"Grades don't measure intelligence and age doesn't define maturity." I think this is something that everyone needs to remember. The other day I met a woman who doesn't like the fact that her daughter knows someone who is older than her. I couldn't tell this from just chatting with her for the two minutes when I met her. I found this out after the fact when my daughter told me that she was upset that her daughter actually knew someone who was of working age.
Making someone hang out with people only their own age seems very limiting to me, particularly when we are talking about teenagers. People mature differently depending on their experiences. To hold someone back just because of their age is just silly.Now, does that mean I think that a thirteen year old should date someone three or four years older than her? Absolutely not. But to just know the person? I don't think that is a crime. I have news for you people, the only place where age is an issue is within the current school system. In the schools, the grades are cordoned off by age, The date you are born is strictly used to say when you start kindergarten. You are then kept in your grade, regardless of how well you are doing. If you get good grades, they don't move you up to where your intelligence level is, No, they tell you you are doing great and keep you in the same grade as others who may not be learning as quickly. Instead of teaching children to achieve all that they can, they hold back learning for some so that all may progress together. No where else in your life are you going to find anything else like this...unless you work a union job of course! In a union, all are paid the same for the same type of work. If you are twice as productive as the next person, you don't get paid any more and they don't get paid any less. Thus, there is no incentive for people to work harder. In home schooling my children, I try to teach them to do their best and to learn at their own pace. instead of cramming their heads full of facts, I try to teach them to think. Sure, they still get a lot of work that involves facts, the curriculum I try to follow is very heavy in math and writing. I also try to keep them up to date with history and science. For the most part, though, I try to give them a lot of subjects that they are interested in. I want them to be interested in learning new things...and writing about what interests them...not so much me. My daughters each have friends that are older and younger than they are. Although Maddie is thirteen, most of her friends are fifteen and sixteen. She has both male and female friends. Later on in life, She will be exposed to people both younger and older than her. Why should it be any different now? To sum up this rant, my daughters are very intelligent, yet neither one of them has ever received a grade. Many of Maddie's friends think she is sixteen or seventeen, until she tells them her age. To put it in perspective, Maddie is smarter and more mature than some of the adults I know. She no longer plays with toys really, and to force her to choose friends her own age would be doing her a disservice. When she meets someone who has similar interests and they become friends, age is one of the last things on her mind. In fact, one of her most recent friends is about a month younger than she is. They are friends because of what they have in common and because they enjoy each other's company...not because they are the same age.
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