Why kids today are so DUMB!! Theory 4

Previously in My $0.02................... Why kids today are so DUMB!! Theory 1

Followed by................................Why kids today are so DUMB!! Theory 2

Then..................................Why kids today are so DUMB!! Theory 3

Now........
I'm going to re-enact a few of the many traumatizing yet vital, character forming moments in my childhood:

Dramatic Dramatization 1

Me: (full of glee) MOM!! DAD!!! LOOK!!! I GOT A 95 ON MY TEST!!!

Parent A or B interchangeably: Where's the other 5 points??

Me: (absent of glee) [actually attempting to rack brain to answer pointless question]


Dramatic Dramatization 2

Me: (full of glee) MOM!! DAD!!! LOOK!!! I GOT A 98 ON MY TEST!!!

Parent A or B interchangeably: Where's the other 2 points??

Me: (absent of glee) [actually attempting to rack brain to answer pointless question]


Dramatic Dramatization 3

Me: (cautiously) MOM!! DAD!!! LOOK!!! I GOT A 99 ON MY TEST!!!

Parent A or B interchangeably: Where's the other point??

Me: (ambivalent....despite not learning that word for another 20 odd years) [walks away to play with toys or draw]

Sidenote: I actually did get A's and 100's from time to time. What's that you say? Ticker tape parade? Hang my test on the fridge? Not me. If I got a "good," "nice," "very well," keep it up," that was epic.

So my parents taught me inadvertently....in a low budget Pavlov fashion, two valuable lessons. First, how to deal with disappointment/rejection/defeat, and secondly slash most important of all, never settle for your current, average or bare minimum. Have you ever been at a point in your life where you want to fight a teacher for giving you an A- minus, but in the same week you get religious for the first time in your life and beg God, "if I can only just maybe get a 'D'"....... Am I the only one who's ever heard the phrase, "D is for D-ploma?" Got you in the teacher or professors office looking like the crackhead from "Menace to Society."

That's bc both mindsets are that of a winner: never settle and never give up. Granted, I may have cursed my parents under my breath many a time as a child and could possibly blame them for my "prodigal son" derailment years, but in my life (and I've been telling my students this for years) it doesn't matter what you do in that first 95% if you can't execute in that final 5%. And if you don't believe me, ask the '07-'08 New England Patriots.



So what is today's theory on why kids are so DUMB today?

Theory #4: Winners are Losers and Losers are Winners

I was shocked to learn recently about a soccer game... and then I found out other sports do this too......... they gave out trophies...................... TO THE LOSING TEAM!!! Are you kidding me? What happened to trash talking and rubbing in the losers face? I cringe to think where I would be today, how un-creative and lame my life would be had it not been for fierce and vicious name calling as a child. What incentive is there to win now? To keep on playing in the last 2 minutes when you're down one score?

It's not just sports. Some schools have a passing mark of 50 or 55! And the saddest thing is, college aptitude exams have a FAAAAAAAAAAAR higher passing bar. It's like we're setting our children up for failure. I recall the passing mark being 65 when I was a wee lil lass. And even that is quite horrible, in hindsight. That means my generation was subconsciously programmed that 65% of our possible output was/is acceptable.

Students would do so much better if school work was more life-applicable. Teach children percentages in kindergarten. Ask a student if they'd be ok, with 65% of their allowance? If you were on a plane and the pilot announced that they landed safely 50-65% of the time, you'd either jump out the plane yourself or have a heart attack.

And how excited would you be if there was a doctor on board....... who saved 65% of his patience?