After spending a few weeks at my brothers I have discovered that children are more than addicted to Wii. I don’t mean just my children either. My three year old nephew could not tear himself away from that thing. He spends his time playing Cars games and Monster Jam 4×4, which he calls Monster Jam by-by 4.
I attempted to play several games and ended up losing way more than I won. Now that doesn’t make them smarter than me, it just means they have better hand to eye coordination. Of course when you’re losing all the time and they are performing the victory dance all over the living room you feel just plain old stupid.
What I realize is that that is simply the generation our children are in. Computers and games like the Wii are so popular and a part of everyday life that they learn to do those things before learning anything else. I know thing they don’t (and not just because I’m old.) My sister in-law is younger than me and didn’t know who Benjamin Franklin was. I of course laughed at her when she said he was a president. While he was very important in the founding and development of our country he was not a president.
That is just another example of how different the education is as opposed to when I was in school. I was taught names, dates, and other information. Students today are no required to learn that information because it is at their finger tips through the internet. I had a lengthy debate with my brother over that. Can a student today truly learn the importance of an event if they can access it at any time? I once had a cousin ask me in what country did we fight the Cold War and how brutal were the battles. Really? We spent days going over the Cold War in history as well as other wars. I understand not only what happened but how it shaped who we are today. I just don’t believe that is something you can learn from reading it once off the internet.
That said doesn’t mean my children or my nephew do not know things I never could. My children are bilingual while I still struggle with proper English most of the time. My nephew attends a Christian School and knows things from the Bible that I still to this day don’t know.
What are your thoughts on the Education System today? Does it work? Are our children smarter?
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I feel like the education system can really rock… if a parent will work with them. The school can only do so much, and the same for parents.
I learned at school via text book. Lots of lectures, quizzes, etc. And I’ll be honest and say I don’t remember nearly as much as I should. History was NOT as subject I was interested in, and there was so much upheaval in the household that my parents never pushed me to focus more.
Technology isn’t always a eductions enemy. My daughter isn’t even two and she can count to five, has a HUGE vocabulary and amazing comprehension skills… All because we watch some TV. Dora, yo gabba gabba, etc. (NO sponge bob, i feel like as a parent it’s my responsibility to “filter” what technology is presented… television, video games, etc)
@Jessa Dobbs
We don’t watch Sponge Bob either. Like you I really try to filter what technology my children have access to. We have a computer just for them where we can monitor and control what they can access. Our computer has passwords that we change often so they can’t access just anything. My children have begun public school for the first time and are ahead of most in their class necause homeschool can move at a different pace. They enjoy public school better so far however.