Published: April 30, 2008 11:17 am            

Monica Green: Do we expect too much?

What is this world coming to? The pressure of Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills has overcome not only Texas students but teachers and principals as well.

Did you hear about the New Braunfels principal who threatened to kill teachers if the TAKS scores were not what he expected?

One teacher is quoted about what the principal said:

“He said if the TAKS scores were not as expected he would kill the teachers,” White said. “He said ‘I will kill you all and kill myself.’

“He finished the meeting that way, and we were in shock. Obviously, we talked about it among ourselves. He just threatened our lives. After he threatened to kill us, he said, ‘You don’t know how ruthless I can be.’”

This guy is a middle school principal. If they’re putting that much pressure on the middle school students and teachers I can’t even imagine what the high school students are feeling like.

I think in today’s society some people put too much pressure on children to succeed. The other day I was watching the show “I Know My Kid’s A Star.” I had never heard of it before but happened to be flipping through the channels and found it.

In what is yet another show in the long string of reality television, mothers do everything they can to help their children win the competition. It was sad to see how the children interacted with their mothers, most of them hateful because they think they’re the best. That’s what their mothers has trained them to believe.

There’s plenty of shows where the mothers have their little girls, as young as 1 year old, dressed up to compete in beauty pageants. What kind of life is that for children if they are never allowed to be children?

Think about the sports world. I don’t know how many Little League games I’ve been to where the parents were more enthused about the game than any major league game I’ve attended. The parents constantly yell at their kids telling them what to do and disregarding the coach whose job is to instruct them.

When I was young I played several sports, from basketball to softball, participated in 4-H and the school band, and played piano. I was also extremely involved with our church’s youth group.

But I chose to do all these activities. My mother never pressured me to participate. In fact, she always told me if it was too much to do I could drop out of something.

It’s time to let kids be kids. Let them have a memorable childhood. Don’t pressure them to compete in everything, and let them just live their lives. Give them to option to compete, if they want to.

You’ll thank yourself later.

        

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