Kyle Williamson

11/4/16
Dr. Rino
Phil & Hist
Childhood Perspectives Paper
CD 3000.01

Are Children Ready to be Adults?

I really think that this is an issue that should have more light shed on it. There has been

this common trend that has recently, mainly with the new millennial generation. Throughout

history children have been taught at a young age chorus, to work, help around the house and used

to have a work ethic instilled in them. Then along the way something shifted and academics was

placed above maturing skills. In todays society from career jobs to elementary school grades are

now the most important part of growing up. Jobs are no longer guarantied if you attend a four

year college, but yet schools now make it so hard to do anything outside of schoolwork. With

education at its highest cost in history and at its highest demand, it puts a lot of pressure on

students these days. Added with the high demand, students are not being taught the essential

skills of adulting, meaning students are receive more than enough academic knowledge but are

now lacking skills to continue on as a function member of society.

I think that it is very interesting to see that education and basic skills have basically

flipped in importance in life today. Thinking about the early Christianity block of time you could

see that it was important to teach children the importance of gaining the skills to be adults. All

societies throughout human history, and most families, have dealt extensively with childhood and

children. There are many standard features, regardless of time or place. Always and everywhere,
children must be given some training to prepare for adulthood. They must learn to deal with

certain emotions, such as anger or fear, in ways that are socially acceptable. Always and

everywhere, given the long period of helplessness of the human species in infancy, young

children require arrangements for feeding and physical care. (2.1.1)

Next would be The Medieval era, and how education was essentially a non-factor during

this time. Literacy wasnt even a common thing for people let alone children in this society.

Religion was the main focus of education during these times, when the education system broke

down after the seventh century some parents tried to up their childrens education but after a

number of years it was a lost cause.

As in previous centuries, the culture bestowed was essentially literary and oratorical:

grammar and rhetoric constituted the basis of the studies. The pupils read, reread, and

commented on the Classical authors and imitated them by composing certain kinds of

exercises (dictions) with the aim of achieving a perfect mastery of their style. In fact,

however, the practice was desultory, and the results were mechanical and poor . (2.6.3)

Once we move into the early 20th century and forward we can see that the education

system was making strides forward. With the start of integrating classrooms, to makes alternative

types of school for children with specific disabilities. In that time frame children, would take

classes like home ec, woodshop and accounting classes, the issue is now a days children arent

receiving these classes, therefor now gaining important skills in life. With millennials, these

days mostly focused on academics and with these other classes not available to them. The impact

of technology comes into play as well. If a millennial is trying to gain a skill the first place they
turn to is usually how to videos on YouTube. Children and young teens need to have these

extra-curricular actives to not only help them in the long, but will help them developmentally at a

young age.

There could be a lot of benefits to reimplementing these classes back into schools

regularly. In a recent article, mothers were discussing that not only would their children be

learning home to cook, they could be having a more in-depth, hands on learning experience

about nutrition. Then take that to the next step, with classes like shop, children could be learning

about cars and then a lesson about the cost of repairing your own car verse the cost of an auto

body shop could be another valuable lesson.

After reading the 9-essential skills article, these adulting classes are very crucial to a

childs learning. The situations these classes create cant be replicated in a normal classroom.

They teach skills such as, problem solving, thinking for ones self, and independence. These are

intangible skills that a child use to develop into a whole person rather than just a student.

Character is just as important as academics; this is what is being over looked in schools today

and it is effect young adults as they try to make its own their own.

So, as time moved on and people started to see the value of education, more and more

effort was put into building a system in which students could learn. As teaching evolved so did

technology and other factors affecting of people interacted, communicated and how people take

in information. As you look through time you can see that technology plays a role in how

students could achieve more in school, but it also has negative effects. This is where millennials

fall on that thin line of, is this helping with my work or is this distracting me from my work?

Because in this day and edge we have some of the best young minds but also, with the use of
technology for things like social media, other generations look at us like we are over stimulated.

Next, due to an abundance of education most lack some certain basic skills to move into that

stage of adulthood.

What it comes down to is, that there should be healthy balance of education, meaning we

should take each point in history and use it as a temple of education. We should make education

first a very accessible to everyone. Next, education should be a positive learning environment,

classes should be manageable for students. College should be an option not a necessity in gaining

a comfortable life. If everyone can access education, no one should be turned away for it being

too expensive. Art, Cooking, shop and other extra curriculum activities should be a part of the

education process. These classes are great for creative thought, teaching skills for life and to have

the student express themselves as an individual. Schools should limit the stress they put into

standardized tests and GPAs and pay attention to more of the import topics that could be linked

to real life situations.

 Work Cited

Bring Back Home Economics in Schools! (n.d.). Retrieved November 03, 2016, from
http://www.cookinglight.com/eating-smart/nutrition-101/school-home-economics

By teaching them to adapt, to deal with change, to be prepared for anything by not preparing
them for anything specific. (n.d.). Zen habits : Breathe. Retrieved November 03, 2016, from
https://zenhabits.net/kid-skills/

Education - Europe in the Middle Ages. (n.d.). Retrieved November 03, 2016, from
https://www.britannica.com/topic/education/Europe-in-the-Middle-Ages

Zen habits : Breathe. (n.d.). Retrieved November 03, 2016, from https://zenhabits.net/27-skills-
your-child-needs-to-know-that-shes-not-getting-in-school