Comments on: C-Ville Kids Are Special

By: JJ

JJ — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 20:47:39 +0000

OMFG. Excuse me while I ROFL. That is freakin’ hillarious. “Spelled differently.”

I wonder if Microsoft is updating their spellchecker to correct UR, 2 B, buttsecks and other common Instant Messaging shortcuts, emoticons and sundry lingo into actual English. After all, you don’t want to offend a student or assault their self-esteem. (Do they still give grades in school, or just give every report an “S” for special?)

[Aside: I think students do rely on spellcheckers, just like earlier generations came to rely on calculators, etc.]

Some teachers actually tell students they are WRONG, like this article about students increasingly using those IM shortcuts when writing school reports. Heaven forbid! (http://www.learningexperts.com/McQuillan/NYTimes%20092002%20RU%20Ready.pdf) These teachers obviously don’t teach in the Commonwealth. LAWL!

By: Kevin Cox

Kevin Cox — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:10:51 +0000

It’s a national phenomena and not unique to the village. There was an article on CNN yesterday about the increasing vanity of college students. The article blames this is on the self esteem movement. People don’t want to tell their children that they are wrong, that they made a mistake or that they are not less than perfect. As a result they grow up thinking that everything they think, do, and believe is absolutely correct. Some local bloggers seem to be under this delusion.

I was sitting in on my daughter’s third grade class some years ago. Another student had misspelled a word and said to the teacher, “I think this word is wrong.” The student was correct. The word was misspelled. The teacher looked at the word and said, “No, it’s not misspelled. It’s just spelled differently.”

Self esteem and confidence are built by genuine success, not by telling children that they are too good to fail.

By: William

William — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:03:12 +0000

Interesting post. If you want to study more on the topic, consider looking at some of our findings. The public has been worried about young people for some time now. Blaming parents is nothing new, either. Even parents blame parents. In fact, six in 10 parents rate their generation as “fair” or “poor” in raising children. For more information click http://www.publicagenda.org/research/research_reports_details.cfm?list=33.

By: William

William — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:02:56 +0000

Interesting post. If you want to story more on the topic, consider checking this out: The public has been worried about young people for some time now. Blaming parents is nothing new, either. Even parents blame parents. In fact, six in 10 parents rate their generation as “fair” or “poor” in raising children. For more information click http://www.publicagenda.org/research/research_reports_details.cfm?list=33.