This is Aglaed Garcia, who wrote our first entry for chapter 10. Of the picture, she said,
"Apparently, I am blowing a kiss and trying to look sexy for the picture." I think you'll enjoy her entry on Elkind's final chapter.
She wrote:
In this chapter, Elkind talked about helping hurried children. He mentions that in order to help children we first need to recognize what we cannot do. “We cannot change the basic thrust of American society, for which hurrying is the accepted and valued way of life” (p.205). We also need to be able to understand children. If we cannot understand them, then we cannot help them. Instead of helping them we push them to a limit and that causes unnecessary pressure. They feel like miniature adults because they are dealing with multiple stressors.
Elkind mentions two types of contractual violation and exploitation. One is called calendar hurrying and the other one is called clock hurrying. Calendar hurrying is when we expect children to perform beyond their capabilities to make decisions. A good example of calendar hurrying is when children feel pressured by their parents to perform beyond their understanding. This reminds me when I was working with first graders in an after-school program. When I first started working with the students, I was very amazed at how advanced the students were academically. They were only in first grade and they were already learning how to add and subtract big numbers. Their vocabulary words were very advanced because some students were able to read words like wonderful, friendship, summer, and swimming. In my opinion, all the students were very bright and smart. They all had unique skills and abilities. However, according to their teacher, some of the students were behind academically. The students that were behind were pressured to perform beyond their understanding. They had extra homework assignments and sometimes were not able to play outside with their peers because they needed to complete their homework first. The students were overwhelmed and felt unhappy in school with class activities. They felt unsure and unable to perform well on certain tasks. Children at this age should not feel devastated and overwhelmed because of school. They should feel confident to explore and not be afraid to make mistakes when learning new tasks.
Clock hurrying is another type of violation and exploitation. Clock hurrying happens when we demand that children perform a task in a short period of time. It pressures them to use all their energy and finish fast. In the end they feel overwhelmed and exhausted. This reminds me of Susan, a five year old girl in the after-school program. One day, one of my students was crying because she was struggling with her homework. Since we only have 30 minutes to work on the homework, she was not able to finish on time and was devastated. She told me that her mom was going to be very angry at her for not finishing her homework. I talked to her and told her she was going to be fine, and not to worry because her mother was going to understand. However, she was still upset, and told me, “My mommy and teacher are going to be very angry at me, and they are not going to love me anymore.” She was very upset and worried about her mother’s reaction. I wanted to help and give her more time to finish her homework, but it was against the school policy. The students only had 30 minutes to work on homework. After homework I was assigned to do math and reading activities with them. Most of the parents expected that their children would be able to finish their homework in the afterschool program. Therefore, the majority of the students felt pressure to complete their homework before they went home. The problem was that they only had 30 minutes to work on homework, and some of the students are not able to complete their homework on time. Another problem was that some students rushed to finish and they ended up doing their homework wrong.
In the chapter, Elkind said that in order to help children and not make the mistake of hurrying them, we need to lower our demands and increase our support. If we are able to recognize our mistakes when working with children, we will be able to help them instead of creating stressors for them. Children have their unique skills and abilities. We just need to help them discover them.
I am sad to hear about how upset the children you work with get about school. I really agreed with the ideas you presented on calendar and clock hurrying. As you showed with your examples those both have really negative effects on children in the education system. With how we are putting pressures and time constraints on children, I wonder how many of those children will eventually just give up on school. If those constraints are essentially setting children up for failure, what will that make our society like in the future? I also agree with Elkind’s idea of lowering our demands and increasing our support. I think both of those are essential to helping hurried children and also helping to alleviate a little of the stress that children feel.
ReplyDelete-Melissa Kyhn
Aglaed, I am sad to hear that first grade children feel as much pressure in after school programs as they do in the classroom. How difficult it must be for you to witness their stress on a daily basis. I think calendar and clock hurrying are true violations of a child's ability to perform. I have also been a witness to children missing recess time in order to complete unfinished classwork or homework. It makes me wonder if the people in administration understand the necessity of play and movement for children to be able to achieve optimal cognitive performance. Taking away playtime only adds to the stress and makes the task more difficult to complete, not to mention the humiliation a child must feel by being kept in while classmates play outside. And to deal with more performance pressure after school has to be overwhelming, no wonder children cry at school. Children need time to figure problems out and make the connections in their brain without being rushed because as any college student knows stress often leads to poorer performance and retention, and the results are the same for children who are stressed.
ReplyDelete~ Annette Cipolla
Aglaed, in relation to children, I wholeheartedly agree with your examples of Elkind’s calendar hurrying, and clock hurrying. It is true, for the most part, that American culture is fast paced. We multitask; believing that the time afforded to us should not be wasted. We expect too much; of ourselves, and of society. Since we rush practically every aspect of our lives, it is not surprising that some of us bestow that mentality upon our children as well. Children are continuously thrust into situations where they are hurried because parents simply do not have the time, or the patience. While I think that this is unfortunate; it is a fact of life. It will not be easily reversed unless the rushed mentality of adults begins to decrease. I believe that this is the main problem; like Elkind said, we rush children to be like miniature adults. Adults forget that a child’s mind is developing, and can only handle so much information before it becomes detrimental. I believe that even if a child is able to learn a vast amount at an early age; the information should not be forced upon him simply because he has the potential to learn it. In doing this, I believe that it robs children of their youth. I wish adults would relate to their children the idea to their children that learning is fun; encouraging them instead of adding stress to their lives. In general, I think that society needs to slow down. I think patience and understanding are essential if children are to thrive. I think patience makes a bigger impact than hurrying a child to perform above and beyond his or her capacity. Parents need to understand that hurrying only creates an opposite outcome for their children; one that, I believe is least desirable.
ReplyDelete-Rhiana Guardado
Aglaed,
ReplyDeleteYou stated that to help children we need to understand them. I agree! This is the key to helping take unnecessary stress off of children today. We need to understand the harm stress puts on children and ways we can prevent it. I feel that many people just don’t understand the pressure they put on kids, whether it be from a parent, teacher, mentor or any other influential adult. It is sad to see kids at a young age with so much stress, like the kids in your program. Education is the answer, as well as acceptance and encouragement. When kids are understood and it is known that stress is detrimental to children’s development, caring adults will make changes in the way they, parent, teach and interact with kids.
Bobie Walker