I was hoping he'd return with a new book of Calvin and Hobbes adventures, but he was simply guest starring in a friend's strip.
I heard that the final Calvin and Hobbes comic depicted the end of Calvin's relationship with his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, when his parents decide to have him put on medication for his obvious ADHD and overactive imagination.
Here is the purported strip, which happens to be on my white board in my room -
Heartbreaking, right? Now I believe ADHD is a serious issue, but do I believe we have millions upon millions of kids with it? No.
I believe we have kids who grow up in the most stimulating environment in the history of mankind. Yet, when we send them off to school and they're told to sit still and be quiet, no wonder they have trouble doing so!
Make school/work more engaging and interactive and I believe the diagnosis of ADHD would plummet.
*** And before I get lambasted for mentioning that work should be more engaging and interactive, let me remind you that 100 years ago 90 percent of all work was agriculturally based. And if you know a farmer, you know how hard they have to work, even now when they have GPS equipped tractors. I can't think of a more interactive profession!
My dad quit school after he broke his leg during football his senior year. He would never have survived just sitting still and listening, yet no one ever accused him of having ADHD. In fact, I was initially diagnosed with 'hyper-activity,' and I blame that on spending much of my early childhood at my grandmother's where she totally engaged, inspired, and activated my imagination. Yet, my mom was having none of that. She refused to believe the diagnosis. And I never took any medication for it in my life. And for that, I'm thankful.
But to give us hope, here is a follow up strip to the previous depressing one
Here is Watterson's final Calvin and Hobbes strip. It's brilliant. What a perfect metaphor for ending the strip and entering a new phase in Waterson's life.
*****
An interesting read on one professor's take on the purpose of college education: Universities are 'not just for getting a job. To which I say, Amen!
But how many families or people can afford to plunk down 80,000-120,000 dollars to become a well-rounded person or a responsible, well educated citizen?
I have former students who went off to four year institutions to major in their passions and interests and then return home to either take over or help run their families' businesses, even if they aren't directly related to their degrees. God bless 'em, I say.
That is what universities are truly for: to educate a person.
But that doesn't fit our current world.
When I was an undergrad, I had a person associated with residential life tell the story of his roommate whose father was forcing him to go to college. This person was "just" going to take over his father's immense farm when he graduated, but his father forced him to go to college for several reasons. First, the father never had a shot at college, so he was making his son go. Second, he wanted his son to be "educated," and in his father's eyes, that meant having a four year degree from a university.
And though I love that concept, how can anyone justify getting a $120,000 education and never being able to pay it off? We wouldn't buy a $1.5 million home just to raise our family in it knowing we'll never pay it off, would we?
Yes, it's vital to bring the best and brightest to our universities for research which will provide the breakthroughs in science and technology. But it's totally unrealistic in our day and age to believe, as noble as it is, that college is not about developing skills that will land you a job.
*****
An interesting article, Stop Telling Kids to 'Do What You're Told.'
The author argues - I know you still need your kids to follow directions, I really do. But the old ways of getting kids to do what they're told are rooted in fear and shame: demand, command, spank, yell, use time-out, take away privileges and impose other consequences.
The author argues Despite many cultural shifts, we have not come very far from wanting children to be seen and not heard. People mainly approach parenting from a perspective of wanting to control children's behavior and avoid their emotional outbursts.
I personally don't know how much I buy the author's argument. Yes, I totally agree that it's a pain to have to deal with their emotional outbursts. Any parent who has ever had a child in a department store who really, really wants something that you won't get them knows what I'm talking about.
But overall I think the real problem is not that parents are advising their kids to do what they tell them, rather parents are living more than ever vicariously through their children.
I see this in our area in athletics.
I see this when a parents' entire weekend is based around their 8 year old's hockey tournament or 12 year old's basketball tournament.
Instead of the parents being focused on themselves, which is what the author tries to argue, the parents are almost solely focused on the kids. This isn't a good thing either.
If a child has a parent who treks across the country to let them work with a coach or participate in a select traveling team, yet they won't spring $50 for movies, what is the message they're sending? How can the kid not feel angry? On one hand they're saying, yes, we'll spend $500 an hour for you to work with a former NFL coach or we'll buy a Suburban to lug you and all of your gear around, but don't you dare act like a spoiled brat if we won't buy you a new sweatshirt for the track team?
Of course they are spoiled brats. You/we made them that way!
I don't know if it's a status symbol for parents to claim how far they are traveling with their kids. I don't know if bragging rights for parents to act like their kid is going to get a full scholarship ride to a university (they're not). I don't know if the parents are making up for what they weren't given from their parents when they were kids.
I have read enough essays from my high school students to know just how busy they are. They have JO's for volleyball, traveling summer league teams for basketball, weight lifting sessions at the high school, and many hold down jobs too!
My only question is, are students doing this for themselves or for their parents or other adults (coaches) in their lives?
I almost wish we could go to a system where it's mandatory to play two sports every year. And where it's mandatory to just have practices during the actual sport's season. The fact that there are pitching sessions all year long amounts to how many extra wins for our baseball or softball teams?
Don't tell me these extra practices are vital in improving athlete's skills that they're going to get scholarships. That just isn't happening all that often to justify all the extra time.
My hope is that the millennials will take the opposite approach to raising their kids. I hope they have the attitude, Screw making my kids be in 15 different activities like I was. My kids can be kids and have the summer off.
******
I have a great slideshow on the 10 different ways students can start essays. I have at least 50 different student examples. Yet, the concept never really sinks in until I create a document and share it with the entire class and invite them to help me write an effective lead to an essay.
I also will share one of my narratives with them. Then I'll give them the task of reading it and then revising it with at least two different leads.
I love this activity. I believe I cannot model enough for my composition courses.
*****
And finally here is an amazing TED Talk. Watch it. Trust me. It's worth your time.
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