Indignities that our children face. [View all]
I came across a blog today that got me thinking. Here is an excerpt:
If someone were to give me a token prize in a transparent attempt to manipulate my behavior, I would feel patronized and used. If I were ordered by the government to use my free time to take classes that didn’t interest me, I would experience that as an unjust intrusion on my liberty. If I were made to sit silently in an uncomfortable chair at someone else’s whim, required to ask permission even to use the bathroom, given only ten or fifteen minutes to eat my lunch, and made to feel shameful or defective if I couldn’t comply with these “expectations” – all while being given no say over my treatment – I would quickly either become a revolutionary or settle into a clinical depression.
(Should I post the link? I'm not promoting this blog, I just followed a trail to this post.)
Kids live through countless indignities in school. I remember hearing hours of 'threats' woven into the first days of orientation aimed at kids who were likely to be truant. For me, it was demeaning since I always went to school.
My kids' elementary school adopted a policy of no talking in the cafeteria. They enforced total silence while these 6-10 year-olds ate lunch.
What do you remember? Is this good training for life? What is the long-term impact of herd-mentality?
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