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By Dr. Harry Tennant
Monday, April 16, 2012 Education Ride 365: Squeaking About Humoring Rather Than Teaching! After the snow melted in Denver, on Day 96 I began a two day project up the road at the University of Colorado at Boulder. What a beautiful campus and city!
 Before I left my hotel each morning I enjoyed an exceptionally tasty and quality continental breakfast. One morning this breakfast was less enjoyable due to a seemingly incessant squeaky-squeaky sound like that from a child or pet toy squeezed over and over and over. On and on it went. Its source was soon evident, but the end was much slower coming.  The noise shot from a toddler's shoes. The shoes were designed to make that noise. Back and forth she paced, hand in hand with supervising family members. The contrast between the peaceful breakfast setting and the squeaky noise-making shoes seemed to bother everyone in the place.  Had the toddler just been passing through, the noise would have been almost 'cute.' Instead, the walking was a means of keeping the toddler occupied over quite a length of time. Back and forth they went.  This event really got me thinking about a complaint I've heard throughout my travels talking with citizens about the state of education in America. Specifically, too many adults are too busy humoring young people to the point that too often we are not teaching them valuable lessons central to being part of a larger community of citizens working together to live in harmony. I hear this perception a lot.  At one point the toddler's grandpa was holding her hand as they squeaked and squeaked away for more than ten minutes before I overheard him acknowledge how "annoying" the sound is to a fellow hotel quest before he smiled and stated "I just can't stand it."  It was clear that very few people in the place could stand it, but only this grandpa and his family could do anything about it. Instead, because they valued humoring the toddler more than respecting their fellow citizens eating breakfast, the noise continued.  More bothersome than the noise was the acknowledged lack of respect for fellow citizens as a concession to humoring the child. Granted, this is an isolated and limited example of what many express to me in my travels as their perception of a widespread problem in America. Are adults in America too readily humoring young people to the point of not teaching them valuable lessons about being complementary citizens, rather than an overly-independent nuisance? Are too many of us raising young people with an over-entitled freedom to do most anything short of breaking the law, even at the expense of their fellow citizens?  Educational institutions teach young people academic lessons first and foremost. To a lesser degree they teach citizenship. Increasingly our schools must teach basic citizenship because many young people are not learning these lessons where they are most appropriately learned----> at home. School should be a place to practice citizenship, not the place to re-mediate basic lessons of citizenship that were never taught at home.  I thought about this incident my whole ride to Boulder. I was discussing school discipline that day at the University of Colorado. As I rode, I remembered times I watched shows like "Nanny 911" and "Super Nanny" thinking about the difficult task my colleagues somewhere in the country would have educating children out of these homes. They were not learning the basics of citizenship where they should be learning them, at home.  I will revisit this topic in later posts. For now I'll reiterate: The University of Colorado at Boulder is an inspiring, beautiful institution! May we forever send them students who are prepared with academic readiness AND a respectable level of citizenship!  Day 96---117.9 miles traveled, 2 hours and 55 minutes of moving time, 3 hours and 7 minutes of stopped time, 40.2 miles per hour average moving time, 19.5 miles per hour overall average, and a max speed of 80.3 miles per hour. Day 97---49.27 miles traveled, 1 hour and 26 minutes of moving time, 34.2 miles per hour average moving time, and a max speed of 75.8 miles per hour. Day 98---77.71 miles traveled, 1 hour and 47 minutes of moving time, and 43.4 miles per hour average moving time. Posted at 12:30 AM Keywords: Education Ride 365 , EdClick , Cycle Of Education , Discipline , Citizenship 1 Comments |
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Harry said... I watched a TV program about bullying the other night. It was mentioned that the quickest way to make it stop is for an observer, usually a peer, to intervene when the bullying is occurring. Is the rudeness of these parents any different? Perhaps if someone could have politely suggested that the child could be entertained elsewhere or that the shoes could be removed, the inconsideration might have stopped. But what then if the parents refuse? Do you escalate? Do you verbally attack telling the parent how inconsiderate he is? I think not. Educators deal with annoying people all the time...both students and parents. What does their training recommend doing in a situation like this? Monday, April 16, 2012 3:55 PM |