General Information
Too Much Structure, Not Enough Freedom
Christopher L. Doyle
Ask a teenager whether she thinks she will grow up to lead a free life. The answer you get may surprise you. The vast majority of my students are pessimistic about freedom.
They have a hard time imagining it because they have little firsthand experience with freedom. This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone over 40 (like me) who can compare his own childhood and its relative lack of structure to the descriptions my students provide of their lives. Most see themselves as overworked, stressed, and overregulated.
Perhaps the precise word is over-prescribed. Kids today have less time to play on their own outside the rules and supervision of adult coaches, teachers, and minders. Their educations are increasingly geared to standardized test mastery. Several pedagogical tools of choice, such as PowerPoint and rubrics, list in detail what to know, how to think, what actions to take.
This over-prescription has health consequences. Kids specialize in sports earlier, and suffer dramatically rising rates of overuse injuries. As surgeons see student athletes with their third ACL tear, so family doctors are diagnosing unprecedented numbers of kids with stress, attention-deficit, and depression disorders, and they are prescribing medication at record rates. Last year, a national council of pediatricians announced that kids suffer from play deficit.
Over-prescription also contributes to a deficit of self-awareness. When I ask students in my classes to research topics derived from their own interests, they often struggle. When I ask why, the standard response is "we don't ever get assignments like this."
The most telling answer came from an academically successful, popular, and athletic young woman: "I don't even know what I'm interested in, how pathetic is that?"
Over-prescription impedes self-knowledge and kills freedom.
Some people see this regimentation as positive. They claim that to remain economically competitive, American kids must develop the same discipline as counterparts in India or China. They also believe that too many kids "lack structure," especially the urban poor. Reality demands more prescription, they conclude.
Downplaying the physical and emotional fallout of more "structure," this logic also ignores deep strains of culture and history. Americans idealize freedom. We consider its export a noble military goal, and we pay homage to characters real and fictitious who embody it. Freedom is the essence of our exceptionalism.
But when a civic ideal is dramatically out of step with kids' experiences, we send a brutally mixed message. We shouldn't blame kids for becoming apathetic, cynical, or angry when they notice. Locking them down ever more tightly seems unlikely to provide good practice for what, I presume, we would like them to become: free and responsible adults.
I often hear parents and teachers admit the new norms of childhood are troubling. In the next breath, they are likely to say they feel powerless to resist. I urge them to reconsider. We do not acquiesce passively to other societal ills that adversely affect kids: illicit drugs,
By standing up for students' freedom you will be modeling the very attribute you wish to cultivate.
Christopher L. Doyle teaches history at Farmington High School, Connecticut. doylec@fpsct.org
Here are some tips on how to talk about good internet habits with your children.
Start the conversation at the dinner table. This is an important discussion and the whole family should be involved.
Ask your child what he/she does online, what sites he/she visits, and who he/she talks to. If your child gets defensive about his/her online activities, remind him/her that he/she is not in trouble. you just want him/her to be safe on the internet.
Ask your child if he/she is a member of any social networking sites. Does he/she have a blog? What sort of things does he/she post?
Does your child use AIM or another instant messaging program? What's his/her screen name? Who does he/she talk to?
Now, sit down at the computer with your child. Ask him/her to show you any sites he/she visits regularly. Make sure the content is appropriate for your child.
Ask your child to show you his/her blog and his/her profile on any social networking site he/she is a member of. Review with him/her the rules about what is appropriate to post in such public forum.
Go over your child's friends list and instant messaging buddy list. Ask your child if he/she personally knows each person and how he/she met them. If he/she doesn't know them in the real world or can't supply a first and last name, they should be deleted.
Depending on your child's age, you might consider asking them for their usernames and passwords to their email and blogs so that you can monitor what they put online.
Without your child present, review the internet browser history to see if your child has been frequenting inappropriate sites without your knowledge. Consider installing an internet filter or parental control program. These programs will restrict the websites your child can access.
Lay down firm rules for internet use. Place the family computer in a public area of the house. Do not let your child use the internet late at night.
Remember you are the parent. Be straightforward with your child. While he/she may not be happy at the curtailment of his/her internet activities, remind him/her they are there to protect his safety.
SocialSafety.org