Are kids different than they were thirty years ago?

I owe this to Westender, who found it. And a quick plug--Westender finds all kinds of fascinating news pieces, especially on the medical front. Put his site on your favorites.

The Findlay (Ohio) Courier posed the question to several local retiring educators: are kids worse or different today than they were 30 years ago? Now this is good small town journalism. I like it.

I love being in the education business. If you read through the article you'll see why: these people are the salt of the earth. They care about kids, and they understand that whether it's 30 years ago or now, Detroit or Cleveland, Findlay or Upper Arlington, that kids are kids. You could throw a group of third graders from all parts of America into a classroom together, and despite their educational differences, they would all try to get away with stuff, and they would all become thick as thieves in a matter of days, if not hours.

A couple of excerpts below.



First grade teacher Cynthia Metzgar, and I'll bet she was a pretty good one:

"Years ago it was corporal punishment, possibly a trip to the office principal or removal from the classroom to the hallway. Today, it's more of a discussion tactic that helps the students understand and learn how to deal with their actions, ultimately leading to the ability to make better choices. The students learn early on that they are responsible for their own actions and what the consequence is going to be," she continued.

"Yes, student behavior is different today, but we handle student behavior in a different way as well. Kids are kids, and we love them just the same," Metzger pointed out.

I only disagree a little with the viewpoint I hear a lot from educators today suggesting that parent support was better in the past. I don't really agree with that although teachers (even young ones) say it all the time. I've not seen a change in my career from the standpoint of parental support. Some parents support the school and some don't. It was the same when I was a kid, and I don't think anything's changed. It's a matter of parenting styles, not a generational issue.

But discipline has changed, as Mrs. Metzgar pointed out above. It's generally more of a bureaucratic discipline (suspensions, loss of priveleges, and so on) and corporal punishment pretty well gasped its last breaths about 15 years ago. RIP.

I like what Gail Malloy had to say also:

Teaching "continues to be what it was when I started teaching 30 years ago ... the most rewarding, frustrating, challenging, time-consuming, exhausting, invigorating and important career a person could ever choose. I'm thankful that it chose me," Malloy concluded.

Go read the whole article. Very enjoyable.