Coddling Our Future

As I look around these days, I can’t help but notice our society's transition into mediocrity. Standards seem to drop lower with every new generation. And overachievement seems to be a thing of the distant past. How did we get to this point?

I believe it starts at a young age and it’s gradually reinforced through adulthood. Today, mediocrity oozes from our public school systems. If the kids can’t pass an exam, we’ll just keep lowering the passing grade until everyone aces it! After all, we can’t have the kids failing. It might hurt their feelings.

And speaking of hurt feelings, many school teachers have stopped using their red pens for grading papers. Why? Because red is thought to be too “stressful and demoralizing”. As a result, purple ink is gaining popularity in school systems around the country. Purple is thought to have a much more “calming” effect on the students. Are you freggin’ kidding me?? When did Dr. Phil take over the classroom??

I remember a few years ago (I believe it was somewhere in California) where a certain district(s) of schools was showing a less than stellar academic performance. There was a suggestion that Ebonics (a butchered up, inner city version of English) be taught in the local schools. It might make learning easier for some of the kids, since “regular” English was too hard for them to comprehend. Yes, I'm serious. Fortunately, the powers-that-be eventually decided that this was an asinine idea.

When I went to school, there was usual a handful of people who would make the Honor Roll. These were usually pretty bright kids who actually spent time studying. Have you looked at the honor roll lists today? I think there are only a handful of kids who don’t make it! Come on, I’ve seen some of these kids. And let’s just say that Mensa isn’t going to be calling them anytime soon. What message does it send when the lazy kids get the same accolades as the kids who study hard?

We even see the coddling on the playground. No need to keep score because everyone is a winner here! Sure, little Tony is about as athletically gifted as Stevie Wonder with broken leg, but let’s give him the MVP trophy anyway! Personally, I think that building someone up with false hope is cruel. How can you ever learn from your mistakes if you’re never allowed to fail?

On top of all of this, we tend to be so overprotective of our kids today. Even something as simple as riding a bike these days requires a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads, hockey gloves, etc. I saw a kid riding a bike the other day. He had so much protection on, he looked like the little brother from “A Christmas Story” (You know, the one who was so bundled up that he fell in the snow and couldn’t get up).

(A little side story; I was a kid during Evel Knievel’s prime. I, along with most of the neighborhood boys, idolized the infamous stuntman. So we would set up wooden ramps and jump our bicycles over everything from burning trash cans to drunken winos! Oh, if Mr. Knievel could have only seen us! And other than a few scrapes and bruises, we all survived. And none of us ever wore pads or a helmet. Amazing!)

The result of all this is that many of today’s kids are sent out into the real world without much of a chance. Although they may feel like they know it all, they really don’t have a clue. And since they’ve had things handed to them their entire lives, they naturally develop a feeling of entitlement. They feel that the world owes them a future. Working towards it is often overlooked.

I’ve heard of young adults coming into job interviews and, more or less, turning the interview around. Way back in the day, when you went into an interview, you would tell your potential employer what you could do for them. But in today’s coddled society, it’s not uncommon to hear the applicants say things like, “So, how much vacation do I get? When can I expect my first raise? I don’t work weekends. I can’t work late during the week because it will interfere with my softball games.”

And you can see the result firsthand in normal daily transactions. For example, when dealing with some of these youngsters in retail locations, they’re attitudes can be horrible.  I’ve been in restaurants that have resembled more of an adolescent playground than an eating establishment (I even witnessed a fistfight between two young waitresses in Pittsburgh a few years ago). I’ve had cashiers yapping away on their cell phones during my whole check-out process. I’ve spoken to young service reps that obviously needed a refresher course in grammar and pronunciation. It goes on and on...

With the liberal mindset of “we can’t hurt anyone’s feelings”, I don’t really see anything changing for the better. It, no doubt, hurts our society now but it really affects the future of our kids. Instead of making them strong and self-sufficient, we’re making them irresponsible and dependant. This “dumbing down” of America has got to end.

Note: I think it’s only fair to say that there are indeed plenty of kids who work hard and will go on to great (well deserved) things. I don’t want anyone to think that I’m talking about ALL kids here. However, anyone who doesn’t see that our youth is being overly coddled has got to be blind or just conveniently ignoring it. If this trend continues, our future is in serious jeopardy…..

KW