Is a standard childhood in America being threatened by the amount of “prep-work” that children, even young-adults, must do in order to carve out their underpaid, overworked living here in America? The quick answer is probably. I know that my childhood is rather unorthodox from the standard since I moved into a core group of eight guys that became “brothers,” in a sense. But then again, I do have some insight. Let’s start with a story since I’m good at those.
Recently, I was pitted with hanging out with my friends at the drive-in movie theater and having to wake up at 8:30 a.m. for work. The sensible and adult side of me said that I should skip the double feature that started at sunset and head to bed in order to be well-rested for work the next day. On the other hand my immature and kid side of my brain said to forget what the sensible side was saying and go have fun with my friends. The way it turned out was that I compromised with both sides and went out with friends and went to work like a zombie the next morning. This whole kerfuffle led me to start thinking: I’m nineteen years old, going on twenty. I understand that at this time in my life, according to society, I should be buckling down and focusing on getting that small piece of experience since lord knows it’ll be useful in the work world. Conversely, I’m nineteen going on twenty. I should not be hindered in my social life due to either working one of my numerous jobs or having countless hours of homework I need to complete after a day at school.
In Finland, chosen since I have researched them for a while, they only have a four-hour school day and do not require homework of their students. In the documentary "Where Should We Invade Next?" by Michael Moore, teachers explain why they believe in their system of offering no homework. They claim it allows the children to explore and be curious themselves, which they say leads to the child coming to ask questions thus leading to their learning. The best part about this whole thing is that this trend continues up through at least middle school. Did I mention that there are no standardized tests in Finland?
So, knowing at least one other country treats its children completely different than here in America puts into question the validity of each system. Finland scores high marks on most scales while America is average, at best. A childhood here in America is spent worrying and stressing about preparing for the future instead of taking time enjoying being a child. Children are told what to think and what to study instead of allowing curiosity to be their guide. Children here are more worried about studying for the ACT rather than catching up on being a free child in this “free” society. Now, I agree there are places that are much worse off than America for a childhood but that isn’t my point. I want America to be great and I think that we should learn from proven positive techniques that other countries have laid out.
