The Bored Generation

I think that I may just make this as a sign in my classroom next year...

along with one of my own "favorite sayings"

 As much as I love my students, the kids of today are truly the "I'm bored...entertain me (until I find that boring, too, and expect to be entertained again by someone or something else)" generation.

Do you remember how we used to look forward to summer break when we were kids? Now, the kids tell me that they are bored after about the first week and a half and that they have "nothing to do" and many tell me that they'd prefer to be back in school...even the kids who don't do any work while they are here and who "hate school" because it is "so boring".

That's when I get on my "Bored people are boring people" soapbox, because I believe it with all my heart. We have entertained the vast majority of this generation out of the ability to be creative, innovative, and resourceful. The creators and explorers and innovators are still out there, but (in my opinion) each year they become fewer and further between. The rest of them are all waiting for someone else to entertain them or to tell them what to do next.

It's sad, actually. We have created the Bored Generation by believing that it was our job to entertain them every step of the way, instead of letting them discover one of the greatest gifts of all...how to entertain themselves...and, ultimately, how to discover where, indeed, their true passions may lie.

Okay...I'm off my soapbox for the morning and headed outside where there are lots of interesting things to see and explore!