Reforming Children

 

This may seem a strange title when we think about that institution we used to call Reform School. That was the place we sent children who had not been properly formed in the first place (according to our society’s standards) and so, were in need of re-forming. And though there are many families, counter-cultural groups and yes, schools, doing a fine job of getting it right the first time and giving children what they so deeply need and richly deserve (a lovely phrase coined by my colleagues James Harding and Sofia Lopez-Ibor), the reports are coming in that the choices we are making are obstructing the natural formation of children— and thus, on some level, they all are in need of re-forming. How does that play out in the school? 

 

When the kids line up outside your door, they also will step in with a crowd of invisible companions. There’s the personal life they carry that will affect how they can receive your brilliant teaching. Did they get enough sleep? Eat breakfast? Spend four hours last night playing violent video games or scrolling through toxic tik-tok posts? Is their dog sick or their sibling mean or their parents struggling with alcoholism, drug abuse, anger issues, trouble paying their bills? None of which we can fix but all of which we should be aware of. 

 

Then there’s the collective permissions given by the greater culture for kids to give up their play-based childhood and outsource their physical fitness, social intelligence, critical thinking, emotional well-being to electronic devices. A child who walks through the day with a phone in hand is a different being than one carrying books, pens, paintbrushes, xylophone mallets, balls, jump-ropes and such. Well-researched books like The Anxious Generation and The Myth of Normal paint a bleak picture of depression, anxiety, bullying, suicide, addiction, a growing epidemic of learning dysfunctions, lack of motivation and more. Phone-based childhoods are rapidly replacing play-based childhood and nature’s timetable for the child’s developing intelligence, emotional regulation, social skills has been disrupted in a mere 15 years of “technological progress.” Teachers who have been teaching 20 years note the difference in their students’ motivation and ability to read, think critically, respect the teacher. People who have been teaching for 40 years, even more so. Many feel that it is has never been so difficult to teach children of all ages.

 

Does all of this affect what happens each day when the children walk into our classroom? Yes, it does. Should we be concerned? You bet. Should we educate parents about the dangers of these devices, outlaw cell phones in the classroom, read and discuss the books above (and others?), monitor our own use of screens in the classroom? Of course. But again, that’s a strong current to swim upstream in and again, we will not solve these problems in time for Monday’s class. 

 

And that brings us to the next post.