Kids These Days

After a few weeks of substituting, I have realized that I am no longer in Kansas anymore. School aged children, from elementary age all the way up to high school, are not like they were when I was in school. Keep in mind, I graduated high school in 2000. No, these kids are different. They have less respect for their teacher, ten times more homework and technology that, though I am a 26-year-old working adult, I still can't afford.

Picture it, a science classroom filled with bright, intellegent students working on their chemistry worksheets. All is quiet except for the sound of pencils tapping on the desks to the beat of the music flowing through their earbuds. That's right. Students with iPods, much nicer than my older iPod Nano, I might add, work along to the the beat of their music. Another snapshot: in between classes, in cafeterias, even under the desk when the teacher isn't looking, students are using their Blackberry devices (yes, I'm talking 16-year-olds with Blackberries) to update their MySpace, surf the net, and of course text.

While I am aware that school is as much a social outlet and a place for students to grow and mature in that aspect of their lives, I still think it is important that students engage in the act of learning. Yet, it seems that there is a lack of desire to learn. A lack of curiosity. A lack of wonder. That's what it is. A lack of wonder.

And they don't understand that while they are goofing off, skipping class or sneaking to the bathroom for a smoke, they are affecting their future. With their present choices they're whittling away at their future choices. It makes me sad. It makes me not want to teach. It makes me want to teach.

It makes me want to say: "Look at the opportunity you have in front of you to open your mind and fill it with all sorts of things. History. Learn the mistakes of the past so that they are not repeated. Science. See the building blocks that make up all that is in this world. English. Explore the English language and experience others through stories. Learn to communicate clearly. Math. Yes, students, you will, in one way or the other, use math again. It is a fact of life."

And they don't want to be children anymore. Especially the older high school kids. They think they are adults and have it all figured out. What they don't know is that life is tough. They are going to face a point in their lives where they have to be accountable. They are going to face having to work for a living and having to pay rent and their own cellphone bills. The level of respect they have for their teachers will not fly with employers.

But with the powers that be forcing teachers to focus more on making sure students pass tests at the end of the the year instead of actually focusing on teaching them in a memorable way so that the learning sticks, perhaps the spark has left them too.

Enough of my soapbox.

Goodnight!