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Schools

Racing to Nowhere?

Recently I viewed the film "Race to Nowhere". What ARE we doing to our kids?

What do the following have in common: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson.

These men are the definition of success in this country, but did you know that they had little or no college experience? What does that tell us? 
 
Last week a colleague and I went to see the documentary “Race to Nowhere”. While I had heard of the film, I knew very little about it except that it talked about kids today.

In "Race to Nowhere", high school students across the country told their story about what life is like for them—that they are racing and racing and getting nowhere.  Let me explain.

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High school is no longer about taking standard, college prep, or business prep classes for a typical student. It is about how many honors courses and how many AP courses fit into a schedule. What was once taught in high school is now a part of middle school. What was once taught in college, is now high school. And college has become more of an independent study.

Not only are our children filling up on AP and honors courses, sometimes graduating high school with enough college credits to be in their second semester as a freshman, but  these same kids are pouring over hours and hours of homework. And homework doesn’t even get started until the sports practices or extracurricular activities are finished for the night.

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Don’t get me wrong, it’s great for our kids to be involved in sports and activities. I thoroughly believe that being involved gives kids a sense of sportsmanship and being a part of a team, not to mention keeping them busy and out of trouble. It also allows our kids to release stress.

However, when did high school sports become such that our kids practice as if they are professionals? And after their team practice, our kids are racing to private lessons with private coaches to have the edge.

And when students go to put their resume together for college, it’s not enough that they have a 4.5 average AND lettered as a sophomore on the soccer team AND was captain of the debate team AND class president—did they also have enough community service hours?

What message are we sending our kids? At what moment do we say “enough is enough”? Are our kids ever bored? Do they know how to think and create? What about time to just relax?

The result is our students are racing to nowhere. They are racing through high school, just to get into a “good” college. They are spending so much of their time focused on tomorrow and next week, and next year that they are not spending time living in the moment.

Our teenagers are experiencing health issues like never before— eating disorders, suicidal ideation, abusing prescription medications just because it is all too much!

All of this leaves very little time for sleep. The average teenager is getting about six hours of sleep. Six hours!! Their bodies need nine to ten hours of sleep so that their immune system functions properly, their brain works right, and their body gets the rest that is necessary to grow. With high schools usually starting around 7:30 a.m., it is quite a long day for our kids.

And where is all of this getting us? Nowhere. We are literally racing to nowhere. And in the process, we are losing moments that can never be recaptured for our youth.

The solution is balance. Teaching our kids to balance the school, and the sports, and the studying, and everything else that is on their plate is the answer. Setting expectations that are high, but not unreachable, is the answer. This may also include asking some tough questions: “Does my child need five AP courses, or is three ok?”  “Is it really necessary to be involved in debate team, school government and chess club?” “Is an Ivy League school the only way to be successful?”  Expecting our children to do their best, but not at the expense of their health just to race nowhere.

It is not an easy world our kids live in. It is competitive and it is flat. But there has to be a balance, otherwise we will continue to go nowhere. 

www.racetonowhere.com is the film that will changes your perspective. To find out where a viewing is, check out the website.  I promise you, it will make you think differently. 

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