It would be easy for me to say, “Kids these days, they have it so much easier than we did growing up.” And, boy would I be wrong.
It is true that kids today can watch any show they want instantly with On Demand TV, while we had to wait all week to see our favorite shows. Kids have access to every song ever recorded at their fingertips and we had to sit by the radio until our favorite songs came on so we could record them onto cassette. But when it comes to school, things are tougher now than ever before.
Take report cards for example. Remember when report cards were handwritten by your teacher, in pencil? It was almost too easy to change the D’s to B’s. If you were really bold you could even change that F to an A. (Not that I ever did anything like that, but it could be done.) Report cards also used to be sent home with kids. If you didn’t want to show your report card to your parents, you didn’t have to, or at least you could choose the best time to give it to them. Let’s say you didn’t want to be grounded for the weekend, you could hide your report card in your backpack all weekend and leave it on the table as you headed out the door to school Monday morning. Proper timing was essential. My daughter’s report card arrives by email. She has no chance of getting her hands on it before I do.
Kids today can’t simply brush off an assignment by telling their parents they didn’t have homework that night either. Now assignments are posted online, for kids and parents to see.
Also, for better or worse, parents can email teachers 24 hours a day. Parents can also check their kids’ grades online every month, week or day if they choose.
So next time you think today’s kids have it easy, just remember we didn’t have it quite so bad!
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