KIDS TODAY
Here's a shocker. A teacher at school told me that she gave one of the kids a lift home after the child had stayed behind after school to practice for a public-speaking competition. The teacher asked the kid where she lived. The kid said "22 Acacia Avenue" (or wherever). The teacher didn't know exactly where this street was, so asked the child to supply some further information about the names of nearby main roads, or some directions. The kid - who is TWELVE YEARS OLD! - was unable to. Why? Because the child is ferried to and from school every day in a car, by her mother. And at weekends she gets lifts everywhere too, or uses one bus route into town and back. So this child has no familiarity with her surroundings or of the town she has lived in all her life. I can't stand this kind of mollycoddling that goes on. What about cycling and walking? Sometimes I feel it's just me that notices the creeping over-reliance on cars that is happening. Meanwhile, the roads are hopelessly blocked at school chucking out time...
Here's a shocker. A teacher at school told me that she gave one of the kids a lift home after the child had stayed behind after school to practice for a public-speaking competition. The teacher asked the kid where she lived. The kid said "22 Acacia Avenue" (or wherever). The teacher didn't know exactly where this street was, so asked the child to supply some further information about the names of nearby main roads, or some directions. The kid - who is TWELVE YEARS OLD! - was unable to. Why? Because the child is ferried to and from school every day in a car, by her mother. And at weekends she gets lifts everywhere too, or uses one bus route into town and back. So this child has no familiarity with her surroundings or of the town she has lived in all her life. I can't stand this kind of mollycoddling that goes on. What about cycling and walking? Sometimes I feel it's just me that notices the creeping over-reliance on cars that is happening. Meanwhile, the roads are hopelessly blocked at school chucking out time...
