Pictured: Melissa Kyhn and Barbara Flores
THE 20-SOME-
THINGS
Twenty years ago, I could have been in this group...
Left to right: Lauren Ducusin, Grace Wilhelm, Brittany Bonilla, and Shayna Dobbins
BAY VALLEY
510/408 vs. 559
A little friendly regional sparring here, as part of this group is from the Bay Area and part is from the Central Valley. Gotta love some healthy intergroup rivalry.
Top Left, Clockwise: Lydia Kantor, Jessica Dean, Iyare Isibor, and Rena Fields
KAZIDY'S KREW
This group gets two pictures, as we need a little more explan-
ation. In the first picture, left to right, are Manpreet Kaur and Vanessa Williams. You'll see a second picture with a third group member, Tianna Baines, who arrived after the picture was taken. A fourth group member, Mallory Melnar didn't make it to class. And the reason Tianna was late -- she's the proud new mommy of Kazidy! Hence, the group's name. How cool is that?! Tianna sent me a picture of Kazidy, but it won't load here for some reason -- wrong kind of file, I think. You can trust me, though -- she's CUTE!
So that's our class. Gotta love us!
PURPLE PEOPLE EATERS
They wouldn't tell me why they named themselves this, but I'm keeping my eye on them!
Left to right: Veronica Lua, Bobie Walker, Brittany Slaven, and Shannon Nash
DESPERATE TO GRADUATE
This is an upper division class, and the majority of students are seniors who will graduate in May. This name speaks for itself, aye?!
Left to right: Erica Lucero, Ruth Tolmachoff, and Amber Martinez. Not Pictured: Melissa Sobrevilla
PRETTY-PRETTY PRINCESSES
I'm guessing that this group will be jealous to know that I'm going to Disneyland in March to help celebrate my niece's birthday -- Emma will be 4! And we'll undoubtedly run into some princesses.
Left to right: Rhiana Guardado, Lauren Burner, Sharon Vang, and Nicole Thiessen
THE BRUNETTES
No need to worry that this group isn't having fun -- there's plenty of chatter and laughing going on when they're working.
Left to right: Kasey Bigelow, Lal Koeum, Annette Cipolla, and Kristen Bergman
JAMB
This group created their name from the first letters in their first names. At this particular class, though, with two of them absent, they were "JA." Hope to see those other members back!
Left to Right: Aglaed Garcia and Jessica Nunez. Not Pictured: Melissa Kyhn and Barbara Flores
THE 20-SOME-
THINGS
Twenty years ago, I could have been in this group...
Left to right: Lauren Ducusin, Grace Wilhelm, Brittany Bonilla, and Shayna Dobbins
BAY VALLEY
510/408 vs. 559
A little friendly regional sparring here, as part of this group is from the Bay Area and part is from the Central Valley. Gotta love some healthy intergroup rivalry.
Top Left, Clockwise: Lydia Kantor, Jessica Dean, Iyare Isibor, and Rena Fields
KAZIDY'S KREW
This group gets two pictures, as we need a little more explan-
ation. In the first picture, left to right, are Manpreet Kaur and Vanessa Williams. You'll see a second picture with a third group member, Tianna Baines, who arrived after the picture was taken. A fourth group member, Mallory Melnar didn't make it to class. And the reason Tianna was late -- she's the proud new mommy of Kazidy! Hence, the group's name. How cool is that?! Tianna sent me a picture of Kazidy, but it won't load here for some reason -- wrong kind of file, I think. You can trust me, though -- she's CUTE!
So that's our class. Gotta love us!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Our Final Chapter 2 Entry / The Dynamics of Hurrying: Parents
This is the third and final entry for chapter 2, written by Amber. I'm guessing that you'll be just as impressed as I am at the insight she's show here. Enjoy!
Amber wrote:
This chapter, for me, was a great read. Elkind confirmed all of my suspicions about how parents rush their kids into growing up. I consistently found myself thinking, “Yes, exactly,” or “Well said.” Elkind made good points confirming what I already knew, but I also learned some new things that made me reconsider previous assumptions.
