I saw on the news the other day how several schools in Texas are implementing a policy where students need to check-in multiple times throughout the school day. This is done by an electronic key card that they have to scan. At first I thought the schools were doing this for safety reasons. It turns out that isn't necessarily true. For every student that attends a full day of school that school receives $30 per student from the state. So as usual it's all about the money. It's infuriating. But that is a different topic I won't get into right now. I will just let that issue rest on a quote from Buddha, "Money was made for people. People were not made for money."
As a parent I sort of like this idea. It would give me peace of mind to know my children are safe. But even though I am a parent I don't believe in what these schools are doing. We need to loosen the leash a bit on our children. If we constantly monitor them how will they ever learn to manage as adults in this world. By monitoring their activities all we are teaching them is how not to get caught when we should be putting more emphasis on not doing wrong in the first place. I also see in commercials that you can monitor them from home using your phone and cameras installed in your house. Really? When did we become stalkers of our own children? Ofcourse we should be involved in our childrens' lives, know where they are and how they are doing in school. But I believe this crosses a line. You instill lessons, morals, and values into your children and you hope that when a situation arises, they will make the right decision. If you raise your children to the best of your ability then you have done your job as a parent. You hope they will continue to take what you have taught them throughout their lives. Ofcourse if they make wrong decisions there should be consequences. This enforces your role as a parent and teaches your children to take responsibility for their actions. I believe children won't be able to mature and function the way we do as adults if we keep spying on them. They need to go out in this world sometimes on their own to experience situations that will put them to the test. If we don't allow them to do this they will constantly be dependent on us. I know it's a scary world out there and it's not the way it use to be when we grew up. There is more crime and more technology to take into consideration. We as parents needs to adjust our methods to keep up. But I don't think constant monitoring of our children is the way to go. This is hard and frightening to do. I know. I am a parent of two sons myself. But we do have to let them go, a little at a time, to grow into fully responsible and mature adults.
2 Comments
10/17/2012 09:08:19
Here in the UK there have been a couple of high profile child abduction / murders lately. Everyone is up in arms and asking how and why?!
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Lisa
10/28/2012 17:45:34
I do understand James, as a parent what you are talking about. We want nothing more than to have our children safe especially in this world today. Just in the past few weeks here in the US, two children went missing and were found dead. One in Colorado and the other in New Jersey. It's scary. I always know where my children are at, take them to the places they want to go and pick them up. I hope I have instilled the lessons of cautiousness when it comes to scary situations like that. We can agree to disagree on this issue. As long as we are doing the best job we can as a parent then that's all we can really do, isn't it? Thanks for the input James.
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