Youngsters are shunning books and outdoor games to spend up to six hours a day in front of a screen, a survey has revealed.
Children as young as five are turning their bedrooms into multi-media ‘hubs’ with TVs, computers, games consoles, MP3 players and mobile phones all within easy reach.
The trend triggered warnings that the next generation will struggle to compete in the adult world because they lack reading and writing skills.
my kids (8, 6 and 3) were over at my parents’ house last night with me. They got a little restless after dinner and my mom asked, should we show them a movie? (we don’t do commercial TV except for some sports on the weekend, movie is the most they get) My response was no, they’ll find something to play with. And they did…..
I am unsure, sometimes things develop in surprising ways. When mobile phones came in everyone predicted the death of writing, but no one forsaw how the youngsters would take to texting. Similarly when I consider what I thought was a well-stocked book-filled house and regular library visits, it pales compared with the huge opportunities to learn about anything one is interested in on the web. I would have loved the web as a child; I had a huge number of questions.
Probably it depends on the child and how interested they are in finding out about things. Most children are.
That kids today are illiterate is beyond doubt. However the thesis that the cause is that they are watching TV, and surfing the internet is less clear.
My childhood had far fewer books than that of the childhoods of most children today. We had much more unstructured time, but usually spent it playing outside. Less so reading, and certainly not writing.
What we did have is schools that taught us to read and write. Usually in school. We had minimal homework, but there was a great deal of writing and reading, and questions on the reading in school. I don’t remember a single child with ADD or behavior problems, despite the fact that I went to public schools in Washington DC. ADHD did not exist. Being sent to the principal who would use the paddle on you if you acted out did exist.
As noted above, I think the internet and ebooks will replace reading newspapers and regular books. My kids enjoy books. They don’t watch TV though we do have DVD player. But they mostly enjoy playing on the Internet in (supervised) kid clubs and playing in their room and outside.
It is okay how kids spend their FREE TIME. We need the schools to go back to teaching reading and writing, rather than moaning about how kids can’t read because they spend their FREE TIME watching TV.
Shari
Clueless, I agree pretty much with everything you say. That’s been pretty much my experience too.
One thing that also contributes to illiteracy is that parents don’t introduce their kids to books at home, and don’t encourage reading at home. It does make a difference.
Like you, I didn’t have a huge amount of homework in school either (today the kids are drowning in homework and aren’t learning much of anything just due to the sheer volume of work being imposed on them). Our classroom time was very efficiently used with TEACHING the actual course content, and not to a test (today I don’t know what they do in the classroom, but most teachers sure don’t teach much). Most teachers knew their subjects well and taught them well. That’s not the case today. I’ve had way too many teachers tell me they are only trained to “manage a large group of students” in teacher’s training. They don’t have a good education in general and most of them can’t even read or write well, don’t know math, history, geography, etc. It’s disgraceful.
We also had a lot of discipline in school when I was a student. Yes, straps were used. Sometimes, with stubborn and defiant kids, it’s really warranted. Also, making the kid take on extra duties, such as helping around the classroom, instead of recess time, often modified their behavior. Today you can’t discipline a child in school at all. The parents go whining to the principal, and the principal just bows to them and blames the teachers. Totally backwards, in my opinion.
Getting my son schooled has been a huge challenge for us. We homeschooled him for a few years and are just this current school year getting him back into a classroom. We feel he needs more structure to prepare him for work life when he graduates. However, I’m still on the fence as to whether we’re doing the right thing. It may not last. Only time will tell. I won’t allow the school to destroy all the morals we’ve worked so hard to teach him here at home.
He does use the internet, and does get some exposure there which we’re not approving of. However, we take away his internet time and block him from any sites we find to be unacceptable. I do, however, believe that too much time on computers, playing video games, and watching TV, is not good for any child. They are exposed to way too much non-Christian behavior, ideas, etc. I’m strict about that. We canceled all our cable TV and just watch movies we get from the library, video rentals, or purchase. We’re very strict about what we’ll let our son watch. I firmly believe in the saying “What goes in is what comes out!”
A lot of kids today are doing all these internet surfing, video game activities, etc., and get little or no exercise. It’s contributing largely to the lowering of standard health of kids today, especially obesity and the problems that come with it.
So, no, it’s not just the internet. It’s partly that, but a whole lot is wrong with the educational system, with parenting today, and a HUGE lack of morals across the board in all ages today.
#4. I agree. It is incredible how much homework the average US child has. The kids spend the entire day in school doing “hands on experiential learning” that does not teach them a da*n thing, and the drills that are necessary to pass the tests are foisted onto the evening hours for the parents to deal with. This is great for teachers who can BS all day, while complaining that the kids in their class watch too much TV.
Previously, school time featured reading drills, math drills, vocabulary drills and work filling out maps for geography. Homework took half an hour. Now not only have the teachers foisted most of the drills on us, while wasting the best part of the day doing “classroom management” and crowd control, but they wish to make what pitiful free time the kids have left be spent reading books. The reason kids are illiterate is that most kids don’t have parents who can sit down and tutor in reading and math. I taught both my kids to read, and despite sending them to school, we go through the Singapore math curriculum. This is to make sure they keep up with ghetto kids in the third world, all of whom beat our socks off on reading and math tests. And what is more, those ghetto kids (at least those who don’t have to haul water or panhandling for their dinner) but have more free time then do ours.
As to having the kids play outside that would be great. If they could come home to a stay at home mom (back in the days before 2 jobs became necessary to support a middle class lifestyle they had one) and if they had less homework, they would be able to do so. If you don’t get out of aftercare until six, and don’t finish your homework until 10, then you wont have much time for playing outside. The only entertainment the kid is likely to get is TV. And now the teachers want to take that away too to cover up their failure to teach during school hours.
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Please remember, parents “school” their children for five or six years BEFORE they enter the educational system. If the essential foundations are missing, who is responsible for making up that deficit? There are vast numbers of parents who have abrogated their responsibilities and expect the schools to “fix” everything.
May I respectfully suggest that anyone with a negative view of teachers and teaching spends a week walking in my shoes!
#7- Not any more. There is 4 year old Kindergarten, and increasingly 3 year old preK. Kids are going to a structured, away from home learning environment earlier than ever. And lets not forget daycare for many kids from the age of a few months old. I doubt they are getting a lot of lap time with books. But I get your point. Many parents today are too busy, too stressed and too distracted to give their kids the time and attention they need to prepare them for school.