I thought it was interesting when Walt Whitman was referred to in the introduction of this chapter. As I read the excerpt from Whitman’s poem, I quickly realized that it was very familiar and then I knew why. In an English class from high school, I had to rewrite this poem using childhood memories of my own in place of Whitman’s. I realized that the meaning of this poem was about how those memories of childhood helped shape me into the person I am today. Children are going to be exposed to all kinds of experiences and I think it’s imperative that they are the ones that allow them to be kids.
One of the largest reasons that Elkind gave for parents hurrying their children is stress. While there are other factors that influence the rush, stress seems to resonate within all the factors. I think this is something that is true of society. We have enormous amounts of pressure being thrust upon us from school, work, and home life. There are so many things that parents have to deal with. Some are trying to pay for food on the table and others are going through a divorce. Elkind talked about financial problems and divorce, which were obvious to me, but he also discussed how crime and violence also caused stress. I know violence is a stressor, but I didn’t think about it in the sense of parents not wanting to let their kids go outside and be free kids like in “the old days.”
Elkind explained that, instead of letting kids go outside to play, they are being enrolled in sports. I couldn’t agree more with Elkind’s suggestion that sports aren’t doing much for kids other than increasing competitiveness. I can understand motives for parents wanting their children to be involved, but children shouldn’t be learning that winning is everything.
My sister is ten and family members will sometimes ask my mom if she will play any sports or get involved in anything. These questions often come from parents whose kids have played just about every sport and who have done many other activities. My sister has played volleyball and soccer, but quit soccer when we discovered that the coach only cared about winning. Aside from this, my sister doesn’t have a packed schedule with extra curricular activities. My mom feels that when she’s ready, she will find something she loves to do and will get involved with it. My sister will often go outside and play sports and games in the front yard at home. I think it’s great that she has the freedom and time to do that without the stress of a parent pushing her. My mom has never been one to push either one of us and I’m glad she never fell victim to the parental peer pressure Elkind described.
One thing I learned from reading this chapter relates to Elkind’s view of early academics. I have noticed how much parents push their children to excel in school. Many parents want their kids to know how to read and write even before entering kindergarten. While I think this can be a bit extreme, I didn’t know that children who began reading at a time when they wanted to were much more interested in reading at an older age. I never thought there was anything wrong with teaching a child to read at a young age. I always thought that when I have children, I would teach them to read at an early age because I want them to love reading as much as I do. I didn’t think about it in terms of “forcing” it on them. I realize now that maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to wait since studies are showing how it has a better advantage.
It’s so important for parents to realize that kids need this time in their lives to be innocent, stress-free children. I’m sure all parents want the best for their kids and they want them to be successful. My favorite part of this chapter is when Elkind wrote about Mozart’s response to a composer asking him how to write a symphony. “‘But you wrote a symphony when you were eight years old.’ Without hesitation, Mozart responded, ‘Yes, that is true, but it is also true that I didn’t have to ask how.’ The point of this story, of course, is that you cannot take the exception as the rule,” (p.30). I feel that, if left to themselves, children will learn to find something they love on their own. Children don’t need adult schedules; they are too young to deal with time management, stress and difficult decision-making.
Amber wrote:
This chapter, for me, was a great read. Elkind confirmed all of my suspicions about how parents rush their kids into growing up. I consistently found myself thinking, “Yes, exactly,” or “Well said.” Elkind made good points confirming what I already knew, but I also learned some new things that made me reconsider previous assumptions.
I thought it was interesting when Walt Whitman was referred to in the introduction of this chapter. As I read the excerpt from Whitman’s poem, I quickly realized that it was very familiar and then I knew why. In an English class from high school, I had to rewrite this poem using childhood memories of my own in place of Whitman’s. I realized that the meaning of this poem was about how those memories of childhood helped shape me into the person I am today. Children are going to be exposed to all kinds of experiences and I think it’s imperative that they are the ones that allow them to be kids.
