Alarm bells are ringing in evaluating five year olds starting their first days in the education system. Today's kids are very different from those who presented for the first time even a decade earlier and that change is going to make lifestyle differences in the vocations they choose, how they spend their leisure time and even whether they play sport.
Many lack the skill to use a pencil to write on paper or use scissors - simply because they have not experienced those arts before coming to the classroom. Instead, they have skills manipulating touch screens and are adept at tapping, sliding and pinching to work the screen electronically. Basically, they lack the motor skills that deliver a wider dexterity - because they have not been exposed to the range of activities of earlier generations.
There is a diversity of opinion on whether this is good or bad amongst parents. Some believe it is a natural phenomenon that is simply fitting the kids for the world they will encounter. The keyboard has replaced the pen and pencil and this is a natural progression. They note that from next year NAPLAN testing for year three will be conducted on tablets rather than employing paper and pencils.
Other education professionals worry that by curtailing dexterity skills we are closing off other options that deliver benefits. The process of writing on paper and cutting and folding to various shapes expands the creative process that is lacking by simply moving images on a screen. Creating shapes with Play-Dough moves images from the abstract to physical reality. There is a vast difference between what you see on a screen and what you hold in your hand when it comes to understanding the limits of ingenuity.
Childhood has changed dramatically in recent years - and will change some more as the cities expand
and country towns shrink. In the days of the quarter acre block most homes had a back yard where kids could toss a ball or build a cubby house. Today, that space has been depleted and more inner city residents live in apartments. Parents are reluctant to allow kids to roam freely and even city parks are no longer secure playgrounds for young people. Junior sport is more likely to exist in the far outer suburbs than in crowded city centres.
This childhood change is delivering new forms of adversity. Obesity is rampant because the modern child lacks the opportunity to exercise and far fewer play any kind of organised sport. School sport seems to be optional - where it still exists, and many parents face time pressures which prevent them from encouraging kids sport by regularly attending. It usually also involves a cost factor.
Educators bemoan the absence of book reading as a form of entertainment. The minds of many past generations were expanded by the stories they read and this has been replaced by both television and the expanding world of action gaming. At least the use of game consoles increases the rate of manual dexterity but it does little to improve imagination that may help future career prospects.
Lurid stories of sex predators and the sudden abduction of innocent children make parents tighten security and restrict freedom. Items like the faithful old push bike are becoming rarer presents and an electronic toy is a more likely gift at Christmas or birthday.
It seems that the education system has embraced electronics. Parents who wish to have a well rounded child who is adept at using paper and pencil - and has an enquiring mind that can do mental arithmetic without a calculator - would be wise to ensure the full gambit of play materials are utilised in those early years.
It is the time before schooling starts that moulds the ultimate mind that will develop as the child grows to maturity.
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