Happily, the first grade students were coloring a heart outline red,
but my teacher didn't approve of my haphazard red crayon strokes. She
proceeded to pick up another student's heart to show how we should color
in the same direction within the lines of the drawing. A little 6-year
old's artistic inclinations squashed; I began to question my attempts.
On another day, I made jewelery out of buttons and thread and brought
them to school for "show and tell". Proudly, I displayed my creations on
a desk near the front of the classroom. My peers seemed to like my
jewelery and I felt happy. I don't recall if the teacher liked them.
What is embedded in my memory is the swat on the bottom admonishing me
for not going straight to my seat after lunch, when all I was doing was
admiring my little button jewels on the table by the door.
Children and adults alike are so very different than they were in 1958.
A teacher's pupils are not as apt to be coloring in the classroom or
showcasing homemade jewelery during "show and tell" because in 2011
teachers find it hard to schedule such free time. The first grade
teacher, while not as attentive to my feelings as she might have been,
garnered our respect. My first inclination, with bruised feelings, was
not to lash out at my teacher hurling accusations that she was mean. On
the contrary, my thoughts were to do a better job of coloring in the
lines and to obey her words, returning to my desk, without talking back.
Since my retirement five years ago, my experience while substitute
teaching, is that some children do not understand the meaning of talking back.
Angry children wanting not to be disciplined, will continue to talk
back when I've repeatedly told them not to talk back. A concept that has
sadly gone away in the realm of parenting should in my opinion be
taught to children today. Although, their parents would do good to learn the concept first.
Many children of economic letdown are too often left
alone at home with disconnected fathers and mothers who did not learn
the skill of good parenting. Their parents are tired from the business
of keeping a job, working long hours, putting food on the table and if
they have to, will steal to get it. The next generation of their
families followed the example of their parents. Those are the people
filling up our jails, teaching their children by example to disrespect
authority. Teachers are no longer revered role models. They are an
authority not to be taken seriously or to give a respectful ear to their
heeding. The misguided minds of the children is wreaking havoc on their
learning process. When students who do not understand academic concepts
on a test, they rebel against taking the test and expect teachers to
give them assistance. The children will pout, scowl, talk back and even
walk out of the classroom because they are mad. They are angry because
they didn't know how to learn their subjects and their parents didn't
know how to help them. Now they are such a disruption in the classrooms,
teachers must remove them in order to keep the rest of the class on
task.
The two stories of contrasting decades. They do not say 1958 was
better or worse than 2011. In some ways, the teachers of 1958 were not
as forgiving and loving as they should have been. Their public
reprimand or correction was not always the best way to deal with the
situation. Although, many of the children knew a better way to take
disappointment, correction, instruction without being rude or
disrespectful to persons in authority. My point is blurry as to what
exactly my message is in these stories. It is apparent that somewhere a
ball was dropped and children for generations have suffered for the
fumble. May heaven help us to correct our children in loving kindness
and teach them Jesus' way of reacting to other people in this world. This should be our prayer and action for the future of our children and grandchildren to come.
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