One of the largest reasons that Elkind gave for parents hurrying their children is stress. While there are other factors that influence the rush, stress seems to resonate within all the factors. I think this is something that is true of society. We have enormous amounts of pressure being thrust upon us from school, work, and home life. There are so many things that parents have to deal with. Some are trying to pay for food on the table and others are going through a divorce. Elkind talked about financial problems and divorce, which were obvious to me, but he also discussed how crime and violence also caused stress. I know violence is a stressor, but I didn’t think about it in the sense of parents not wanting to let their kids go outside and be free kids like in “the old days.”
Elkind explained that, instead of letting kids go outside to play, they are being enrolled in sports. I couldn’t agree more with Elkind’s suggestion that sports aren’t doing much for kids other than increasing competitiveness. I can understand motives for parents wanting their children to be involved, but children shouldn’t be learning that winning is everything.
My sister is ten and family members will sometimes ask my mom if she will play any sports or get involved in anything. These questions often come from parents whose kids have played just about every sport and who have done many other activities. My sister has played volleyball and soccer, but quit soccer when we discovered that the coach only cared about winning. Aside from this, my sister doesn’t have a packed schedule with extra curricular activities. My mom feels that when she’s ready, she will find something she loves to do and will get involved with it. My sister will often go outside and play sports and games in the front yard at home. I think it’s great that she has the freedom and time to do that without the stress of a parent pushing her. My mom has never been one to push either one of us and I’m glad she never fell victim to the parental peer pressure Elkind described.
One thing I learned from reading this chapter relates to Elkind’s view of early academics. I have noticed how much parents push their children to excel in school. Many parents want their kids to know how to read and write even before entering kindergarten. While I think this can be a bit extreme, I didn’t know that children who began reading at a time when they wanted to were much more interested in reading at an older age. I never thought there was anything wrong with teaching a child to read at a young age. I always thought that when I have children, I would teach them to read at an early age because I want them to love reading as much as I do. I didn’t think about it in terms of “forcing” it on them. I realize now that maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to wait since studies are showing how it has a better advantage.
It’s so important for parents to realize that kids need this time in their lives to be innocent, stress-free children. I’m sure all parents want the best for their kids and they want them to be successful. My favorite part of this chapter is when Elkind wrote about Mozart’s response to a composer asking him how to write a symphony. “‘But you wrote a symphony when you were eight years old.’ Without hesitation, Mozart responded, ‘Yes, that is true, but it is also true that I didn’t have to ask how.’ The point of this story, of course, is that you cannot take the exception as the rule,” (p.30). I feel that, if left to themselves, children will learn to find something they love on their own. Children don’t need adult schedules; they are too young to deal with time management, stress and difficult decision-making.
Another Entry on Chapter 2 / The Dynamics of Hurrying: Parents
Here is our second entry on chapter 2, written by Iyare. I don't have a childhood picture of her to share, but you might recognize her around campus. She returned from a trip to Cuba right at the beginning of the semester, and can be seen wearing t-shirts with Cuban heroes on them! I think you'll enjoy her take on chapter 2.
Iyare wrote:
I agree with Elkind that we live in a society that forces our children to adapt to the changes from the postindustrial era. This forces them to take on the role of “mini-parents” instead of their rightful role as children. . Parents don’t understand how much they’re hurting their childhood rather than nourishing it. Elkind talked about a society that is growing into a selfish, egocentric, “It’s all about me” time. We’ve pushed ourselves into the corner because of our fear, and because society is too intimidating to us.
It saddens me so much to see children raising themselves because mom wants to go out to the club with her friends, or dad wants to hang with the guys. They forget the responsibility of their children. The parent has maintained a role that was fulfilling to them before they had children. Rather than adapting that role to fit their children’s needs, they decide that they aren’t going to sacrifice their lifestyle for the sake of their children.
Then there is the other half of society that is full of single parent homes. With this on the rise there are new challenges of how one parent has to fill the void of the absent parent. In some shape or form, the child will eventually take on the role of the parent or the parent’s indirect stress. This compels them to adapt to their parent’s situation, resulting in a loss of a healthy way of developing a childhood experience.
