I like this entry and I think Sindha's revulsion is well-founded. I grew up during the blissful days of parental non-involvement, understanding (as Anon does above) that it was my education, not theirs. This was great for coursework---I never had to do badly in class just to punish my parents---but was especially helpful in the college application process, during which I got to write some really bizarre (oops "creative") essays which obviously had not suffered from oppressive adult oversight, thus possibly winning me "independence" points from admissions officers.
But ultimately these monitoring programs are a symptom of problems, not their cause.
And, speaking as a parent, the Number One main problem I see is that we parents are mostly fumbling in the dark as to how to raise our children in this society. All the low-skill, high-wage jobs have vanished---so naturally we push our kids to do well in school. Then what happens when the high-skill professional positions are exported? For many of us, making kids do even better in school is the inclination. And so we get this insane monitoring to make sure our kids do not slip up, even once, lest their entire lives be ruined.
The irony is that if you want your children to survive in changing times, the best thing to do is to let them learn independence and resourcefulness. I don't see how up-to-the-second academic monitoring achieves this. Maybe when my kids are Uni-aged I'll change my mind; for now, consider this another possible objection.
total parental involvement! oh joy
I like this entry and I think Sindha's revulsion is well-founded. I grew up during the blissful days of parental non-involvement, understanding (as Anon does above) that it was my education, not theirs. This was great for coursework---I never had to do badly in class just to punish my parents---but was especially helpful in the college application process, during which I got to write some really bizarre (oops "creative") essays which obviously had not suffered from oppressive adult oversight, thus possibly winning me "independence" points from admissions officers.
But ultimately these monitoring programs are a symptom of problems, not their cause.
And, speaking as a parent, the Number One main problem I see is that we parents are mostly fumbling in the dark as to how to raise our children in this society. All the low-skill, high-wage jobs have vanished---so naturally we push our kids to do well in school. Then what happens when the high-skill professional positions are exported? For many of us, making kids do even better in school is the inclination. And so we get this insane monitoring to make sure our kids do not slip up, even once, lest their entire lives be ruined.
The irony is that if you want your children to survive in changing times, the best thing to do is to let them learn independence and resourcefulness. I don't see how up-to-the-second academic monitoring achieves this. Maybe when my kids are Uni-aged I'll change my mind; for now, consider this another possible objection.