Parents, the new era of American sedentary lifestyle is upon us. Another trend in this era is the behavioral controversies with children in our streets and in the schools. The combination of the two have the potential for creating an unfortunately large number of unhealthy under achiever children for generations to come. It is not a pleasurable thought, but the trend has already been set. Schools in the United States have been increasingly sliding down the academic latter over the past twenty years. That does not mean there are not alternatives however parents are too willing to contribute to this trend setting phenomenon. The social norms are changing and it is quit noticeable in our schools, department stores, and on our city streets. Children are learning too much of the wrong lessons and not enough of the “golden rules” which were instilled in generations of the past.
Children’s behavior at home, in public places, and at schools have unfortunately changed the major focus of the educational process in our schools. The unfortunate results are painfully clear with teachers and administrators taking on more of parental, social worker, and disciplinarian roles, (for which they are under staffed and unequipped to do) rather than teaching what children need to know to move on to the next grade level. The social promotion has virtually held back other children whose potential is stunted by too many classroom disruptions and focusing on combating bullying.
It was not surprising to learn that children of such young impressionable ages watch television programs like Jerry Springer and Girl Friends. Springer is notorious for sexual promiscuity and family/friend violence and Girl Friends is an adult sitcom about adult relationships. Both programs are not suitable for young teens, but yet children in elementary schools have been exposed to those and similar programs.
Health wise, it is clearly documented that children are less healthy now than they were such a few short generations ago. Physical education and sports programs are diminishing in schools (for lack of funding), and even less schoolyard playtime also contributes to children’s declining activity level. This trend represents a major concern to the healthcare systems of the future to result in unhealthy or unavailable workers for the future. This will eventually overtax the already over used social security insurance program (SSI) by increasing the number of disabled workers.
The only way to change these trends is for parents to step up and be less tolerable about giving in to children’s bad behavior and lack of physical activity. It starts early at home and at the first signs of misbehavior in school, and disrespectful “answering back” responses.
At St. Augustine High School in New Orleans, students themselves voted to keep coporal punishment in their school. That is the way schools handled severe disciplinary problems in the past but most public schools are no longer allowed to take such actions. However corparal punishment is supposidly still on the books in Louisiana it is not practiced in New Orleans area schools. If parents do not want their children disciplined in schools they need to send disciplined children to school. Keep Examining for future updates.