Today we respond to the stress in our daily lives by trying to find success in our children’s activity. We see this every day, such as the dad who enrolls little Billy into baseball early so he can be the next Barry Bonds and make it to the Big Leagues. There is no automatic pressure inherent in enrolling Billy in baseball; however, when dad does this with the intention of seeing Billy become a superstar, rather than with the intention of simply facilitating his development to its greatest extent, the outcomes can turn negative. On the surface, we may just see Billy’s dad wanting him to succeed. We may not know that dad once played ball and blew out his arm, ruining his chances to make it in the professional league. And now dad wants Billy to fulfill his unrealized dreams. We need to start focusing on developing our children in a rich environment that is meant to nurture their growth rather than ours.
It seems that parents in our society have taken on a more extreme agenda of trying to insure that their children live the childhood that they – the parents – would have liked to live. They want them to become a better replica of who they were as a child. Elkind talked about how early organized sports has become the main way that parents try to prepare their children to become established athletes. Additionally, now parents are striving to put their children into drama class to become the next Brad Pitt, or in singing lessons to be the next finalist on American Idol.
I found it interesting when Elkind started to talk about children being seen as symbols. I remember as I grew up, I was the only girl among three boys and a father. Within our cultural setting, it was always the woman’s or the girl’s role to be the caretaker of the family in regards to taking care of the males’ needs. My mother worked two jobs and ran a restaurant at night. Now as you may presume, I immediately became the designated caretaker at the age of 7. I remember my mom always telling me that I had to be the mommy and be a good student for the family. It never once dawned on me that I was just a symbol of what our culture had molded women to be, which was a good “mommy” and a “good student.” My mother endured stress from work that she transformed into a burden that I had to carry, because I was the designated mother.
So why do I continue to study in an area like child development where hope and abandonment of morals is at a high?…
The reason I strive in this major the way I do is for the same reason that Elkind is urging parents to see and understand that their lives are causing their children to hurry through life. I want parents to know that it’s okay if Billy doesn’t make it to the big league. Maybe it just wasn’t his sport.
I want parents to take the time to ask our children, “What would you like to do today?”
We might be surprised to learn how many of them would tell us simple things, like, “Mom, can I play with your make-up today?” or “I want to bake cookies.” We should be encouraging our kids to do what they want to do rather than what we didn’t get a chance to do. We should follow their interests to develop their character, self-esteem, and self-confidence, because what worked for us may not necessarily work for them.
Parents of America, let us nurture and embrace what our children love. Let us resume our role as parents and allow for their passions to become our own. By embracing our role of showing them love and companionship, we subconsciously teach them how to cope with stress. They don’t understand bills, they don’t understand finances, but they do understand how to be children.
Iyare wrote:
I agree with Elkind that we live in a society that forces our children to adapt to the changes from the postindustrial era. This forces them to take on the role of “mini-parents” instead of their rightful role as children. . Parents don’t understand how much they’re hurting their childhood rather than nourishing it. Elkind talked about a society that is growing into a selfish, egocentric, “It’s all about me” time. We’ve pushed ourselves into the corner because of our fear, and because society is too intimidating to us.
It saddens me so much to see children raising themselves because mom wants to go out to the club with her friends, or dad wants to hang with the guys. They forget the responsibility of their children. The parent has maintained a role that was fulfilling to them before they had children. Rather than adapting that role to fit their children’s needs, they decide that they aren’t going to sacrifice their lifestyle for the sake of their children.
Then there is the other half of society that is full of single parent homes. With this on the rise there are new challenges of how one parent has to fill the void of the absent parent. In some shape or form, the child will eventually take on the role of the parent or the parent’s indirect stress. This compels them to adapt to their parent’s situation, resulting in a loss of a healthy way of developing a childhood experience.
