"Tweens aim for fame above all else"

Fame was ranked 15th in 1997, 1st today.

Ugh.

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/05/study-tweens-aim-for-fame-above-all-else/?hpt=hp_t2

This caught my eye because I was just having a conversation about the following with my mom last night. She's a middle school teacher, and can't get her students to understand that you have to put in the work now to reap the benefits later. There is a real disconnect.

“(Tweens) are unrealistic about what they have to do to become famous,” Patricia Greenfield, Ph.D from the Department of Psychology at UCLA and co-author of this study told CNN. “They may give up on actually preparing for careers and realistic goals.”

 

This is nuts:

"According to a 2010 study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, kids 8 to 10 years old spend close to eight hours a day using the media."

 

Wasn't life so much better back in the good ol' days, Dick? Preach on, brotha!!!!

 

Yes.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/13/national/main838207.shtml

[T]he United States was first in the world as recently as 20 years ago, said Barry McGaw, director of education for the Paris-based Organization for Cooperation and Development. The 30-nation organization develops the yearly rankings as a way for countries to evaluate their education systems and determine whether to change their policies.

McGaw said that the United States remains atop the "knowledge economy," one that uses information to produce economic benefits. But, he said, "education's contribution to that economy is weakening, and you ought to be worrying."

 

I bet whatever was ranked first in 1997 was 15th in 1982, and everyone over 30 was moaning.

 

This thread is proving you don't have to be a tween to be an idiot.

 

This is not a, "Kids today!" thread.

It's more of a, "Parents today!" thread.

 

OK, I admit it -- I am Rebecca Black's father.

 

We've been so busy keepin' up with the Jones
Four-car garage and we're still building on
Maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love

 

Things haven't changed much, it seems. When I was 12 (which was pretty much a long time ago), I was pretty much convinced I was going to play in the NBA, despite being genetically programmed to be no taller than 5-foot-6 and having precious little basketball ability. I can't imagine too many tweens have *ever* made any sort of connection between hard work and achievement. That's something you learn later.

 

When my father was 18 (early 1960s), he got back from a senior class trip to find that his entire family, save a younger brother, had moved out of their house. They left him a head of lettuce, a jar of peanut butter, and a note telling him to put his little brother through high school, then do whatever the hell he wanted.

Parents these days, though, I tell ya.

 

So what's the deal then? We can never be concerned about what direction anything is headed in because, hey, that's what they said before, too.