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Fri Jul 28, 2006 5:35 am  |
Just a thought about personal discoveries & what I have read.....
My neighbour's daughter is in 3rd year university & doing very well. She is articulate, speaks intelligently & is genuinely smart. Her mom told me that the other day the young lady asked her how to address an envelope; what order to write the street, city etc. I was shocked (as was her mother) to think that she had not learned that in school 15 years ago!
My son is getting his doctorate & is a rare example of one who spells correctly (of course he IS my son  ) but I can't understand his writing for the life of me.
In this computer age, lots of kids don't "do" snail mail, they have calculators, spell check, grammar check & so on. Text messaging & such have tuned cryptic. Heck we even had to sit up straight, be clean and respectful - even learned how to walk without dragging our feet. But is it just me that can see this.
I am generalizing - not everyone is growing up like this but even my son has his own language for me & for his friends. When I read something that he has written it's like a martian has taken over his body to do it for him 
I feel another "in my day....." coming on so I will end here.
*edited* twice for spelling & grammar  & to say that kids are so very smart today in ways that I will never be. Their natural electronic & computer knowledge is incredible! |
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Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:53 am |
| I agree with you. The 'girls' at work and I often complain that things like customer service and common courtsey have seemed to disappeared. |
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Fri Jul 28, 2006 5:33 pm |
| They don't teach "life skills" like that in school. I think that those sorts of things are the parent's responsibility. I don't mean to be rude, but if that girl can't address an envelope by her 3rd year of college, she obviously has not had to take responsibility for anything in her life thus far. Which is a failure on the parent's part. |
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Sat Jul 29, 2006 3:47 am |
| I made sure that my children mailed letters of thanks for gifts & postcards to friends while on vacation. I guess I didn't think that I was teaching anything at all - it was just something for them to do on a trip & thank you's were important. So you're right. If there is a missing part of educating in school, then the parent should be on top of it and start asking alot of questions! |
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Sat Jul 29, 2006 7:20 am |
| Here is my 2 cents as someone who works in a school system not as a teacher but as a school psychologist. The number of educational objectives just in math, reading, and writing that teachers have to teach each day is incredible and overwhelming. Unfortunately, some things are pushed aside to try to meet these objectives. |
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fredinbed
New Member
 
Joined: 29 Jul 2006
Posts: 2
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Sat Jul 29, 2006 5:16 pm |
like dede said somethings have to get left out because there are so many other things that teachers are being made to focus on.
back in the day kids didn't learn to swim at school, a significant amount of the work done in the more difficult maths classes didn't exist, there was no need to make time to teach kids computer literacy, etc, etc.
feel free to tear me to bits about my poor grammar, spelling and what ever else as i am a science/math teacher not an english teacher  |
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Sun Jul 30, 2006 5:04 am |
It's terrible to have school programs (art, gym, music) cut for lack of funds or for any reason. To make teachers try to teach anything in rooms that overflow is a shame. Young people are the future & will be "in charge" when we are old and grey! Of course we would want the smartest and best in everyway to represent our countries and to do the right things. Why do schools get the cuts when they ought to be getting the bulk - not taxes going towards alot of the other stuff that it does!
Enough said by me. I just get bothered thinking some days. Here's to teachers & assistants, role models, mentors, volunteers, kids that are smart & kids that are trying their best to be their best. (And BTW all kids are smart, aren't they - some just need the right help & direction) |
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Sun Jul 30, 2006 4:14 pm |
| cloud_9 wrote: |
| They don't teach "life skills" like that in school. I think that those sorts of things are the parent's responsibility. I don't mean to be rude, but if that girl can't address an envelope by her 3rd year of college, she obviously has not had to take responsibility for anything in her life thus far. Which is a failure on the parent's part. |
I want to address this, because it's something I see a lot in forums where discussions like these spill over in debate territory.
I do not think that parents have to be responsible for everything, much less pushing their kids in the right direction so they know how to address an envelope by themselves...
There's a point when children have to do things on their own. It isn't a parent's fault if their child or young adult isn't office-savvy. If that girl wanted to know how to address an envelope, she could damn well find out on her own But I'm afraid if I continue this discussion, I'll be seen as a hypocrite as I am of course, the princess of my family... |
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Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:18 pm |
| FrevaKZ wrote: |
| cloud_9 wrote: |
| They don't teach "life skills" like that in school. I think that those sorts of things are the parent's responsibility. I don't mean to be rude, but if that girl can't address an envelope by her 3rd year of college, she obviously has not had to take responsibility for anything in her life thus far. Which is a failure on the parent's part. |
I want to address this, because it's something I see a lot in forums where discussions like these spill over in debate territory.
I do not think that parents have to be responsible for everything, much less pushing their kids in the right direction so they know how to address an envelope by themselves...
There's a point when children have to do things on their own. It isn't a parent's fault if their child or young adult isn't office-savvy. If that girl wanted to know how to address an envelope, she could damn well find out on her own But I'm afraid if I continue this discussion, I'll be seen as a hypocrite as I am of course, the princess of my family... |
What I was saying was that if this girl has gotten to the point of her third year in college and has never had to address an envelope before, she must have never sent a thank you note or paid a bill or even opened her own mail. That seems irresponsible. I think it is a parent's responsibility to prepare their children to be able to function in the real world. That includes being able to address an envelope. I'm not saying she needs to be able to work a spreadsheet or whatever else you mean by office savvy, but addressing an envelope is common knowledge stuff. |
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Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:01 am |
| Well if it's common knowledge stuff, all she has to do is ask a teacher. Any ten, fourteen, or eighteen year old (for example) is capable of doing that on their own. |
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Tue Aug 01, 2006 2:13 am |
I wasn't going to post on this thread but then I decided to. I am a teacher ands am currently studying for my master's in Education and Pedaegogical Studies. I feel that in our modern times, life has become far more fast paced and demanding. Just like others have increased deadlines and greater pressure at their work so do teachers have in the classrooms. Sadly, I feel that many parents have this notion that teachers should be able to keep up with larger class sizes and fewer resources and still be able to teach the basics plus a growing curriculum (two foreign languages now instead of one, computers, multi media, techonology) that makes it difficult to devot time to all the subjects. We are also no longer just educators we are counselors, referees, tutors and so on. The expectation that many parents have of teachers is not realistic. I try my utmost with my students. They even have my mobile phone number to call me with homework questions. I too myself am studying but this is in the evenings. When I come home from work I grade papers, plan lessons, and devise tests. This on top of the work that I have studying myself. Yes, I chose this because I want to teach upper secondary school later on but I don't think that it's realistic or fair for some parents to put pressure on teachers to teach things to children that ought to be taught at home! I don't think that it should be my duty to teach a child to be polite to others, or to do their homework, or to read assignments. It is the parents job at home to make sure that these are done. My parents sure did this with me. Maybe a good idea at the start of each school year would be to sit with the parents and go over a list of what the teachers are expected to teach, and also what the parents are expected to teach/do at home. It would certainly clear up confusion later on. Unfortunately most schools don't do this. We do have teacher-parent meetings 4 times a year to discuss what the students are learning and such and how they are doing. What strikes me though is that often the parents who complain the most (about the teachers/school) and have children that behave the worst are usually the parents who do not attend these meetings very often if at all.
I feel that in today's age addressing a letter should be taught at home. Since we have so much else to teach in class now (computers and technology) we don't have time to teach letter writing or envelope addressing. Back when I attended school they did do this but then again computers weren't commonplace and it wasn't a required subject in school either.
Sorry if I sound angry, I'm really not.  |
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