Today we respond to the stress in our daily lives by trying to find success in our children’s activity. We see this every day, such as the dad who enrolls little Billy into baseball early so he can be the next Barry Bonds and make it to the Big Leagues. There is no automatic pressure inherent in enrolling Billy in baseball; however, when dad does this with the intention of seeing Billy become a superstar, rather than with the intention of simply facilitating his development to its greatest extent, the outcomes can turn negative. On the surface, we may just see Billy’s dad wanting him to succeed. We may not know that dad once played ball and blew out his arm, ruining his chances to make it in the professional league. And now dad wants Billy to fulfill his unrealized dreams. We need to start focusing on developing our children in a rich environment that is meant to nurture their growth rather than ours.
It seems that parents in our society have taken on a more extreme agenda of trying to insure that their children live the childhood that they – the parents – would have liked to live. They want them to become a better replica of who they were as a child. Elkind talked about how early organized sports has become the main way that parents try to prepare their children to become established athletes. Additionally, now parents are striving to put their children into drama class to become the next Brad Pitt, or in singing lessons to be the next finalist on American Idol.
I found it interesting when Elkind started to talk about children being seen as symbols. I remember as I grew up, I was the only girl among three boys and a father. Within our cultural setting, it was always the woman’s or the girl’s role to be the caretaker of the family in regards to taking care of the males’ needs. My mother worked two jobs and ran a restaurant at night. Now as you may presume, I immediately became the designated caretaker at the age of 7. I remember my mom always telling me that I had to be the mommy and be a good student for the family. It never once dawned on me that I was just a symbol of what our culture had molded women to be, which was a good “mommy” and a “good student.” My mother endured stress from work that she transformed into a burden that I had to carry, because I was the designated mother.
So why do I continue to study in an area like child development where hope and abandonment of morals is at a high?…
The reason I strive in this major the way I do is for the same reason that Elkind is urging parents to see and understand that their lives are causing their children to hurry through life. I want parents to know that it’s okay if Billy doesn’t make it to the big league. Maybe it just wasn’t his sport.
I want parents to take the time to ask our children, “What would you like to do today?”
We might be surprised to learn how many of them would tell us simple things, like, “Mom, can I play with your make-up today?” or “I want to bake cookies.” We should be encouraging our kids to do what they want to do rather than what we didn’t get a chance to do. We should follow their interests to develop their character, self-esteem, and self-confidence, because what worked for us may not necessarily work for them.
Parents of America, let us nurture and embrace what our children love. Let us resume our role as parents and allow for their passions to become our own. By embracing our role of showing them love and companionship, we subconsciously teach them how to cope with stress. They don’t understand bills, they don’t understand finances, but they do understand how to be children.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Chapter 2 / The Dynamics of Hurrying: Parents
This is Veronica, the author of our first entry on chapter 2. This is what she said about the picture:
"My older sister and I appear in the picture. I am the one with pink
sunglasses (the one on the right). We are not twins, but are very close
in age. She is about a year and 7 months older than I. Growing up, people would always ask us if we were twins…I guess mother was to blame for always dressing us alike."
Of course, now Veronica is a grown-up college student, and I think you'll enjoy her reflections on chapter 2. And just so you know...she turned this in FOUR days before it was due! Wow! It's only being posted now simply because I was too busy to get it posted -- my bad!
Veronica wrote:
One of the ideas that Elkind mentioned in chapter two that caught my attention is that adults and society in general, help mold children; we shape their lives day by day. This idea caught my attention because it portrays children as easily shapeable, powerless individuals giving us adults the power to affect their future in whichever way we basically want. It says that we are superior to them and they are inferior to us. Knowing that we have all this power over them should encourage us to raise happy productive citizens, but the reality is that we are not. With all the pressures to grow up quickly that we assign them, we are raising unhappy individuals that, as mentioned in the previous chapter, are thinking about suicides, drugs, drinking, etc. as a way to retaliate or cope with their everyday stressors. I don’t think that we are doing them any good by setting such high expectations and pressures to grow up quickly.
I agree with his idea that adults always expect children to adjust to their schedules. We as adults can get caught up into our daily routines, and because of our stress, forget that they too have their own things going on. Children encounter new situations everyday that cause stress in their lives, and we simply put them off because our stressors seem more important to us than theirs. I had never before thought of it this way, but it makes perfect sense now. We as adults are egocentric and just think about getting our needs met, and we simply expect them to contribute to our needs rather than us contributing to theirs. The hurried children of today are our future. How can we expect them to be less of what we are now if that is all they see from us today?
