Today’s students seem to have it a little easier

By By Michelle Blaylock, Mom’s Corner
I’m going to seriously date myself. However, it is just too good to pass up. I was substituting at the high school a couple of weeks ago and a student, who had been coughing off and on, asked to go “get a drink of water.” Understanding how annoying that little tickle in the back of your throat can be, I said yes.
I smiled when the student returned carrying a bottle of water with several drinks missing.
Granted that was not what I had been thinking when the student asked me to get a drink; however, in all truthfulness, I would rather she have the bottle of water than drink from a water fountain anyway. This made me start thinking about how things have changed since I was in high school.
Do you know what an I-pod or a mp3 player is? They are wonderful little devices that hold several hundred to several thousand songs. Why are they so wonderful? Because nobody else has to hear the music except those with the earphones! So if a teenager asks if they can “listen to music,” do not worry. More than likely you will not have to listen. Speaking of earphones. Wow, have they changed. They used to be called “headphones” and with good reason. They covered most of your head! Now, not only are they small, there are wireless ones, too.
What is a “notebook?” Well, this can be the kind with paper in it or it can be the electronic kind. A small computer that weighs about 2.5 pounds and has more memory than the desktop computers when I was in college! How about this?
My sophomore is taking French at the high school via the internet. Her teacher hears her over a microphone.
My daughter also records her homework and sends it to the teacher again via the internet.
I love the fact that in the same class students are learning French, German, and accounting (I think). This technology is opening whole new worlds to the students.
Have you ever heard of a Kindle? It is a reading device for e-books or electronic books. It can hold up to 1,500 books. Seriously! There are several other e-book devices, some even allow you to take notes and then “sync” up to a desktop or laptop computer and transfer them. Wish I had that when I was in college. Not to mention just the ease of carrying all my textbooks on a little device that weighs less than a pound! Although, I have not researched them that much, I understand that it is typically cheaper to download an e-book than it is to purchase a hard copy. For example, one web site I checked had over 7,000 college textbooks available for download at a savings of over 50 percent per textbook. Granted you do still have to purchase the device itself for $300 or more, depending on the features you want and need.
However, when college textbooks are $100 plus themselves, it would not take long to justify the expense. In case you are interested the average college student spends about $900 per year on text- books. My oldest daughter came home after her college classes started and said, as she was waving a large paper backed book, “Mom, just look at this! You’d think for $125 I would at least get a hard backed book!”
No, and it is only going to get more expensive as time goes on!
Another thing that has changed considerably since I was in high school is the number of students that have cars. Even when I was in school many students didn’t have cars until their senior year and the cars were “graduation” gifts. However, now, more and more students have cars soon after they turn 16. It is convenient for both students and parents, but it makes morning and afternoon traffic around the high school a nightmare!
It also seems to John and I that kids are growing up faster and faster. For example, we have a problem with the “going out” thing. I still think of “going out” as implying “going” somewhere. When my middle school kids (girls, currently) told me they were “going out” my first response was “Um, no.” This response was followed by a heated discussion and concluded with “OK, but you are not ‘going’ anywhere without your Dad, I, or a sibling; preferably one that loves to tattle and can’t be bought!” This brought on another heated discussion. Did you know I am very old fashioned and overly protective?
Oh, well!
It seems I had that same conversation with my parents at one time. To quote the 1800’s French critic Alphonse Karr: “The more things change the more they stay the same!” If you have a tip, comment or suggestion for Mom’s Corner, please e-mail it to: moms-corner@juno.com