I met Joey while at work this pass Monday. Joey and his mom specifically came in the store to look for baseball cleats. Immediately Joey ran straight for the “Nike” cleats. His mom gave me a worried look. I went to the stockroom to bring out a less expensive pair. When Joey tried on the cleats, his face completely took a turn. He liked the cleats, they fit perfect, but they weren’t Nike. Joey begged and begged his mom to let him get the Nikes, not for the fit or the purpose but because he feared that he’d be teased in school.
The pressure of having brand names are creating a superficial version of reality for children. "One of the effects of this is that we lose touch with what is really important and focus instead on how we look and what we wear."--Thompson, Mociac Magazine
Joey is only one of many adolescents that suffer with this version of reality. The fear that these kids have is out of control. Looking back at my school days, I don’t remember having the fetish of brand named items. Maybe in middle school, I was a bit worried about keeping up with the “fashion” but honestly that was nothing more than a white tee shirt, self-ripped jeans and white or black Ked‘s.
Self-esteem, peer pressure, drugs, sex and alcohol are all issues that adolescents will no doubt face while in school. But where does this fear of not having the “right” clothes come in? Experts say that pressure functions as a type of "bragging right," prompting kids to display how much one owns, and how much he or she has to spend. Ones style should reflect ones personality, if everyone wanted the same name brand, and to look alike, there would no variety.
This obsession, as Thompson describes it, is really changing the focus, well being and even healthy lifestyles of children today in school. Also it causes anxiety attacks(similar to what I saw with Joey that day), stress, low self-esteem and even popularity struggles. The school environment is changing for the worst. This false reality of “people liking you based on the name brand you wear”, is pressuring kids to focus on the wrongs things.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Branding A Generation
I met Joey while at work this pass Monday. Joey and his mom specifically came in the store to look for baseball cleats. Immediately Joey ran straight for the “Nike” cleats. His mom gave me a worried look. I went to the stockroom to bring out a less expensive pair of cleats. When Joey tried on the cleats, his face completely took a turn. He liked the cleats, they fit perfect, but they were not Nike. Joey begged and begged his mom to let him get the Nikes, not for the fit or the purpose but because he feared that he’d be teased in school.
"Adolescents get stuck in a very superficial version of reality.” "One of the effects of this is that we lose touch with what is really important and focus instead on how we look and what we wear."-- Mosiac Newspaper
Joey is only one of many adolescents that suffer with this version of reality. The fear that these kids have is out of control. Looking back at my school days, I don’t remember having the fetish of brand named items. Maybe in middle school, I was a bit worried about keeping up with the “fashion” but honestly that was nothing more than a white tee shirt, self-ripped jeans and white or black Ked’s.
Self-esteem, peer pressure, drugs, sex and alcohol are all issues that adolescents will no doubt face while in school. But where does this fear of not having the “right” clothes come in? Experts say that pressure functions as a type of "bragging right," prompting teens display how much one owns, and how much he or she has to spend.
Is this obsession, as Thompson describes it, really changing the focus, well being and even healthy lifestyles of children today in school? I believe so. The culture is changing rapidly and is changing for the worst.
Blaming anyone isn’t going to solve the problem. Whatever the solution might be, whether starting at home, or with enforcement of uniforms, something has to stop the branding of this generation.
"Adolescents get stuck in a very superficial version of reality.” "One of the effects of this is that we lose touch with what is really important and focus instead on how we look and what we wear."-- Mosiac Newspaper
Joey is only one of many adolescents that suffer with this version of reality. The fear that these kids have is out of control. Looking back at my school days, I don’t remember having the fetish of brand named items. Maybe in middle school, I was a bit worried about keeping up with the “fashion” but honestly that was nothing more than a white tee shirt, self-ripped jeans and white or black Ked’s.
Self-esteem, peer pressure, drugs, sex and alcohol are all issues that adolescents will no doubt face while in school. But where does this fear of not having the “right” clothes come in? Experts say that pressure functions as a type of "bragging right," prompting teens display how much one owns, and how much he or she has to spend.
Is this obsession, as Thompson describes it, really changing the focus, well being and even healthy lifestyles of children today in school? I believe so. The culture is changing rapidly and is changing for the worst.
Blaming anyone isn’t going to solve the problem. Whatever the solution might be, whether starting at home, or with enforcement of uniforms, something has to stop the branding of this generation.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
See Spot Run (254)
A Beka Book CurriculumSee Spot Run
“See spot run”, I spoke. I lifted me head and looked at my mother, she went ballistic. She screamed and kissed me almost twenty times. More than likely I was a bit confused. My teacher Ms. Coley, had us practicing this phrase all week. When each student was able to complete this “achievement”, she too expressed how proud she was of us, we even got stickers
I already talked, but I was far too young to remember my mothers reaction, but I’m sure it couldn’t have been worse than this. My mother rewarded me in some type of way, to show me that “See spot run” was a big deal.
Something about short vowels, long vowels, consonants… you know all the components that make a word, yeah we did that right after chapel, and right before recess.
I went to a private school at the age of three, they had the best lunch EVER! The people were nice, the rooms smelt a little funny, and we did a lot of singing. Little did I know this place of “baby-sitting” was called school. In K-3, that was Ms. Coley’s class, there were massive amounts of posters, blocks, crayons, fat pencils, hand sanitizer and Kleenex.
But it was something that I did in that classroom, that changed my life forever. There was a booklet, which was paper thin, literally it had about two pages. On the front, “See Spot Run”; flipped the page, “Spot can run. See spot run.” I learned to read.
“See spot run”, I spoke. I lifted me head and looked at my mother, she went ballistic. She screamed and kissed me almost twenty times. More than likely I was a bit confused. My teacher Ms. Coley, had us practicing this phrase all week. When each student was able to complete this “achievement”, she too expressed how proud she was of us, we even got stickers
I already talked, but I was far too young to remember my mothers reaction, but I’m sure it couldn’t have been worse than this. My mother rewarded me in some type of way, to show me that “See spot run” was a big deal.
Something about short vowels, long vowels, consonants… you know all the components that make a word, yeah we did that right after chapel, and right before recess.
I went to a private school at the age of three, they had the best lunch EVER! The people were nice, the rooms smelt a little funny, and we did a lot of singing. Little did I know this place of “baby-sitting” was called school. In K-3, that was Ms. Coley’s class, there were massive amounts of posters, blocks, crayons, fat pencils, hand sanitizer and Kleenex.
But it was something that I did in that classroom, that changed my life forever. There was a booklet, which was paper thin, literally it had about two pages. On the front, “See Spot Run”; flipped the page, “Spot can run. See spot run.” I learned to read.
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