without value. I got a very rigorous education coming up, but this was back in the dark ages, and some of it was abroad.
Of course, they could beat us if we misbehaved (and they did), we had to do maths in fountain pen (it taught attention to detail, apparently) and kids with "special needs" were pretty well screwed. No one "taught to the test," the teacher just taught us the subject we needed to learn, and the only test we took was the one that he (sometimes she) invented to make sure we learned the material. Often, we'd be required to write an essay, using the same damned fountain pen (more attention to detail, there), which would test not only our retention of the material but also give the professor an idea as to whether or not we were taking his grammar lessons onboard. Value Added Bonus: It provided an opportunity to critique our handwriting skills, as well--farewell, elusive cursive!
Parents don't want anyone else disciplining their kids, so the teachers have given up nowadays. They let the parents do it, and they use other tricks to lean on the parents (like the tuition trick, or the "Fauntleroy will be held back/need an aide to remove him from the classroom because he's disruptive" scheme) to make THEM be the enforcers. That makes enforcement less consistent.
As for children not being prepared for the real world, cooking, cleaning, paying bills, etc., that's because no one teaches them how to do that. Instead of learning those skills in college, that gets kicked down the road another four or five years as the kids enjoy the "luxury apartment" living of college life in many locales. Every one of my siblings and I knew how to cook a meal, use a washing machine appropriately to do laundry (no pink drawers owing to a misplaced red shirt), write a check, pay a bill, operate an iron (those were more popular back in the dark ages) and a vacuum cleaner, drive a car, check the oil and change a tire.
This started very early--as a kid, one was responsible for ones room, then with age, came "chores," where many of the other household skills were learned, and in the teen years, if parents didn't teach you how to cook and change a tire, "home economics" and "shop class" did. Oh--and earning money--everything from child care to stocking shelves to flipping burgers, scooping ice cream, busing tables to waiting on them; whatever it took to get a few bucks in the bank...but nowadays, those "kid" jobs are filled by adults who really need the money because the minimum wage has gone to shit and hasn't kept up with the real world.
These were basic things--you didn't feel like a junior adult if you didn't have these talents; now the default is to have the Merry Maids clean the campus apartment, have the laundry service pick up the dirty clothing, and of course, there are no bills, save the ones Mumsy and Papaw are paying...so hey, it's all good for the Fauntleroys! They can figure out that 'personal responsibility' game at the quarter century mark! I don't think they're doing them any favors, though--there should be a little interaction with the real world.
Oh well, time marches on. It's a different world today--we're not going backward, and I don't know if it's such a hot idea to beat kids in school, certainly (though it would be nice if parents would trust a teacher to make the right call and second-guess a bit less, especially those with good reputations). Since they say the brain isn't fully matured until 25, maybe the infantilization of college kids gives them a few more years to knit those hemispheres together. If the end result is a more centered human, maybe it's all good.
Maybe, though, they should raise the age of majority back to 21. I don't think 18 year old kids belong in the military--at least not serving overseas. I think they should be 21 before they can be deployed, at least.
But that's just my lousy opinion...no one's gonna take me up on that!
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