Kevin, where I stand kids aren't getting "dumber". It is a lifestyle shift, nutritional shift, and cultural shift. Here is one of the third grade test questions that was recently given my students: "This poem is an example of: A) Onomatopoeia, B)Alliteration C)Personification D)Rhyming prose" (It was a poem about a cat with lots of onomatopoeias). Yes, they are taught all those concepts and more. Eight and nine-year-olds. Shocking, isn't it? Tell me, did you know the difference of these concepts at eight? This is just scratching the surface. Being in the trenches over the past 29 years I have seen a dramatic change in education. I have also seen parents who are really trying to keep up with those changes, and parents who often "shoot the messenger" with blame as to the current standards. Nutritional standards have also been an issue, and kids who don't go out to play have drastically changed over the years. We have parental paranoia (and justly so) about kids going out to play. God forbid they get out of the confines of the viewing area and get snatched, or scratched, or bruised. It's easier to set a child in a cushion of safety of the great babysitter (video) than to deal with a child suffering a cut or scrape. Some of my third graders have better skills than our IT department, so I'm just not seeing this "dumbing down" thing in that area. I am seeing a health crisis though, and that is frightening.
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timeasmymeasure
Keeping up with the demands of education, not "dumbness".
Date: 2008-02-18 09:11 pm (UTC)"This poem is an example of: A) Onomatopoeia, B)Alliteration C)Personification D)Rhyming prose" (It was a poem about a cat with lots of onomatopoeias). Yes, they are taught all those concepts and more. Eight and nine-year-olds. Shocking, isn't it? Tell me, did you know the difference of these concepts at eight?
This is just scratching the surface. Being in the trenches over the past 29 years I have seen a dramatic change in education. I have also seen parents who are really trying to keep up with those changes, and parents who often "shoot the messenger" with blame as to the current standards. Nutritional standards have also been an issue, and kids who don't go out to play have drastically changed over the years. We have parental paranoia (and justly so) about kids going out to play. God forbid they get out of the confines of the viewing area and get snatched, or scratched, or bruised. It's easier to set a child in a cushion of safety of the great babysitter (video) than to deal with a child suffering a cut or scrape. Some of my third graders have better skills than our IT department, so I'm just not seeing this "dumbing down" thing in that area. I am seeing a health crisis though, and that is frightening.