We, as a culture, are still riding high on the thought that we are the epitome of modern educated society. I beg to differ, it’s hard enough being a child in this world, but when you have to deal with childish adults, it makes life much harder. Teachers are struggling with parents to get good habits into the children. We teach kids about good nutrition, and healthy snacks, mom and dad fill them with chocolate and fast food. We teach the kids proper etiquette, mom and dad undo that by swearing, being rude and shoving their self-importance around in front of the kids. We teach the kids that drugs are bad for their mind and body, mom and dad are toking it up at home. We, as adults tell our children to go outside & play, to stop sitting in front of a screen (phone, tablet, computer, or TV) and yet, what do we do? We sit staring at social media on our phones, tablets, or computers, then when we switch it off WE turn on the video games, or we read on the screen. To a child, the hypocrisy is amazing. It boils down to the old adage “Do what I say, not what I do.” I want to raise my kids better than that, don’t you?
The comment “Smart phones, dumb people” comes to mind a lot lately. Adults have stopped processing information. We are supposed to be role models for our children, and yet they are the ones who are stopping to think about the whys and the hows of the world. Remember when you had to memorize your phone number and your friend’s phone numbers? Very few adults do that now. My students still do that. People don’t process what they read anymore. I have gotten so tired of seeing these “memes” of quotes from famous people or CEOs. And if you google the article it is from, the article has nothing to do with the quote. A perfect example is a picture of Peter Brabeck (CEO of Nestle) quoting that “water is not a human right,” if you read his article in The Guardian, (http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/nestle-peter-brabeck-attitude-water-change-stewardship) he’s not stating an opinion, he’s stating a fact that he feels needs to be changed. My old high school classmates are terrible for posting things like this, and I periodically go and post the article it is originally from, not the editorial that blew it out of proportion. If students see their parents grabbing 1 quote of an article and focusing on that only, why can’t they do the same for their textbooks? Or their whole school year. Boil it down to 1 sentence.
“Well Johnny, what did you learn in grade 3?”
“Flying cats are purple”
“Great job.”
This kind of attitude does come out in students once in a while in my class, but usually we talk through the activity to make sure that the article is not boiled down, but understood as a whole.
As a teacher, I have invited my students to bring and use tablets in class. My boss was against this originally, until I explained what I was doing. I give my students digital copies of the textbook if they bring their device, and we do online educational activities near the end of the class. It teaches them that these machines are not just for games. Yes I do have a couple of kids who try to play Minecraft or the like in class, but that’s just like when we used to slip comic books inside an open textbook as kids. If you monitor them and guide them, as a teacher, as a parent, as an adult, they stop trying it. They work through activities, completely, explain what they understood from the activity, and discuss it.
Most of the world views teaching and educating as a means to benefit their kids, prepare them for the future, and as an honourable profession. Did you know there is an international teacher’s day? (October 5th in Canada, Tuesday in the first full week in May, in the USA) Students and parents give gifts or cards to express their gratitude for helping raise the young, and prepare them for the future. In North America Teachers are viewed as glorified babysitters. They have to fight to get resources, or even enough pay to survive. Any difficulties with the speed a child learns, teacher’s fault. Two quotes come to mind: in Korea they say “Father, Mother, Teacher, under god.” Which means the most important people to a child are: their parents and teachers. In Canada I have heard: “Good grades: good student, Bad grades: bad teacher” In Canada it’s apparently a lose-lose for the people who are actually educating the kids. I’m not asking for gifts or praise as an educator, but as a parent, I think we should stop vilifying the educators and give them the support they need to help our children.
Baldwins Abroad 
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