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Unread 28-05-2006, 15:57
Daisy Daisy is offline
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Re: U.S. Leadership in Science May Depend on 8th-Graders

DISCLAMER: I am talking of people generically, not for every case, because obviously there are different ones.

^ I agree with you. There should be testing to place students in correct grade levels. I think children are refusing to be challenged. And I think that parents are at fault. For example, I was working at Girl Scout camp, here in CT, on "Brownie Day," and we were playing a game that required the kids to memorize ten objects and in someway write it down. This was challenging for some of them, because they were first graders (and oh so cute ) and some could not write well.

One of the children raised her hand and asked "Is it going to be hard, because I don't like hard things." I told her that she had to try because life was going to always throw her challenges, and she had to learn how to beat them.

And then she tried. Not only did she try, but she was the first one to finish. And instead of being rude, she was respectful. I was proud of her for her effort.

It seemed that no one ever had had that discussion with her. No one had ever told her that she had to do it, and instead let her shy away from problems. Sure, she's going to whine, and pout, but she is eventually going to do it.

The idea of self - esteem is too focused on what kids can do. What it should be about is how much effort, and diligence, you put into something. In order to save "self-esteem" we have to coddle our children, and say "it's okay, you don't have to." WELL, YOU DO HAVE TO!!! Try it, if it doesn't work, if you don't care for something, but at least you tried it, it is worth it.
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