The problem isn't the kids themselves. The education system is failing them. The root of the problem is less obvious than 'kids these days are too distracted by phones and TV'. The root of the problem is the entire industry we've built upon the current school system and how the system conflicts with the way that children and adults alike naturally learn.
With curiosity.
Schools don't care about catering to our curiosity, they care about standardised tests, generating jobs and keeping kids busy while parents work. Curiosity comes in maybe 9th, 10th place in the list of priorities that they deal with. This is why homeschooling is witnessing a resurgence over the last 20 years because parents are beginning to realize that they are sending their children off to school to learn how to do school, rather than learning anything of value.
Of course many kids do very well in school environments and many enjoy it, and find that their potentials are reached. As with everything in life, there is no one fits all approach. However, it is proven that children and teenagers who are given the opportunity to learn outside a school environment fare better than their schooled counterparts, enroll in universities earlier, are more driven in the workplace and are favoured by employers for the simple fact that they tend to show more initiative. They aren't as lulled as their schooled peers, because they have been given the chance to discover themselves without the pressures of bells, tests, bullies and other kids. Regardless of what many people believe, we don't need schools to learn, it just happens that our cultures have adopted them due to the industrial revolution requiring a skilled workforce, and they have dug their roots in deep into the social psyche ever since.
The only way I can see an improvement when it comes to this is by forcing schools to change how they teach our children. Scrap tests that require you memorize a list of numbers and dates and names. Introduce more flexible classrooms where students are encouraged to work together to solve problems, using whatever available tools at their disposal to retrieve information (the internet, libraries, people). Incorporate the learning experience more into greater society. Have kids working in real shops, performing tasks in real jobs that get them life experience that cannot be taught inside a school. This is what kids need. They need to be stimulated and trusted by adults to perform as productive members of society.
That is how it used to be before we shoved them all in a building together closed off from the rest of the world.
With curiosity.
Schools don't care about catering to our curiosity, they care about standardised tests, generating jobs and keeping kids busy while parents work. Curiosity comes in maybe 9th, 10th place in the list of priorities that they deal with. This is why homeschooling is witnessing a resurgence over the last 20 years because parents are beginning to realize that they are sending their children off to school to learn how to do school, rather than learning anything of value.
Of course many kids do very well in school environments and many enjoy it, and find that their potentials are reached. As with everything in life, there is no one fits all approach. However, it is proven that children and teenagers who are given the opportunity to learn outside a school environment fare better than their schooled counterparts, enroll in universities earlier, are more driven in the workplace and are favoured by employers for the simple fact that they tend to show more initiative. They aren't as lulled as their schooled peers, because they have been given the chance to discover themselves without the pressures of bells, tests, bullies and other kids. Regardless of what many people believe, we don't need schools to learn, it just happens that our cultures have adopted them due to the industrial revolution requiring a skilled workforce, and they have dug their roots in deep into the social psyche ever since.
The only way I can see an improvement when it comes to this is by forcing schools to change how they teach our children. Scrap tests that require you memorize a list of numbers and dates and names. Introduce more flexible classrooms where students are encouraged to work together to solve problems, using whatever available tools at their disposal to retrieve information (the internet, libraries, people). Incorporate the learning experience more into greater society. Have kids working in real shops, performing tasks in real jobs that get them life experience that cannot be taught inside a school. This is what kids need. They need to be stimulated and trusted by adults to perform as productive members of society.
That is how it used to be before we shoved them all in a building together closed off from the rest of the world.