Another point that Elkind made was that parents start their children early in sports to help them become more successful later in life, and to carry on “their parents’ frustrated competitiveness in the workplace” (Page 29). I’m not too sure I agree with the idea of making your child join a sport at such an early age. If it is not inside the child to be an active sports-person, then it won’t make much of a difference at what age their parents enroll them in sports. I feel this way because a child like myself, who does not like being active or in sports, will not necessarily benefit from being enrolled in sports at any particular age. It must be very frustrating not to be heard if you are a child who is in a sport simply because your parents want you to be there. I agree with Elkind that placing your children in sports will help them acquire important social skills by meeting new children and interacting with them; they will learn to cooperate and to be competitive. But I don’t see how that would motivate them into liking the sport if it really is not their thing. This reminds me of how my older sister always wanted me to follow within her footsteps and join every single sport that she did. I felt very pressured to do so not only by her but also by my parents who wanted me to join. I did end up going to practice for a couple of those sports, but I always ended up withdrawing when I was there and quitting because it simply was not my thing. Being pressured to be there created insecurities in me rather than fostering my “self-esteem and feelings of competence” (Page 31). I wanted to be the simple, passive child that I was, not the active, outgoing, and sporty child that my sister has always been. I was fortunate enough that my parents were never too pushy and never really forced me to stay, but I can sympathize with the children that perhaps are not as fortunate as I am and are pressured to join a sport. I am not saying that joining a sport at an early age is a bad thing, not at all. On the contrary, if your child seems to really enjoy it by all means support them. Parents should stop buying into the pressures of society. They should realize that the one size fits all model is not always applicable when dealing with children.They all have their own unique personalities that should be taken into consideration when making important decisions that will inevitably impact their lives.
I really liked the idea of organizing play groups as an alternative for parents so that their kids can be safe ,use their imaginations, and have a great time as they play. Kids have a huge imagination and just about any simple prop will do to get them started. This can be very engaging and fun not only for them but also for adults. I have done this in the past with my seven-year-old brother, and it is so much fun! I truly believe that giving him the opportunity to create enhances his creativity and also increases his self-esteem. At the end of the day, experiences such as these are priceless because they allow for wonderful bonding opportunities.
I also agree that children today are being pressured to learn to read very quickly. I remember when my little brother was learning to read, and he had to keep up with the pace of the class. Sometimes he seemed very frustrated. I honestly felt bad for him. There is also pressure to learn to write, to learn to do math quickly, etc. My little brother is currently in first grade and he is already learning to multiply! I see him stressed out many times. I remember I had to learn to multiply around fourth grade. I find it too overwhelming for kids now-a-days. No wonder they sometimes wake up not wanting to go to school.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Chapter 1: Our Hurried Children
Erica Lucero is the brave soul who turned in the very first student entry. This is in response to the first chapter in the book. Way to go, Erica!
In Erica's words:
I agree with Elkind, that children need to be children. They should have the fond memories of playing outside all summer long, or going to summer camps that were just adventures without having any demands placed upon them.
I also agree that children are seen as mini-adults, and we forget that they are not developmentally ready to be adults. We put them in a lime light of sorts, before they are ready.
While reading through the chapter I often thought of my own childhood memories and about the other children who were around me. When Elkind spoke about sexual activity in adolescence, I thought back to when I was in junior high. I only knew of one girl who was sexually active, but when I talked with my brother who is 9 years younger than me, he was able to name a whole bunch of girls he knew to be sexually active in his junior high. I find this very scary. The girls or boys doing this are not thinking about what it means; they just want to do the same things as adults.
I also noticed that a lot of things that Elkind spoke about have already been mentioned to me through other classes. For example, I know in my parenting class we talked about how important it is for children to be children. And it’s important to encourage our children to play, not to just sit them in front of the television.
Another idea that we talked about in parenting is using logical consequences as punishment. I think that most adults go straight to the physical punishment (spanking) rather than taking the time to think of a logical consequence to follow the misbehavior.
