Yes. Families should be more interested in their children’s learning. Now, they just shove a phone or a tablet into their hands.
I actually just spent 20 minutes doing math with my child after breakfast, even though it’s summer vacation. After that, they started reading a book. Even yesterday, they read 50 pages.
If only people understood this.
That 20 minutes is already a long time, but even just 10 minutes of math + 10 minutes of reading daily would give a child such a head start over their peers that, barring significant learning disabilities, their future would look very bright in that regard.
I recall that simply reading to toddlers for about 10-15 minutes a day gives them a one-year head start in cognitive abilities by the age of 6-8.
And it costs nothing, except for time and effort.
The academic year has come to a close. New future professionals have graduated, although quite few in number. It warmed my heart to see one of my students at a certain company mentoring new students in the same field—even before their own graduation!
The pain points are worsening.
- Time perception and time management are very weak for many. I teach a field where scheduling is the alpha and omega. Granted, it is important in every field, but especially in mine. Additionally, it would be desirable for students to manage to arrive at school on time. Nothing is more annoying than students sneaking into the group late. The excuses for being late are like something out of a storybook.
- Various problems—mental health, general health, coping, physical stamina—are worsening. There simply isn’t enough strength to physically manage work-related tasks anymore. Furthermore, I’ve observed that homes do not provide information if a student has severe issues, such as health problems. If we knew, we could help.
- Social skills, or rather the lack thereof. Everything trivial is found on the phone, but not, for example, job advertisements. Many do not know how to make any kind of contact with a stranger. An email is sent to a workplace, and then they just wait. If they have to go and introduce themselves, it stops there. They don’t dare.
- Students expect to be paid for internships immediately. If no pay is promised, the work is left undone. There is no longer an understanding that one should actually know how to do something first.
Fortunately, some still move forward with relatively little support and manage well. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough time for those who need to be “dragged” along.
Homes, please, ask your young ones how they are doing sometimes; care, and encourage them!
All in all, it’s challenging, but every now and then I see my former students busy at work. I try to chat, have a coffee, and hear how they are doing. Perhaps that is the reward for the work done.
The culture of the place also influences that. It’s been a long time since I was in school (at any level), but as I recall, there wasn’t much lateness (or if you were late, the class was already in session).
Back in the day, when I moved from elsewhere in Finland to the Helsinki metropolitan area (while working for the same employer), there was a difference in meeting practices, for example. In the previous location, meetings started exactly at the agreed time, i.e., the conference room door was closed, things got moving, and any latecomers had to knock on the door if they wanted to join. As a rule, things already discussed were not repeated for their sake. Since everyone knew this, it worked well. Of course, it also meant that the person convening the meeting had to be on time, preferably early, if there was a need to prepare something. One could imagine something similar could be done in schools, though it naturally requires teachers to set the example.
Conversely, in the Helsinki metropolitan area, the start was almost always delayed until everyone expected to attend showed up; in practice, nothing rarely started on time.
This is essentially a case of the “broken windows theory.” When violations or bad behavior are tolerated, it leads to tacit acceptance and indifference. That is why it is important to maintain discipline in one way or another. Lateness is poor behavior and should not be permitted.
In a large Finnish listed company, there was once a CEO whose management team meetings involved locking the door exactly at the scheduled start time. If you were late, you couldn’t get into the meeting anymore, and legend has it that you didn’t need to show up for any future meetings either.