Turning Sissies

What is the society afraid most of the young nowadays? Shaking there will be another troublemaker? Or one more juvenile delinquent in the family? True. They got all the reputation and they are doing great! There is another concern however. On the other hand, are we turning our children into sissies? Not on large scale, but some.

Today’s generation is one that has not undergone the hardships of the previous generations, be they immigrants or indigenous. Many of today’s children were born in times of peace and plenty. These are the children to whom almost everything is handed out on a platter. Perhaps the rapid development and affluence that have achieved in the past couple of decades have led us to set extreme expectations on the young at such a tender age. We also now have to be wary of bad men and women who could do harm to our children, fast cars that might run over them, or fatal misadventures of the kind that we read so much about these days. As a result, we are slowly turning our children into nerds and geeks, whose lack of a little adventure and explorations outside the window. And whose only connection in terms with real world constrained on four-corner screen through nature documentaries and reality shows.

As a student, I cannot help but put blame on our deteriorating school system. With an increasing exam-oriented system, our young have no time for other healthy pursuits. Our system place importance on high achievers and seemingly less on child development. Even in an age where six-year-old are sent to classes expected to be able to read and write and are given homework on the very first day of school, children are being forced to carry a heavy burden of expectations and lugging around a big bag of books. They live in a world where there is less time for children to be children. Extra-curricular activities such as music practice, rehearsals for the fine arts such as plays, choral singing, dances and others stage performances which bring out the creativity and imaginations in our young people become occasional, if not missing altogether in some schools. Sports, as we know, builds characters, encourages team spirits and comradeship and teaches children social skills, values they will take them for the rest of their lives. With parents become over protective of their children and are not supportive of being over the teams, just in case they break a sweat or injure themselves.