The Filipino Students of Today: Why are We so Different During our Time?

The most common question you will hear from teachers this day is this:  Why are students of today so different during our time?  This line of questioning carries with it a rather complex answer than we expected.  And while this article cannot guarantee to unlock that mystery, I hope this gives some leads to enlighten us from this issue.

Majority of our students have this difficulty to focus on the subject matter inside the classroom.  Some would either talk with their classmates while the teacher tries to articulate the lesson or  fall blank on their respective seats or  cannot sit still for the whole duration of the class.

There are quite a lot of factors we can consider-- family upbringing, family problems, social status, the teacher--, to name a few, that we feel play a great part on how students behave inside the classroom.  But I feel that behavioral patterns have something to do on how children develop certain skills during their younger age.  How they are able to prepare themselves during their childhood years might also be one factor that we need to consider.

Many studies suggest that certain skills that need to be developed at young age help a child achieve a more stable behavior on to the later years.

The amount of time for play during pre-school affects greatly to how a child develops his/her social and sensory needs.  In fact, Angela Hanscom, a pediatric occupational therapist in New England and author of a number of popular posts published in The Washington Post blog, articulated that parents need not put their children in a pre-school that is academic in nature.  Her personal experience of putting her kid in a pre-school that focuses on reading, writing, and math skills made her realize that her child grew up with social and sensory issues.

 In her post, she stressed that research continues to point out that young children learn best through meaningful play experiences and that it is through active free play outdoors that children start to develop many of the foundational life skills they need in order to be successful for years to come. 

She added: “In fact, it is before the age of 7 years — ages traditionally known as “pre-academic” — when children desperately need to have a multitude of whole-body sensory experiences on a daily basis in order to develop strong bodies and minds. This is best done outside where the senses are fully ignited and young bodies are challenged by the uneven and unpredictable, ever-changing terrain.”

She continued to say “Preschool years are not only optimal for children to learn through play, but also a critical developmental period. If children are not given enough natural movement and play experiences, they start their academic careers with a disadvantage. They are more likely to be clumsy, have difficulty paying attention, trouble controlling their emotions, utilize poor problem-solving methods, and demonstrate difficulties with social interactions. We are consistently seeing sensory, motor, and cognitive issues pop up more and more  in later childhood, partly because of inadequate opportunities to move and play at an early age.”

I find her point convincing because as compared to the children of today, our childhood years were far more enjoyable than theirs.  We had enough or even more than enough time to play.  We spent majority of our waking hours with our neighbors and friends. In other words we were not constrained to enjoy along with other people.  This is quite different in the present days because children now are more “individualistic” in terms of spending their play time.  That is of course with the advancement of technology when computer games and gadgets become their outlets of enjoyment.  Plus of course some other reasons behind.

We cannot claim as teachers that the omission of corporal punishment is the main reason why students today are more bizarre than we expected. Although that probably contributes at certain point, But we definitely cannot manipulate behavior of our students based on fear all through-out the school year. How the students behave or react inside the classroom should be a natural outcome that starts deep within themselves.  And this could probably mean intrinsic preparation that should take place in their early childhood years.

 As teachers, I believe we have a very long way to go in understanding the complexities of our students today.  But for now, until a major breakthrough on research will pinpoint answers and will lead to educational system enrichment, we can only broaden our understanding and develop more patience to fully embrace this enormous challenge that we face every school day.