Linda,
I am shocked too, at the waste of supplies and abuse of tools I see from my
students! I'm not sure what it is like in middle and upper class areas. I
have a guess that you see the same thing there too. Kids are given too
much. If it is abused and broken, the parents just replace it.
But, a lot of the problem in the school I teach in stems from the poverty.
The students get free breakfasts, free lunch, free medical care, a free
place to live... Why would they value anything when everything they need is
given to them? The school, the government whoever will give them more. I
don't have any answers for this problem.
You're right Linda, we need to teach them to see the beauty in the world. I
actually had several students not know the the sky is usually blue. I had
to take one girl to the window to show her that the clouds that day were
white and the sky blue. She thought it was the other way around. She
didn't believe me until I showed her. And, it never occurred to many many
more of my students that the sky is sometime grey, orange, pink purple.
They never looked before!
I just had to vent a bit.
Colette
I am absolutely flabbergasted sometimes by my
kids...so many of them just take it for granted that there will always
be more of anything they need. I see blatant disregard for the property
of others at times. I am shocked by the way some of my students handle
MY stuff!!!
They way young kids grab books from each other's hands when they want to
see something cool...forget about the pages that get bent in the
frenzy...I WANT TO SEE IT NOW, GIMMIE THAT!!! It's like anything in the
art room is fair game. If I see it and want to pick it up, I
do....YIKES! More and more often, I find it harder and harder to slow
them down. It's a frenetic world we live in, getting crazier year by
year. We HAVE to get them to notice beauty and value. What could be
more important?
