A recent post by fellow educator Faustin N. Weber on his blog “Catholic Educator” and a fascinating story “What Happened To Losing?” in Sunday’s (8/22/10) Boston Globe Magazine both refer to what many call “sanitizing our kids lives.”
The former post speaks of a child who is not willing to “struggle” to achieve. Self-esteem, Weber notes, is not about “being told you are great and wonderful. It’s obtained when you fight through something which is hard or challenging and come out the other side with success.”
The Boston Globe Magazine story addresses a society where scores are not kept and everyone not only wins but receives trophies merely for participating. Sooner or later competition enters into their life and many children just can’t cope.
Similar stories abound.
Recently I read where a college English professor notes that he spends 30-minutes meticulously marking each of his students’ papers in his freshman writing class. He’s attempting to improve their writing skills. Except that his students argue with him about not getting the ‘A’ they deserve because “I worked hard on that paper!”
Even George Will when discussing NYC’s mosque controversy on ABC TV’s Sunday morning show This Week With Christiane Amanpour noted “…there’s no right to go through life without your feelings being hurt.”
Are we sanitizing our children’s future? Will they have the roll up my sleeves and get dirty attitude necessary to compete in an ever more competitive global economy?
What are your thoughts?
