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A Crisis in Education: Generation Z
21st Century children are being educated for a 20th Century life.
When I look back on my life, I marvel at how childhood has changed. When I was a kid, the only reason I’d be sat watching television after school would be if it was raining outside, and sometimes that wouldn’t stop me. But nowadays, you’re more likely to find children chopping down trees in Fortnite with their friends than climbing a real one.
Childhood has changed, and without a doubt some of that change can be attributed to technology. Technology makes our lives easier and more convenient in countless ways. But as Uncle Ben once said ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. If I told you that I was going to buy my daughter a car for her thirteenth birthday and let her loose on the roads, you’d call me crazy. You’d be right to do so. We require people to pass a test before we allow them to drive a car. We educate them because we know that if misused, cars can kill people.
Why then, in 2019 are we content to let our children loose into the online world of social media and smartphones? When the world has seen an astronomical increase in attempted teenage suicide due to the pressures of social media and the rise of cyberbullying, isn’t it just as important to teach children how to safely navigate social media, just as…
