We Pressurize Our Children Too Much 4/28/2004 7:27:42 PM
I'm tired of seeing stressed children! The issue I want to talk about is: are we pressurizing our children too much?
We want them to do well in school so that they can get a good job one day and have all the toys they could ever want (car, computer, stereo etc).
Our children want to do well too because we have told them how important it is to not fail.
But it is school, and it is childhood. Why are children going home from school loaded down with homework assignments that take all their time to do? Children get home from school, pull out the books and work on the maths assignment, then the music assignment, then the health assignment and then they have the revision work to do for the upcoming exams. Some children work quicker than others, some are more academically inclined than others, but I have to ask why are they having to do so much work?
Why cannot the syllabus be covered in class time at school so that t he children get to rest and play when they get home? Have we jam-packed so much stuff into the educational syllabus that it is simply not possible to get through it all? (In a decimal age, in a decimal country, why is my child learning how to multiply fractions???)
Have we reached the point where we are overwhelming our children with an unrealistic amount of work?
Is it time to take a look at what we are teaching our children and decide what is truly important and what is not? If children spend all day on school work, both at school and at home, then they get no break, and they get not time to appreciate what they are learning. Work work work, that is all they see and know. Work work work. One assignment after another and then the next week a whole new set of assignments. Do the teachers actually talk to each other and discuss who is giving what assignments out or are they so insular that they don't even consider that perhaps this week every teacher gave out assignments for their students?
It's too much, and we are creating a generation of children who are not getting the opportunity to enjoy their childhood.
Yes, the world needs doctors and lawyers, but we also need chefs, carpet layers, plumbers, mechanics, dress makers, artists, poets, shop assistants, painters, delivery truck drivers, office workers. We don't all have to be brilliant, we don't all have to score top marks in every exam we ever sit. If we do: great! If we don't: so what?
I am a writer. Of what use would a Masters in Engineering or a medical degree be to me? What would it matter if I aced every high school test I ever sat? My role has always been clear in my heart: a burning desire to write. That is who I am and that is what I do.
If my burning desire was to build bridges then that Masters in Engineering might be exactly what I needed.
We have all we need to be and do what it is that we long to be and do. Our natural inclinations and fascinations are clear indications of what we are perfectly suited for.
The only maths I need to know is: if there are six people at the dinner table, how much apple pie am I going to get?
It is vital that our children do not over-pressurize themselves, and it is vital that we stop heaping too much work and expectations onto them.
Let our children have a childhood full of laughter and play, not full of stress and homework.
