Jangchub wrote:
On Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:29:06 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...onsbox1&sub=AR


I didn't have to read the whole article because I've been saying
this
same thing for years now. You go into a theater waiting for the
show
to start and people are so dependant on constant stimulation they
are
either on their phones, playing on their phones, watching television
on their phones, typing on their phones, surfing the web on their
phones, or talking incessantly. There is virtually no down time,
yet,
there is not much production either. It's a vast wasteland of
business and motor movements which do not really require the skills
of
self entertainment. Mostly mindless blather provided to the XBox
land
of killing images and sexually inappropriate ideas.

When I was a kid, an only child, I'd play for hours and hours alone
with my Give A Show Projector, Barbie dolls with home made (by me)
houses or accessories. Now you go buy Barbie Hummers and houses.
I
played with tinker toys, erector sets, Etch a Sketch, and my
favorite
Flintstone Building Blocks.

When it snowed we'd be out in it from morning till night, frozen.
We'd build forts, and snowmen and run around in it, throw snowballs
at
everything, laugh and play. Mindless playing with actual fun.
Today
kids have so much stress being busy doing nothing they need
medications to keep their legs from moving at night! I know someone
who couldn't stand their son moving his leg from nervousness, so
they
finally got their ADD diagnosis and put him on Ritalin (sp?) and as
a
side effect he stopped growing. His teeth couldn't fit in his
stunted
mouth and he needed to wear this incredibly disgusting stretching
device. Still, he is only about a bear five foot and by now he is
about 14 or so? I left that friend in the dust for all sorts of
reasons, but mainly for being a lunatic.

The kid will likely have a growth spurt shortly--they discovered a
while back that one of the side effects of ADHD is that the teenage
growth spurt is delayed, regardless of whether the kid is medicated.
OTOH, Ritalin wouldn't be the right med for moving legs at night,
which is called "Restless Leg Syndrome" and which among others Ingmar
Bergman had (no cite--saw him say it to Dick Cavett in an
interview)--he was Swedish and this would have been the '60s or early
'70s and he apparently had had it for a long time, so I don't think
that one can blame it on anything unique to modern Amercan society.
In any case stimulants are not normally used for its treatment.

Oh, then there were very long days in summer when we'd ride our
bikes
which had foot brakes and no gears for hours and hours. Our parents
had to drag us inside when it got dark around nine thirty at night.
Those were the days when parents actually did things with kids.
We'd
go to the fireworks every Tuesday night at Coney Island and have a
Nathan's hot dog, go on the Bobsled ride and ride the horses around
the track at Steeplechase (long gone now).

So, I don't need an article to see how far down this country has
gone
and what is being produced in our sorely lacking elementary school
systems and the rates they pay teachers is so retched nobody of any
mind is taking a teaching position that fast any more. It used to
be
a great job. No more. Sad really.

Teaching has never been "a great job". Them as can, do; them as
can't, teach. And the pay in Connecticut is hardly "wretched". at an
average of 56K a year. Is New York that much lower?

None of this applies to those of you who are actively involved in
your
children's' lives. I applaud anyone who even has kids these days.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)