Thread Drift

[rebeccaC]

You know toddlers today are just terrible. I’d call them ‘generation sociopath’….they will pull your hair, pee on themselves, their attention span is almost non-existent and they throw full bowls of cereal without even thinking of the consequences.....terrible, terrible, terrible.......

" Children today love luxury too much. They have detestable manners, flout authority; have no respect for their elders. They no longer rise when their parents and teachers enter the room. What kind of awful creatures will they be when they grow up?"
Socrates on Athenian youth….or not

perhaps it's best to learn and embrace what's positive about each generation and more importantly each person

[Crankin]

Why is it, that about once a week, my allergies act up, and I generally feel crappy? Did the nasal rinse (almost everyday), taking Nasacort, and took a Claritin. My eyes feel like sandpaper. Went for a little 11 mile hill ride this afternoon, because it was close to 70 and that just made it worse. DH is kind of the same right now, so there just may be something in the air, but I have this all of the time. Am I so delicate that I can't stand any stress or exercise? This pisses me off! I am done with allergists... shots just make me feel worse and my house is environmentally the best it could be (no carpet, etc).
I'm going to bed.

[Veronica]

" Children today love luxury too much. They have detestable manners, flout authority; have no respect for their elders. They no longer rise when their parents and teachers enter the room. What kind of awful creatures will they be when they grow up?"
Socrates on Athenian youth….or not

perhaps it's best to learn and embrace what's positive about each generation and more importantly each person

I was in the middle of teaching math yesterday - rounding decimals - and one of my students blurts out in the middle of the lesson, no hand, no waiting to be called on... "Can I go outside to fart?" You can imagine how the other ten year olds in the classroom reacted. Yeah, it would be a funny scene in a movie, not so much when I'm actually trying to teach.

I have too much data to show that children have changed in less than positive ways in the last twenty years.

Veronica

[Pax]

I think behavior is cyclical, perhaps generational. One generation is raised by autocratic parents, they rebel and raise theirs with complete free rein, who in turn raises theirs in a loving but understanding home, who feel like things would have been better with a firmer hand, who raise theirs tougher, etc. etc.

[OakLeaf]

Crankin, if you don't mind looking like you're suffering from Ebola paranoia, a mask REALLY helps me when the pollens are through the roof or when I'm going to be working with moldy mulch. If you decide to try it, get the N95 masks - the non-rated ones they sell for dust and pollen are pretty much useless IMO.

[OakLeaf]

I have too much data to show that children have changed in less than positive ways in the last twenty years.

Data, or anecdotes? Because in the 42 years my mom's been teaching, she hasn't noticed people getting "worse."

When your colleagues, or your students' parents, behave in ways that displease you, is that because of their respective ages, too?



(I might also note that going outside to fart IS the polite thing to do, most of the time. I'm reminded of when one of my 9th grade classmates asked our science teacher, "Do fish sh*t?" Sure it cracked up the class. Sure the kid seemed like he was being audacious, and sure he was embarrassed too. But he was also genuinely curious, and the teacher understood both that, and that the kid just didn't know the word "defecate" and would have been even more embarrassed to use whatever euphemism he used at home as a toddler. Yep, a kid used a 4-letter word in class! Yep, the rest of the class laughed! And the kids involved are now old enough to be your students' grandparents.)

[rebeccaC]

I have too much data to show that children have changed in less than positive ways in the last twenty years.

Veronica

I have a good friend who teaches in a tough L.A. school…..she always looks at research on how students the ages she teaches process information and she likes learning how their digital and family worlds impact them, that approach and a flexible enough teaching style helps her be effective in engaging them. She also is always looking for positive ways to help her students learn and stay engaged rather than studies that show how bad they are. That empathic, focused and positive approached is also why I like having discussions with her!!! Even though she makes less money than I do we both work long hours to do the best work we can.

[lph]

As rebeccaC pointed out, older people have always felt that younger people have too little respect for their elders. But I do think that in general young people today have less respect for authorities than before, and in many ways that's a good thing. I have a 17 year old. My impression is that this is a generation who not only feel that they have the right to stand up and be heard, but also actually know how to do so. They're vocal, used to standing in front of the class and presenting topics, they have political views that they're not afraid to discuss with adults, and they know waaaay more about the complicated world they live in than I did at 17. I'm not saying it's ok to be rude, or to think one is the center of the universe, just that being aware, vocal and ready to stand for what you believe in are good things, in a world where huge corporations spend enormous amounts of money to subtly change your opinions and actions to their benefit.
I don't doubt that this is a group that it's much more challenging to be a teacher for. I could never be one, I find it challenging enough to be a parent. But all in all I'm very impressed by teenagers today.

[Crankin]

Oak, I can't really correlate the onset of allergies with riding or other outside stuff. It just makes it worse! It always starts with me waking up feeling like I've just been run over. I have a long history of this, it's just running in shorter cycles since the end of the summer.
I'll be honest, I don't think I can go out with a mask, Ebola has nothing to do with it!
I have to go to work, it's my day to go the high school. How did I ever go to work at 6:30 AM for 30 years?????

[shootingstar]

I don't doubt that this is a group that it's much more challenging to be a teacher for. I could never be one, I find it challenging enough to be a parent. But all in all I'm very impressed by teenagers today.

Agree. But probably a mixed bag of stuff.
What is very disturbing is some strange/violent/inappropriate Internet information which children can access far more easily than we ever could in the non-Internet world. That alone can make parenting harder in terms of external influences.

By the way, I've just signed for a pilot course that our organization is offering on working with millenials in the workplace. I'm curious how they plan to handle the course content..! To me, it's just nearly as awkward as a course on working in a diverse cross-cultural workplace (another course which I didn't sign up). They are pilot..for obvious reasons: tendency to pigeonhole people in certain groups according to perceived behaviours, etc.



I

[PamNY]

Fellow cyclists on a bike ride today:

"You doing halloween candy this year?"

"Nope. Don't have any to give out. I ate it all."

And he was serious!

~~~~~

Maybe you had to be there, but that was funny.

Sounds like my kind of guy.