I also have realized I dress my nieces and nephews in “mini-adult” clothes. I find them to be so cute, but after reading the section in the chapter about the miniature adult and the reasons why children used to be dressed only as children, it made me rethink my purchases. Children probably shouldn’t be dressed just like me, because they are not like me. I am an adult and there should be a difference in the way we look.
This really has me thinking…
The reading also makes me think a lot about the way my nieces and nephews are treated, and how we do push them to do things that they do not need to do.
I don’t think that I really disagree with anything that Elkind spoke about. I believe that we do push our children to do things that they are not ready to do - especially in today’s world. One thing that I would like to change is this idea that children need to keep advancing, and if they don’t advance as quickly as someone else then they are seen as a failure. As an adult, I don’t want to fail, but children should never feel as though they’ve failed. Failure comes with such powerful emotions, and I do not think that children should have to feel these emotions.
In Erica's words:
I agree with Elkind, that children need to be children. They should have the fond memories of playing outside all summer long, or going to summer camps that were just adventures without having any demands placed upon them.
I also agree that children are seen as mini-adults, and we forget that they are not developmentally ready to be adults. We put them in a lime light of sorts, before they are ready.
While reading through the chapter I often thought of my own childhood memories and about the other children who were around me. When Elkind spoke about sexual activity in adolescence, I thought back to when I was in junior high. I only knew of one girl who was sexually active, but when I talked with my brother who is 9 years younger than me, he was able to name a whole bunch of girls he knew to be sexually active in his junior high. I find this very scary. The girls or boys doing this are not thinking about what it means; they just want to do the same things as adults.
I also noticed that a lot of things that Elkind spoke about have already been mentioned to me through other classes. For example, I know in my parenting class we talked about how important it is for children to be children. And it’s important to encourage our children to play, not to just sit them in front of the television.
Another idea that we talked about in parenting is using logical consequences as punishment. I think that most adults go straight to the physical punishment (spanking) rather than taking the time to think of a logical consequence to follow the misbehavior.
I also have realized I dress my nieces and nephews in “mini-adult” clothes. I find them to be so cute, but after reading the section in the chapter about the miniature adult and the reasons why children used to be dressed only as children, it made me rethink my purchases. Children probably shouldn’t be dressed just like me, because they are not like me. I am an adult and there should be a difference in the way we look.
This really has me thinking…
The reading also makes me think a lot about the way my nieces and nephews are treated, and how we do push them to do things that they do not need to do.
I don’t think that I really disagree with anything that Elkind spoke about. I believe that we do push our children to do things that they are not ready to do - especially in today’s world. One thing that I would like to change is this idea that children need to keep advancing, and if they don’t advance as quickly as someone else then they are seen as a failure. As an adult, I don’t want to fail, but children should never feel as though they’ve failed. Failure comes with such powerful emotions, and I do not think that children should have to feel these emotions.
Winning the Lottery
Ok, so it's not exactly the lottery, but when I wrote Shayna to let her know that she was one of the students who won the "Name Our Class Blog" contest, she replied with a quick e-mail saying that she felt like she won the lottery. How cool is that?!
This is our little lottery winner when she was 4 or 5. You might notice that she's posing with some donuts. She wrote, "I must have loved them." Indeed.
Shayna contributed the second part of our blog's title: Elaborations on Elkind.
Grace contributed the first part: "The Hurried" Bloggers. I don't have a picture of her as a child yet, but if one makes its way into my inbox, it'll be up here, too.
I thought both of these ideas for blog titles were great alone, and even better together. So there you go!
This is our little lottery winner when she was 4 or 5. You might notice that she's posing with some donuts. She wrote, "I must have loved them." Indeed.
Shayna contributed the second part of our blog's title: Elaborations on Elkind.
Grace contributed the first part: "The Hurried" Bloggers. I don't have a picture of her as a child yet, but if one makes its way into my inbox, it'll be up here, too.
I thought both of these ideas for blog titles were great alone, and even better together. So there you go!
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